A tour of the Solar System's tallest hottest coldest and weirdest volcanoes - and a look
inside what makes them erupt. The volcano - among the most familiar and perhaps the most
terrifying of all geological phenomena. However Earth isn't the only planet to harbour
volcanoes. In fact the Solar System and probably the entire Universe is littered with them.
Our own Moon which is now a dormant piece of rock had lava flowing across its surface
billions of years ago while Mars can be credited with the largest volcano in the Solar System
Olympus Mons which stands 25km high. While Mars's volcanoes are long dead volcanic activity
continues in almost every other corner of the Solar System in the most unexpected of
locations. We tend to think of Earth volcanoes as erupting hot molten lava and emitting huge
billowing clouds of incandescent ash. However it isn't necessarily the same across the rest of
the Solar System. For a start some volcanoes aren't even particularly hot. Those on Pluto for
example erupt an icy slush of substances such as water methane nitrogen or ammonia that
freeze to form ice mountains as hard as rock. While others like the volcanoes on one of
Jupiter's moons Io erupt the hottest lavas in the Solar System onto a surface covered in a
frosty coating of sulphur. Whether they are formed of fire or ice volcanoes are of huge
importance for scientists trying to picture the inner workings of a planet or moon. Volcanoes
dredge up materials from the otherwise inaccessible depths and helpfully deliver them to the
surface. The way in which they erupt and the products they generate can even help scientists
ponder bigger questions on the possibility of life elsewhere in the Solar System. Fire and Ice
is an exploration of the Solar System's volcanoes from the highest peaks of Mars to the
intensely inhospitable surface of Venus and the red-hot summits of Io to the coldest
seemingly dormant icy carapaces of Enceladus and Europa an unusual look at how these cosmic
features are made and whether such active planetary systems might host life.
