10 MYSTERIOUS Structures Found on Other Planets | Space Discoveries

 planet earth isn't the only one with  interesting geographical formations  today we'll present you with insane  geological formations on other planets  10th place olympus mons while there are  many  incredibly big geographical formations  in our solar system  none come close to match olympus mons  the largest of the volcanoes in the  tharsis montes region  as well as all known volcanoes in the  solar system is olympus mons  olympus mons is a shield volcano 624  kilometers in diameter which is  approximately the same size as  arizona it's three times taller than  mount everest and has taken  billions of years to form the main  difference between volcanoes on mars  and earth is their size volcanoes in the  tharsis region of mars are 10 to 100  times  larger than any of those on earth the  lava flows on the martian surface are  observed to be much longer probably  as a result of higher eruption rates and  lower surface gravity  another reason why the volcanoes on mars  are so massive is because the crust on  mars doesn't move the way it does on  earth  on earth the hot spots remain stationary  but crustal plates are moving above them  the hawaiian islands result from the  northwesterly movement of the pacific  plate over a stationary hot spot  producing lava  as the plate moves over the hot spot new  volcanoes are formed and the existing  ones become extinct this distributes the  total volume of lava among many  volcanoes rather than one large volcano  on mars the crust remains stationary and  the lava piles up in one  very large volcano ninth place  mysterious mazes on titan in the ninth  spot of our list we have the mysterious  mazes that streak saturn's biggest moon  titan  first spotted by nasa's cassini mission  in 2010 the labyrinth bear a faint  resemblance to geographic features found  on earth  in places like papua new guinea and  china as well as on mars  titans labyrinth spread across several  tens of kilometers  yet make up a very small percentage of  the moon's overall surface features  even looking exactly like some of the  places on earth  such as the arecibo telescope site in  puerto rico  8th place sputnik planetia  next up we have sputnik planetea a high  albedo ice-covered basin on pluto of  1050 by 800 kilometers in size  however this planet tia's most notorious  feature  is the fact that it kind of looks like a  heart that stretches for 620 miles  it's believed that it was created by an  impact on pluto's surface  being now covered with a massive glacier  the informal name sputnik planum was  first announced by the new horizon team  on a press conference on july 24  2015. a planum is a flat region of  higher  elevation seventh place the cracks of  jupiter's moon europa  europa is the fourth largest moon of  jupiter and is subject to both science  fiction  and science speculation for future human  colonization  europa's geophysical features include a  possible sub-glacial water ocean  make it a possibility that human life  could be sustained on or beneath the  surface  europa's main source of energy is  jupiter's rotation which is tapped by io  through  its tides it raises on jupiter and is  transferred to europa and ganymede by  orbital resonance  analysis of the unique cracks lining  europa yielded evidence that it's most  likely spun around a tilted axis  at some point in time it's possible that  when europa's orbit takes it closer to  jupiter  the tide of the sea beneath the ice  raises higher than normal  europa has a thin oxygen atmosphere but  it's far  too tenuous for humans to breathe from  the surface of europa  jupiter appears 24 times larger than the  moon appears in our sky  sixth place loki patera  if there's anything more exotic than any  planet it's got to be jupiter's moons  among these is io where we can find loki  patera  loki patera is the largest volcanic  depression on io being 202 kilometers in  diameter  it also contains an active lava lake  with an overturning crust with super  fast spreading similar to a mid-ocean  ridge on earth  io's lava lakes such as loki patera are  depressions partially filled with molten  lava  covered by a thin solidified crust these  lava lakes are directly connected to a  magma reservoir below  observations of thermal emissions at  several of io's lava lakes reveal  glowing molten rock along loki patera's  margin  caused by the lake's crust breaking up  along the edge of the patera  fifth place mott mons  turns out that mars isn't the only  planet with an incredibly large volcano  this is a massive shield volcano known  as venus's second highest mountain and  also its highest volcano  it's named after the egyptian goddess of  truth and justice  matt mons has a large summit caldera 28  by 31 kilometers in size  within that large caldera there are at  least five smaller collapse craters up  to 10 kilometers in diameter more recent  studies have suggested that the volcano  structure  distribution of lava flows pit craters  summit morphology  and other small-scale features are  indicative of recent volcanic activity  on mottman's  venus is likely to be volcanically  active though present-day eruptions  haven't been detected  however knowing that venus is hot enough  to be made of lava  then an eruption from mont mons would be  catastrophic with dark lava extending  for hundreds of miles into the ground  this most recent eruption occurred 10 to  20 million years ago  fourth place giant ice blades on pluto  while detailed information about pluto's  surface has only recently been obtained  scientists are baffled upon finding out  that pluto's surface is host to blades  of ice that soar to the height of  skyscrapers  and researchers have narrowed down  exactly how the dramatic features form  according to new research the blades are  made mostly out of methane ice  and form similarly to snow and ice  spikes on earth  the jagged ice blades on pluto are found  near its surface equator and can  soar many hundreds of feet into the sky  some even as high as a new york city  skyscraper  a team led by new horizons team member  jeffrey moore a research scientist at  nasa's ames research center in  california's silicon valley  has determined that formation of the  bladed terrain begins with methane  freezing out of the atmosphere  at extreme altitudes on pluto in the  same way frost freezes on the ground on  earth or even in your freezer  third place adam's crater  seems like venus is an incredibly exotic  planet with all these weird geographical  formations in it  remember matt mons well there's  something even more intriguing  the atoms crater the extraordinary  outflow length and morphology of adam's  crater deposits are compared with the  saharan submarine debris flow off  northwest africa  vapor cloud modeling and comparison of  sonar data with radar images  suggest a possible similar origin for  the atom's crater outflow deposits  making venus more similar to earth than  what we initially thought  and by the way the crater was named  after jane adams an american settlement  activist reformer  social worker and author one of the most  important leaders in the history of  social work  second place valles marineris vallis  marineris is another massive geological  formation on mars this time  a system of canyons that run along the  surface east of the thoris regions  it's one of the largest canyons of the  solar system surpassed only by the rift  valleys of earth  the canyon system starts in the west  with noctis labyrinthus  proceeding to the east are to thorium  and is chamada then mellis  candor and o for chasmata then coprades  chasma then ganges capri and eos  chasmata  finally it empties into an outflow  channel region containing chaotic  terrain  that ends in the basin of the crisey  planetia  so what's the origin of this massive  valley on mars many think that this is a  tectonic crack in the martian crust  formed by water or carbon dioxide  it's also been proposed that valles  marineris is a large channel formed by  the erosion of lava flowing from the  flank of the pionis mons  first place water in ceres  the bizarre bright spots speckling the  dwarf planet ceres are probably the most  intriguing geographical formation  these bright white features are formerly  known as faculae  and these are located at the bottom of  series octor crater  arizona state university scientists have  proposed that the bright spots are best  explained as resulting from briny water  erupted from ceres interior that  subsequently sublimated  leaving behind only the salt deposits in  august 2020  nasa confirmed that ceres was a  water-rich body with a deep reservoir of  brine  that percolated to the surface in  various locations causing the bright  spots  including those in the acature crater  seems like our solar system is even more  intriguing than we thought  don't forget to subscribe to our channel  for more