Bruce Murray Space Image Library

An ice volcano on Pluto?

An ice volcano on Pluto?
An ice volcano on Pluto? The informally named feature Wright Mons, located south of Sputnik Planum on Pluto, is an unusual feature that's about 160 kilometers wide and 4 kilometers high. It displays a summit depression (visible in the center of the image) that's approximately 56 kilometers across, with a distinctive hummocky texture on its sides. The rim of the summit depression also shows concentric fracturing. New Horizons scientists believe that this mountain and another, Piccard Mons, could have been formed by the 'cryovolcanic' eruption of ices from beneath Pluto's surface. NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI