"Eye of Sauron" - this is how scientists called the ancient underwater volcano off the coast of Australia, for its incredible resemblance to the famous symbol of the Lord of the Rings. Scientists also discovered two more mountains at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, similar to the kingdom of Mordor from the fantastic trilogy of John Tolkien.
The volcano was found by experts in mapping the seabed of the Indian Ocean on the research vessel RV Investigator using a powerful sonar at a depth of 3100 meters. The crater turned out to be surrounded by a 300-meter rim, reminiscent of Sauron's eyelids, and also has a 300-meter cone-shaped peak ("pupil") in the center.
Further scanning of the seabed revealed two more mountains: one smaller, covered with numerous volcanic cones, and the second, located further with a flat top. Scientists also named them after the famous saga. The first received the name of the main monastery of Sauron Black Tower, the second was named after the Mordor Ash Mountains. Geologists believe that these three objects formed 100 million years ago.
In 2015, New Horizons station found Mordor on Charon. It turned out that the north pole of the largest moon of the dwarf planet Pluto is covered with a layer of dark dust. This area was named after the "black country" from the novel "The Lord of the Rings".
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