Ahuna Mons[ Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature – Ahuna Mons] () is the largest mountain on the dwarf planet and asteroid Ceres. It protrudes above the cratered terrain, is not an impact feature, and is the only mountain of its kind on Ceres. Bright streaks run top to bottom on its slopes which are thought to be salt, similar to the better known Cererian bright spots,
Discovery
The mountain was discovered on images taken by the
Dawn spacecraft in orbit around Ceres in 2015.
It is estimated to have an average height of about and a maximum height of about on its steepest side; it is about wide at the base.
Origin
It has been proposed that Ahuna Mons formed as a
cryovolcanic dome.
It is the closest cryovolcano to the Sun yet discovered.
It is roughly antipodal to the largest impact basin on Ceres, diameter Kerwan.
Seismic energy from the Kerwan-forming impact may have been focused on the opposite side of Ceres, fracturing the outer layers of the area and facilitating the movement of high viscosity cryovolcanic
magma (consisting of muddy water ice softened by its content of salts) that was then extruded onto the surface.
Crater counts suggest that formation of the mountain continued into the last several hundred million years, making this a relatively young geological feature.
Ahuna Mons is associated with a positive mass anomaly, or mascon, centered about below it, not far above the crust-mantle boundary. This suggests it was formed by a plume of mud rising from the mantle.
See also
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List of geological features on Ceres
-
List of tallest mountains in the Solar System
-
Wright Mons – A likely cryovolcanic structure discovered on the dwarf planet Pluto
Notes
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