Harianjogja.com, JAKARTA – Not only on Earth, there are also mountains in outer space. NASA scientists have identified two mountains on Pluto’s surface that rise nearly 6.5 km into the atmosphere.
Uniquely, scientists believe that it is not the lava contained in the mountain. Instead, it spews ice as a “replacement” for melted incandescent rock.
In this regard, here are some other mountains that are no less unique in outer space.
1. Picard dan Wright Mons, Pluto
The two peaks were discovered by scientists analyzing images of Pluto, taken from NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft in July 2015 as it flew past the icy dwarf planet.
At the top of each of these mountains there is a central crater that NASA scientists believe is a cryovolcano (cryovolcano) or often called an iceberg. It is a type of volcano that erupts volatiles such as water, ammonia, or methane into extreme environments at or below their freezing point.
2. Olympus Mons, March
This 25 km high mountain, roughly three times the height of Mount Everest, is above the surface of Mars and spans the size of the state of Arizona. Olympus Mons is the largest mountain in the solar system that is still active and can erupt at any time.
3. Maxwell Montes, Venus
Scientists believe that the peak of the highest mountain on Venus is covered in metallic snow composed of lead and bismuth sulfide. It is hypothesized that heavy metals are launched into the atmosphere through volcanic eruptions and then condensed into snow at high altitudes, such as at Maxwell Montes.
4. Equatorial Ridge, Iapetus (Saturn’s Moon)
Saturn’s two-color moon, which is black and white, has a number of unique features. One of them is the existence of a series of mountains as high as about 10 km that stretches along the equator.
Informally, the mountain range is known as the Voyageur Mountains. Some scientists believe the equatorial ridge could be the remnant of the moon’s oblate shape, while others believe it is the result of the collapsing rings used to orbit it.
5. Low Mountains, Merkurius
Around 3.8 to 3.9 billion years ago, a rocky object estimated to be at least 100 km in diameter hit Mercury and formed one of the largest impact craters in the solar system, the Caloris Basin.
The force of the impact then created a 1–2 km high mountain range, the Caloris Montes surrounding a 1,550 km wide crater, with mountain ranges extending 1,000 km from the crater wall in concentric circles.
Source: Bisnis Indonesia
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