Pluto's Ice Volcano Has The ‘Wright Stuff’

An ice volcano on Pluto may have all the "wright stuff." Researchers from NASA's New Horizons Mission have put together one of the highest-resolution colored image of one of two potential cryovolcanoes, which were spotted on Pluto's surface with the New Horizons spacecraft during a flyby in July 2015. The researchers refer to this feature as "Wright Mons" which was named by the New Horizons team in honor of the wright brothers, according to a news release.

The image covers a distance of 90 miles (150 km) across and 2.5 miles (4 km) high, making this a massive feature. If it is an actual ice volcano, it would be one of the largest features discovered in the outer part of the solar system. Researchers in the mission are curious about the infrequent distribution of the red material in the image and why it has not dispersed in other areas on Pluto's surface.

The researchers have identified one crater impact on the Wright Mons, which indicates that the surface and the crust beneath were lately created. This new observation has led the researchers to believe that the Wright Mons was had active volcanic activities during Pluto's late history.

The image was put together using pictures that were captured by the New Horizons spacecraft's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) at a distance 30,000 miles (48,000 km).

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