[gatagato]

The pyramid-shaped mountain of Ceres is a large unnamed mountain on the dwarf planet Ceres. The mountain is unusual for its size and location on an otherwise relatively flat surface.

Discovery and description
The feature was first photographed by the Dawn spacecraft on 6 June 2015, with a wide-angle photo released 17 June 2015. The mountain is estimated to be about 5 km (16,000 ft; 3.1 mi) high;] and approximately 14.5 km (48,000 ft; 9.0 mi) wide at the base.

Hypotheses and speculations
The mountain has only been known to the general public as of June 17, 2015 and initial speculation has ranged widely. The tech website Cnet.com called the feature "an odd pyramid-shaped peak." NBC News's website commented on pictures of the mountain, noting Ceres' "intriguing features, including a steep-sided mountain that rises about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the dwarf planet's heavily cratered surface and has been nicknamed the "pyramid." In contrast to the NBC report, the Washington Post referred to "a pyramid-shaped peak that towers three miles high over an otherwise fairly flat surface."

Size comparisons
The mountain is similar in base-to-peak height to Mons Huygens, the tallest lunar mountain, and Mons Hadley visited by Apollo 15. However, the relative size of the Moon, Earth, and the dwarf planet Ceres are a consideration.

Mount Everest rises to 8.8 km (29,000 ft) altitude above sea level but is only 4.6 km (15,000 ft) (base-to-peak). Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro is about 5.9 km (19,000 ft) altitude above sea level to the Uhuru Peak summit; also 4.6 km base-to-peak. Hawaii's Mauna Kea is about 9.3 km (31,000 ft) base-to-peak, but only 4.2 km (14,000 ft) of it is above sea level. Alaska's Mt. McKinley, also known as Denali, has a base-to-peak of 5.5 km (18,000 ft). Mont Blanc in the Alps is 4.8 km (16,000 ft) in altitude above sea level,[14] Mount Fuji (富士山), which overlooks Tokyo, Japan is about 3.8 km (12,000 ft) altitude.
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19574

PIA19574: Dawn Survey Orbit Image 6

 Target Name:  Ceres
 Is a satellite of:  Dwarf Planet
 Mission:  Dawn 
 Spacecraft:  Dawn
 Instrument:  Framing Camera 
 Product Size:  1024 x 1024 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA19574.tif (1.05 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA19574.jpg (136.3 kB)




Original Caption Released with Image:
Among the fascinating features on dwarf planet Ceres is an intriguing pyramid-shaped mountain protruding from a relatively smooth area. Scientists estimate that this structure rises about 3 miles (5 kilometers) above the surface. NASA's Dawn spacecraft took this image from an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers). The image, with a resolution of 1,400 feet (410 meters) per pixel, was taken on June 6, 2015.

Dawn's mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK, Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of acknowledgments, see http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission.

For more information about the Dawn mission, visit http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov.

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/new...t-cloud/52920/
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space...-spots-n379931

[el_topo]

Looks more like a hill than a pyramid, which has 4 flat sides and a square base.

[commondenom]

love the totally irregular shape of the horizon/edge of the ball