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hubie writes:

Evidence for the existence of ice volcanoes and other exciting findings were presented at the annual meeting for the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences. The potential volcanoes showed up when stereo images were made using images from the New Horizons flyby taken from different vantage points. The stereo images made it possible to determine the height and breadth of the mounds, which are several kilometers tall. The stereo images showed that the depressions on top of the mounds are too deep to be craters and are more akin to volcano calderas. In addition, the mounds show an absence of craters which is consistent with material being ejected from them.

Also presented was an analysis of the density distribution of craters, which suggests that Pluto has been geologically active over its lifetime. In addition, there appears to be a dearth of smaller craters on Pluto and Charon that may indicate that Kuiper Belt objects formed "as-is" and not via the accumulation of smaller objects, as is currently thought.

In fact, the evidence that many Kuiper Belt objects could have been "born large" has scientists excited that New Horizons' next potential target – the 30-mile-wide (40-50 kilometer wide) KBO named 2014 MU69 – which may offer the first detailed look at just such a pristine, ancient building block of the solar system.

Original Submission