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Aug 22, 2019 · Thirty years ago, on Aug. 25, 1989, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft made a close flyby of Neptune, giving humanity its first close-up of our solar system’s eighth.
Sep 25, 2023 · by Erik Klemetti 25 September 2023. Ocean worlds throughout our solar system may be home to a phenomenon known as cryovolcanism, in which volcanoes erupt, ejecting volatiles such as ammonia. In...
- Erik Klemetti
Cryovolcanism can be defined as “The eruption of liquid or vapor phases (with or without entrained solids) of water or other volatiles that would be frozen solid at the normal temperature of the icy satellite’s surface” (Geissler, 2015). This means that ice and water (± other compounds in solution or
Apr 29, 2024 · Kirk and Lopes note that there is evidence of past cryovolcanism on Triton, the largest of Neptune’s 13 moons. NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft helped scientists observe that Triton’s surface is composed of smooth plains , mounds, and rock pits.
Neptune's moon Triton was the first object where active plumes were observed by Voyager 2 in 1989, interpreted as possibly cryovolcanic. Galileo observations showed evidence of cryovolcanism on Europa and Ganymede and later observations by HST have detected possible water vapor plumes from Europa.
A cryovolcano (sometimes informally referred to as an ice volcano) is a type of volcano that erupts gases and volatile material such as liquid water, ammonia, and hydrocarbons. The erupted material is collectively referred to as cryolava; it originates from a reservoir of subsurface cryomagma.
Aug 25, 2014 · And today, New Horizons will cross Neptune's orbit -- the very day that Voyager 2 flew past Neptune 25 years ago. In celebration of this anniversary, scientists from both missions reflected on Voyager 2's Neptune encounter.
