Are there volcanoes on comets? | Astronomy.com
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/01/comet-volcanoes
Explosive research says there may be cryovolcanism on cometary bodies.
Volcanoes may not just exist on moons and planets. A comet orbiting between Mars and Jupiter seems to have its own signs of icy volcanism,
spewing frozen material instead of hot lava. Rather than a single stagnant mound, however, the eruptions come from a single location multiple
times before eventually traveling to another point in the icy crust.
The slow rotation of the comet allows the crust to weaken over the course of its day, while carbon monoxide piles up on the surface again
during the night. Eventually, the pressure building beneath the surface erupts. Unlike the jets spotted on other comets, the cold ‘lava’
bursts through suddenly and explosively, with no signs of gradual buildup.
“It’s an abrupt event,” says Richard Miles a cometary scientist with the British Astronomical Association who presented the results at
the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Pasadena, California. Once the explosion is complete, it shuts down without the slow
decline common to jets. “It’s done, and everything tapers out. It’s what you would expect from cryovolcanism.”
