Sign in / up

back to article Dwarf planet Ceres has a watery secret: An 11 mile wide ice volcano

Ahuna Mons, the 13,000 foot high, 11 mile wide volcano on dwarf planet Ceres is made entirely out of ice – and provides evidence that water may have once existed beneath the planet's surface. "Ahuna is truly unique, being the only mountain of its kind on Ceres," said David Williams, co-author and associate research professor …

COMMENTS

Post your comment
House rules Send corrections
Add to 'My topics' unstar *
  1. graeme leggett Silver badge
    Coat

    Obligatory pop culture reference

    Ice Volcano. Is there a Dalek base nearby?

    Mine's the light brown spacesuit with the "Made on Skaro" label

    8 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The boffins uncovering all of this must feel positively electric.

    0 0 Reply

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. Tom Paine
    Trollface

    planet?

    So Ceres is round, and is differentiated in layers internally, and it (or something) has cleared it's orbit, so... it's a planet, right? Albeit a minor one. Like Pluto.

    Right, kids?

    0 3 Reply
    1. Alistair
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: planet?

      I've two texts (for the youngest) that refer to it as a dwarf planet.

      So, planet, albedo a small one.

      5 0 Reply
      1. Ilmarinen
        Reply Icon
        Headmaster

        Re: planet?

        Not dwarf planet - PORG: Planet Of Restricted Growth

        6 0 Reply
        1. LaeMing
          Reply Icon
          Go

          Re: planet?

          They prefer to be called 'little planets'

          2 0 Reply
    2. DJO Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: planet?

      has cleared it's orbit

      It lives in the asteroid belt so to say it has cleared its orbit might be a bit premature.

      22 0 Reply
  5. Alistair
    Coat

    Water, Water

    Everywhere, and not a drop of it <where nestle can bottle it and make a profit>

    (I'm sure they're gonna try sometime)

    14 0 Reply
  6. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Coat

    Bring it closer to the Sun

    A gigantic salty swimming pool!

    The atmosphere would be a problem...

    0 0 Reply
  7. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    So now possibly the most desirable piece of off Earth real estate in the solar system

    10 mile chunk of water.

    That's a nice thing to have if you're looking at ISRU or living there.

    8 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So now possibly the most desirable piece of off Earth real estate in the solar system

      Whaddya mean? That thing is as big as Britain.

      0 0 Reply
      1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
        Reply Icon

        Re: So now possibly the most desirable piece of off Earth real estate in the solar system

        So, it could do a... Brexit?

        1 0 Reply
    2. cray74
      Reply Icon

      Re: So now possibly the most desirable piece of off Earth real estate in the solar system

      10 mile chunk of water.

      Don't tell the Ryan Ice Cartel. ;)

      1 0 Reply
  8. Chris G

    Salty Ice

    So kind of limited to Margaritas on Ceres.

    On a more serious note; the Solar system gets more interesting with each explorative mission, for what it costs, I think for humanity it is great value for money.

    I just wish I was younger and could hope to actually get out there and have a look around but I don't see that happening any time soon, or at least soon enough for a 65 year old.

    19 0 Reply
    1. wx666z
      Reply Icon

      Re: Salty Ice

      Me too! But our grandchildren will....

      5 0 Reply
    2. Roger Varley
      Reply Icon

      Re: Salty Ice

      I can't help feeling I chose the wrong career. Beating hardware into submission does pall after a while

      3 0 Reply
  9. Stevie

    Bah!

    Yawn.

    Show me there are Space Aliens skiing down said ice-mountain, then you have my attention.

    3 4 Reply
  10. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Incredible amounts of water out there

    So Europa is an icy ball, now Ceres has a cryovolcano. There are astounding amounts of water out there.

    Makes for good chances of finding habitable planets when we finally take to the stars, I think.

    7 0 Reply
  11. Adrian 4

    Secret ??

    An eleven-mile-wide volcano ?

    TMBSDOSWWIWNPF

    0 0 Reply
  12. TonyK

    Bigged up

    That picture isn't a photo: according to NASA's Ceres pages, it's a "simulated perspective view" in which "the elevation has been exaggerated by a factor of two." I thought it looked too good to be true.

    3 0 Reply
    1. Anthill Beetle
      Reply Icon

      Re: Bigged up

      +1: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6611

      2 0 Reply
    2. Tom 7
      Reply Icon

      Re: Bigged up

      Buggered up! And why exaggerate the elevation by a factor of two?

      This sort of thing really gets one into the uncanny valley. Makes google earth look realistic.

      0 0 Reply
      1. LaeMing
        Reply Icon

        Re: Bigged up

        I assume to compensate for the flattening effect of the angle at which the photo was taken?

        0 0 Reply
  13. Unep Eurobats

    "Ahuna is truly unique"

    But what is that in snowflakes, the new official El Reg unit of uniqueness? I would say the "icy volcanic activity" also found on Io, Triton and Enceladus means Ceres only bags a few extra kiloflakes on the uniqueness scale, despite all the actual snowflakes that must swirl down when the big Ahuna kicks off.

    1 0 Reply
    1. cray74
      Reply Icon

      Re: "Ahuna is truly unique"

      I would say the "icy volcanic activity" also found on Io,

      Silicate lavas that are 1600K / 2400F tend to fall outside cryovolcanism. ;)

      The rest of your point is well-taken, though.

      0 0 Reply

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forgotten password ?

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon