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Cryovolcano
 
 
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A cryovolcano (colloquially known as an ice volcano) is, literally, an icy
ICY

ICY was a vocal trio consisting of P?lmi Gunnarson, Helga M?ller and Eir?kur Hauksson. They were the first Icelandic entrants to the Eurovision Song Contest, appearing at the 1986 final in Bergen....
 volcano
Volcano

A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or Crust , which allows hot, molten rock, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface....
. Cryovolcanoes form on icy moon
Icy moon

Icy moons are believed to be a common class of natural satellites or planetoids with surfaces composed mostly of ice. An icy moon may harbor an ocean underneath the surface, and possibly include a rocky core of silicate or metallic rocks....
s, and possibly on other low-temperature
Temperature

In physics, temperature is a physical property of a Physical system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the greater temperature....
 astronomical object
Astronomical object

s are significant entity, associations or structures which current science has confirmed to exist in outer space. This does not necessarily mean that more current science will not disprove their existence....
s (e.g., Kuiper belt
Kuiper belt

The Kuiper belt , sometimes called the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 55 Astronomical unit from the Sun....
 objects). Rather than molten rock
Lava

Lava is molten Rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption. When first expelled from a volcanic vent, it is a liquid at temperatures from 700 ?C to 1,200 ?C ....
, these volcanoes erupt volatiles
Volatiles

In planetary science, volatiles, are that group of elements and compounds with low boiling points that are associated with a planet's or moon's crust and/or atmosphere....
 such as water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
, ammonia
Ammonia

Ammonia is a chemical compound with the chemical formula nitrogenhydrogen. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odor....
 or methane
Methane

Methane is a chemical compound with the molecular formula . It is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas. Methane's bond angles are 109.5 degrees....
. Collectively referred to as cryomagma or ice-volcanic melt, these substances are usually liquid
Liquid

Liquid is one of the principal states of matter. A liquid is a fluid that has the particles loose and can freely form a distinct surface at the boundaries of its bulk material....
s and form plumes
Plume (hydrodynamics)

In hydrodynamics, a plume is a column of one fluid moving through another. Several effects control the motion of the fluid, including momentum, buoyancy and density difference....
, but can also be in vapour
Vapor

A vapor or vapour is a substance in the gas phase at a temperature lower than its critical temperature.This means that the vapor can be condensation to a liquid or to a solid by increasing its pressure, without reducing the temperature....
 form.






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Ganesha Macula
A cryovolcano (colloquially known as an ice volcano) is, literally, an icy
ICY

ICY was a vocal trio consisting of P?lmi Gunnarson, Helga M?ller and Eir?kur Hauksson. They were the first Icelandic entrants to the Eurovision Song Contest, appearing at the 1986 final in Bergen....
 volcano
Volcano

A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or Crust , which allows hot, molten rock, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface....
. Cryovolcanoes form on icy moon
Icy moon

Icy moons are believed to be a common class of natural satellites or planetoids with surfaces composed mostly of ice. An icy moon may harbor an ocean underneath the surface, and possibly include a rocky core of silicate or metallic rocks....
s, and possibly on other low-temperature
Temperature

In physics, temperature is a physical property of a Physical system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the greater temperature....
 astronomical object
Astronomical object

s are significant entity, associations or structures which current science has confirmed to exist in outer space. This does not necessarily mean that more current science will not disprove their existence....
s (e.g., Kuiper belt
Kuiper belt

The Kuiper belt , sometimes called the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 55 Astronomical unit from the Sun....
 objects). Rather than molten rock
Lava

Lava is molten Rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption. When first expelled from a volcanic vent, it is a liquid at temperatures from 700 ?C to 1,200 ?C ....
, these volcanoes erupt volatiles
Volatiles

In planetary science, volatiles, are that group of elements and compounds with low boiling points that are associated with a planet's or moon's crust and/or atmosphere....
 such as water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
, ammonia
Ammonia

Ammonia is a chemical compound with the chemical formula nitrogenhydrogen. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odor....
 or methane
Methane

Methane is a chemical compound with the molecular formula . It is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas. Methane's bond angles are 109.5 degrees....
. Collectively referred to as cryomagma or ice-volcanic melt, these substances are usually liquid
Liquid

Liquid is one of the principal states of matter. A liquid is a fluid that has the particles loose and can freely form a distinct surface at the boundaries of its bulk material....
s and form plumes
Plume (hydrodynamics)

In hydrodynamics, a plume is a column of one fluid moving through another. Several effects control the motion of the fluid, including momentum, buoyancy and density difference....
, but can also be in vapour
Vapor

A vapor or vapour is a substance in the gas phase at a temperature lower than its critical temperature.This means that the vapor can be condensation to a liquid or to a solid by increasing its pressure, without reducing the temperature....
 form. After eruption, cryomagma condenses to a solid
Solid

A solid object is in the states of matter characterized by resistance to deformation and changes of volume. In other words, it has high values both of Young's modulus and of shear modulus; this contrasts e.g....
 form when exposed to the very low surrounding temperature.

The energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
 required to melt
Melt

Melt can refer to:*Melting, in physics, the process of heating a solid substance to a liquid*Melt , a term referring to the working material during steelmaking or thermoplastic forming...
 ices and produce cryovolcanoes usually comes from tidal friction
Tidal acceleration

Tidal acceleration is an effect of the tidal forces between an orbiting natural satellite , and the planet that it orbits. The "acceleration" is usually negative, as it causes a gradual slowing and recession of a satellite in a prograde orbit away from the primary, and a corresponding slowdown of the primary's rotation....
. It has also been suggested that translucent deposits of frozen materials could create a sub-surface greenhouse effect
Greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect refers to the change in the steady state temperature of a planet or moon by the presence of an atmosphere containing gas that absorbs and emits infrared....
 that would accumulate the required heat
Heat

In physics and thermodynamics, heat is any transfer of energy from one body or thermodynamic system to another due to a difference in temperature....
.

Some hypothesize that the Kuiper belt
Kuiper belt

The Kuiper belt , sometimes called the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 55 Astronomical unit from the Sun....
 object Quaoar
50000 Quaoar

50000 Quaoar is a Trans-Neptunian object and potential dwarf planet orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on June 4, 2002 by astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael E....
 exhibited cryovolcanism in the past. Radioactive decay
Radioactive decay

Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and radiation. This decay, or loss of energy, results in an atom of one type, called the parent nuclide transforming to an atom of a different type, called the daughter nuclide....
 could provide the energy necessary for such activity.

Observations

Ice volcanoes were first observed on Neptune's moon Triton
Triton (moon)

'Triton' is the largest natural satellite of the planet Neptune, discovered on October 10, 1846 by William Lassell. It is the only large moon in the Solar System with a Retrograde and direct motion, which is an orbit in the opposite direction to its planet's rotation....
 during the Voyager 2
Voyager 2

The spacecraft is an Unmanned space mission interplanetary space probe launched on August 20, 1977. Identical in form to its sister Voyager program craft Voyager 1, Voyager 2 followed a slower trajectory that allowed it to be kept in the ecliptic so that it could be sent to Uranus and Neptune by means of gravity assist during...
 flyby in 1989.

Fountains of Enceladus Pia07758
On November 27 2005 Cassini
Cassini-Huygens

Cassini?Huygens is a joint NASA/European Space Agency robotic spacecraft mission currently studying the planet Saturn and Saturn's natural satellites....
 photographed geyser
Geyser

A geyser is a hot spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapour phase . The name geyser comes from Geysir, the name of an erupting spring at Haukadalur, Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the Icelandic verb gj?sa, "to gush"....
s on the south pole
Pole

Pole may refer to:...
 of Enceladus
Enceladus (moon)

'Enceladus' , is the sixth-largest Moons of Saturn of Saturn . It was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. Until the two Voyager program spacecraft passed near it in the early 1980s, very little was known about this small moon besides the identification of water ice on its surface....
 (See also: Cryovolcanism on Enceladus
Enceladus (moon)

'Enceladus' , is the sixth-largest Moons of Saturn of Saturn . It was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. Until the two Voyager program spacecraft passed near it in the early 1980s, very little was known about this small moon besides the identification of water ice on its surface....
).

Indirect evidence of cryovolcanic activity was later observed on several other icy moon
Icy moon

Icy moons are believed to be a common class of natural satellites or planetoids with surfaces composed mostly of ice. An icy moon may harbor an ocean underneath the surface, and possibly include a rocky core of silicate or metallic rocks....
s of our solar system
Solar System

The Solar System consists of the Sun and those Astronomical object bound to it by gravity: the eight planets and five dwarf planets, their 173 known Natural satellite, and billions of Small Solar System body....
, including Europa
Europa (moon)

'Europa' is the Moons_of_Jupiter#Table Natural satellite of the planet Jupiter. Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei , and named after a mythical Phoenician noblewoman, Europa , who was courted by Zeus and became the queen of Crete....
, Titan
Titan (moon)

Titan or Saturn VI is the largest natural satellite of Saturn, the only moon known to have a dense celestial body atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found....
, Ganymede
Ganymede (moon)

'Ganymede' is a Moons of Jupiter and the List of natural satellites by diameter in the Solar System. Completing an orbit in a little more than seven days, it is the seventh satellite and third Galilean satellite from Jupiter....
, and Miranda
Miranda (moon)

Miranda is the smallest and innermost of Uranus ' five major natural satellites.It was discovered by Gerard Kuiper on 1948-02-16 at McDonald Observatory....
. Cassini has observed several features thought to be cryovolcanoes on Titan. Such volcanism is now believed to be a significant source of the methane found in Titan's atmosphere.

External links

  • - Triton at the Nine Planets
  • - Triton at SolarViews.com
  • - News article at the