Here are four 'volcanic hotspots' in our Solar System you haven't heard of before

NASA has underscored that there's an Earthly phenomenon that is existent on the other planets of our solar system, which is volcanically active spots in the Solar System that are bubbling with hot lava, causing a giant eruption of molten rock magma on the planet's surfaces. Volcanism is defined by NASA as the thick flows of magma that erupted from the fissures in the planets' crusts. A volcanic region on the planets across the solar system is basically the vents through which magma and gases are discharged on different spots of the planets. Some of these volcanoes, interestingly are also named after 'Vulcan' — the Roman god of fire!

"There is plenty of hot stuff in our solar system, even in the outer frozen realms; so much that planetary scientists have found evidence of volcanism on every terrestrial planet and on many of the moons and even some asteroids!" explains the NASA. 

Why do volcanoes form on planets?

Volcanism, as per scientists occurs due to the planets radiating their internal heat. On the planets, they mostly form where rock near the surface becomes hot enough to melt due to Sun's direct energy. On Earth, a volcanic eruption is mostly the result of a shift in the plate boundaries. "Where two plates move apart, such as at mid-ocean volcanic ridges, material from Earth's interior slowly rises up, melts when it reaches lower pressures, and fills in the gap," NASA explains in a statement. 

In regions, where just one plate is subducted under another, mega chambers of silica-rich magma are formed that erupt eventually transforming into continental volcanoes that mark subduction zones.

Both Moon and Mercury and scores of other planets have thick volcanic flows that heat their surface somewhat similar to the volcanic activities that occur on the Earth. While the Moon has relatively tiny volcanoes, other planets such as Venus, Earth, and Mars have much larger ones. Jupiter's moon Io is known to host the most active and violent volcanic eruptions while it is now being debated widely if Mars' volcanic activity is hitting dormant. Some moons in the solar system have a colder form of volcanism—cryovolcanism, according to NASA. Here are the volcanic features detected on four hotspot planets of the solar system.

Solar System's volcanic hotspots

Mars

The red planet has the tallest known volcano in the Solar System whose base is the size of Poland, aptly named Olympus Mons. Twice as high as Mount Everest, this volcano stands approximately 26km above the surrounding terrain. This region is accompanied by the volcanic caldera that runs an estimated 70km. Due to a gently slope-like profile, Olympus Mons is also called by NASA basalt “shield volcano" which resembles the Earth's Mauna Kea in Hawaii. 

Credit: NASA

Ceres

Composed of approximately 1,000km in diameter, this asteroid that orbits Sun between the planets Mars and Jupiter every 4.6 years has a volcano named Ahuna Mons. The volcanic region was first discovered by NASA on this asteroid during its Dawn mission, which was the first of a kind to orbit a dwarf planet. and two orbits of two bodies in the main asteroid belt. Volcano Ahuna Mons was found to be an approximately 4km high mountain that was spotted towing the terrain with heavy deposits of carbonate salts. It is also the only volcanic feature of its type on Ceres.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Jupiter's moon Io

According to NASA, Jupiter's innermost moon, Io, is the most volcanically active body in the entire solar system. NASA missions have managed to photograph the massive plumes of these volcanoes throwing lava across hundreds of kilometres near the surrounding terrain of the planet. Lava flows and walls of fire have been linked with the magma flowing from the fissures of Jupiter's moon. "The entire surface of Io is covered with volcanic centres and lava flows, which have covered all of its impact craters," NASA explained on its website. 

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Pluto

Pluto, where NASA's New Horizons mission flew in 2015, discovered the terrain of the ice dwarf, and its moon Charon and also unveiled features of interest other than the distant planet's thin atmosphere and glaciers of frozen nitrogen. The planet that lies in the Kuiper Belt and has a frosty -230°C temperature, hosts the Wright Mons. The latter is the size of a large peak with about 150km area and 4km high. Geologically, this volcano is relatively young and resembles a shield volcano as well as the Saturn moon and Ceres' cryovolcano. 

Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI