A 280-mile-long volcano may have been discovered on Mars—hiding in plain sight

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The colossal volcano is taller than Mount Everest, would reach from New York City to Washington, D.C., and may be a promising site to look for ancient remnants of microbial life.

This composite photo of Mars was created from over 100 images taken by Viking Orbiters in the 1970s. Despite being well photographed, scientists think they have found a new volcano, visible near the etchings of a large canyon on the left.It’s not every day you discover a brand-new gigantic volcano on another planet—but that’s exactly what a pair of researchers claim to have done. At almost 30,000 feet tall , and perhaps 280 miles long at its base , it is an utter behemoth.

, a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute, one of the two co-discoverers. “I think it's fair to say that we were excited.”at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, last week. Found overlaying an expansive maze of water-eroded caverns and tunnels named Noctis Labyrinthus—meaning “Maze of the Night”—the team have given their putative volcano the provisional name of Noctis, pending further analyses by the scientific community.

This topographic map shows what some scientists are calling the Noctis volcano. It lacks the classic cone shape because it has been weathered down by erosion for millions of years. Based on the advanced extent of its erosion, the layering of its erupted matter, and comparing its fractures with those of Noctis Labyrinthus , they suspect the volcano first took shape more than 3.7 billion years ago, then effervesced and erupted perhaps as recently as 10 million years ago.

 

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