Instead of Hot Lava, These Cosmic Volcanoes Spew Ice

(via Atlas Obscura) Ahuna Mons is what is known as a cryovolcano, and sits on Ceres, the dwarf planet that’s the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Its eruptions never produced plumes of ash or streams of lava, but rather an icy excretion made of gases such as ammonia, water, and methane. When exposed to the cold expanse of space, the mixture flash freezes to form a kind of carapace, while the interior remains stay liquid and gas escapes or leaks through fractures.