ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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Snowball Ceres?
Ceres
- Thread starter ramonmercado
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Ceres asteroid vents water vapour
By Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent, BBC News
Observations of the Solar System's biggest asteroid suggest it is spewing plumes of water vapour into space.
Ceres has long been thought to contain substantial quantities of ice within its body, but this is the first time such releases have been detected.
The discovery was made by Europe's infrared Herschel space telescope, and is reported in the journal Nature.
Scientists believe the vapour is coming from dark coloured regions on Ceres' surface, but are not sure of the cause.
One idea is that surface, or near-surface, ice is being warmed by the Sun, turning it directly to a gas that then escapes to space.
"Another possibility," says the European Space Agency's Michael Kuppers, "is that there is still some energy in the interior of Ceres, and this energy would make the water vent out in a similar way as for geysers on Earth, only that with the low pressure at the surface of the asteroid, what comes out would be a vapour and not a liquid."
The quantity being out-gassed is not great - just 6kg per second - but the signature is unmistakable to Herschel, which was perfectly tuned to detect water molecules in space.
The telescope's observations were made before its decommissioning last year.
Scientists will get a better idea of what is going on in 2015, when Ceres is visited by the American space agency's Dawn probe.
The satellite will go into orbit around the 950km-wide body, mapping its surface and determining its composition and structure.
"It will be able to observe those dark regions at high resolution, and will probably solve the question of what process is creating the water vapour," explained Dr Kuppers.
Ceres is often now referred to as a "dwarf planet" - the same designation used to describe Pluto following its demotion from full planet status in 2006.
The asteroid's sheer size means gravity has pulled it into a near-spherical form.
It is regarded as quite a primitive body in that it has clearly not undergone the same heating and processing of its materials that the many other objects in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter have experienced.
Scientists suspect water-ice is buried under Ceres' crust because its density is less than that of the Earth's. And this reputation as a "wet body" is supported by the presence of a lot of minerals at its surface that have water bound into their structure.
One theory to explain why Ceres has so much more water-ice than other members of the surrounding asteroid population is that it formed further away from the Sun, and only later migrated to its present location.
This could have happened if perturbed by Jupiter, whose gravity plays a key role in corralling the asteroids in the belt they occupy today.
"We now have a more sophisticated model for the evolution of the Solar System called the Nice model, which successfully explains many of the features of the Solar System, with the planets having migrated outwards and then maybe also inwards," said Dr Kuppers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25849871
By Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent, BBC News
Observations of the Solar System's biggest asteroid suggest it is spewing plumes of water vapour into space.
Ceres has long been thought to contain substantial quantities of ice within its body, but this is the first time such releases have been detected.
The discovery was made by Europe's infrared Herschel space telescope, and is reported in the journal Nature.
Scientists believe the vapour is coming from dark coloured regions on Ceres' surface, but are not sure of the cause.
One idea is that surface, or near-surface, ice is being warmed by the Sun, turning it directly to a gas that then escapes to space.
"Another possibility," says the European Space Agency's Michael Kuppers, "is that there is still some energy in the interior of Ceres, and this energy would make the water vent out in a similar way as for geysers on Earth, only that with the low pressure at the surface of the asteroid, what comes out would be a vapour and not a liquid."
The quantity being out-gassed is not great - just 6kg per second - but the signature is unmistakable to Herschel, which was perfectly tuned to detect water molecules in space.
The telescope's observations were made before its decommissioning last year.
Scientists will get a better idea of what is going on in 2015, when Ceres is visited by the American space agency's Dawn probe.
The satellite will go into orbit around the 950km-wide body, mapping its surface and determining its composition and structure.
"It will be able to observe those dark regions at high resolution, and will probably solve the question of what process is creating the water vapour," explained Dr Kuppers.
Ceres is often now referred to as a "dwarf planet" - the same designation used to describe Pluto following its demotion from full planet status in 2006.
The asteroid's sheer size means gravity has pulled it into a near-spherical form.
It is regarded as quite a primitive body in that it has clearly not undergone the same heating and processing of its materials that the many other objects in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter have experienced.
Scientists suspect water-ice is buried under Ceres' crust because its density is less than that of the Earth's. And this reputation as a "wet body" is supported by the presence of a lot of minerals at its surface that have water bound into their structure.
One theory to explain why Ceres has so much more water-ice than other members of the surrounding asteroid population is that it formed further away from the Sun, and only later migrated to its present location.
This could have happened if perturbed by Jupiter, whose gravity plays a key role in corralling the asteroids in the belt they occupy today.
"We now have a more sophisticated model for the evolution of the Solar System called the Nice model, which successfully explains many of the features of the Solar System, with the planets having migrated outwards and then maybe also inwards," said Dr Kuppers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25849871
- Joined
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- Messages
- 5,823
Rosetta has awoken...
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sc...ng-rosetta-probe-wakes-up-20140121-hv98y.html[/url]
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sc...ng-rosetta-probe-wakes-up-20140121-hv98y.html[/url]
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Dawn spacecraft gets an eyeful of dwarf planet Ceres
This 13 January image, taken from 383,000km, hints at craters at the surface
The American space agency's Dawn spacecraft is bearing down on Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
New pictures released on Monday will help navigators put the satellite on the correct path to go into orbit around the dwarf planet on 6 March.
The German camera team on Dawn has made a little movie showing the 950km-wide world part-rotating on its axis.
Come the end of the month, the probe's pictures will better those from Hubble.
At the moment, at a separation of just under 400,000km, they are still only 80% as sharp as what the famous space
telescope can produce.
Ceres will be the first dwarf planet to be visited up-close. The second encounter will come in July when Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft flies by Pluto.
The dwarfs are a distinct class of object in the Solar System - after the terrestrial inner planets like Earth and the gas giants like Jupiter.
Dawn is arriving at Ceres after visiting the asteroid Vesta. This 530km-wide rock had the look of a punctured football, the result of a colossal collision sometime in its past that ripped a big chunk out of its southern polar region.
Ceres, on the other hand, is big enough for gravity to have pulled it into a more spherical shape.
Scientists think both bodies are fledglings that never quite made it to the big time.
In the case of Vesta, it underwent a lot of the same processes that transformed the early Earth, such as differentiating its insides to include an iron core.In contrast, Ceres's bid to reach the major planet league probably stalled very quickly.
Researchers believe its interior is dominated by a rocky core topped by ice that is then insulated by rocky lag deposits at the surface. A big question the mission hopes to answer is whether there is a liquid ocean of water at depth. Some models suggest there could well be.
Dawn is supposed to undertake a 16-month study of Ceres once it gets into orbit, but that may depend on how well the hobbled probe performs.
It has lost two of the four reaction wheels it uses for fine-pointing. As a result, it has to fire its thrusters to maintain a correct attitude, but this puts a drain on its hydrazine fuel supply. If everything keeps working, observations will be made from as low as 400km from the surface.
When time is eventually called on the mission, Dawn will be left circling Ceres.
"They've run out the models for a hundred years and it'll be a very stable orbit. We'll become a perpetual satellite of Ceres," deputy principal investor Carol Raymond told BBC News.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30888818
This 13 January image, taken from 383,000km, hints at craters at the surface
The American space agency's Dawn spacecraft is bearing down on Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
New pictures released on Monday will help navigators put the satellite on the correct path to go into orbit around the dwarf planet on 6 March.
The German camera team on Dawn has made a little movie showing the 950km-wide world part-rotating on its axis.
Come the end of the month, the probe's pictures will better those from Hubble.
At the moment, at a separation of just under 400,000km, they are still only 80% as sharp as what the famous space
telescope can produce.
Ceres will be the first dwarf planet to be visited up-close. The second encounter will come in July when Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft flies by Pluto.
The dwarfs are a distinct class of object in the Solar System - after the terrestrial inner planets like Earth and the gas giants like Jupiter.
Dawn is arriving at Ceres after visiting the asteroid Vesta. This 530km-wide rock had the look of a punctured football, the result of a colossal collision sometime in its past that ripped a big chunk out of its southern polar region.
Ceres, on the other hand, is big enough for gravity to have pulled it into a more spherical shape.
Scientists think both bodies are fledglings that never quite made it to the big time.
In the case of Vesta, it underwent a lot of the same processes that transformed the early Earth, such as differentiating its insides to include an iron core.In contrast, Ceres's bid to reach the major planet league probably stalled very quickly.
Researchers believe its interior is dominated by a rocky core topped by ice that is then insulated by rocky lag deposits at the surface. A big question the mission hopes to answer is whether there is a liquid ocean of water at depth. Some models suggest there could well be.
Dawn is supposed to undertake a 16-month study of Ceres once it gets into orbit, but that may depend on how well the hobbled probe performs.
It has lost two of the four reaction wheels it uses for fine-pointing. As a result, it has to fire its thrusters to maintain a correct attitude, but this puts a drain on its hydrazine fuel supply. If everything keeps working, observations will be made from as low as 400km from the surface.
When time is eventually called on the mission, Dawn will be left circling Ceres.
"They've run out the models for a hundred years and it'll be a very stable orbit. We'll become a perpetual satellite of Ceres," deputy principal investor Carol Raymond told BBC News.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30888818
Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2005
- Messages
- 11,076
NEWS | FEBRUARY 25, 2015
'Bright Spot' on Ceres Has Dimmer Companion
This image was taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft of dwarf planet Ceres on Feb. 19 from a distance of nearly 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers). It shows that the brightest spot on Ceres has a dimmer companion, which apparently lies in the same basin. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
› Full image and caption
Dwarf planet Ceres continues to puzzle scientists as NASA's Dawn spacecraft gets closer to being captured into orbit around the object. The latest images from Dawn, taken nearly 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers) from Ceres, reveal that a bright spot that stands out in previous images lies close to yet another bright area.
"Ceres' bright spot can now be seen to have a companion of lesser brightness, but apparently in the same basin. This may be pointing to a volcano-like origin of the spots, but we will have to wait for better resolution before we can make such geologic interpretations," said Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission, based at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Using its ion propulsion system, Dawn will enter orbit around Ceres on March 6. As scientists receive better and better views of the dwarf planet over the next 16 months, they hope to gain a deeper understanding of its origin and evolution by studying its surface. The intriguing bright spots and other interesting features of this captivating world will come into sharper focus.
"The brightest spot continues to be too small to resolve with our camera, but despite its size it is brighter than anything else on Ceres. This is truly unexpected and still a mystery to us," said Andreas Nathues, lead investigator for the framing camera team at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen, Germany.
Dawn visited the giant asteroid Vesta from 2011 to 2012, delivering more than 30,000 images of the body along with many other measurements, and providing insights about its composition and geological history. Vesta has an average diameter of 326 miles (525 kilometers), while Ceres has an average diameter of 590 miles (950 kilometers). Vesta and Ceres are the two most massive bodies in the asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter.
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 acknowledgements, visit:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission
For information about NASA's Dawn mission, visit:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4491
OneWingedBird
Beloved of Ra
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2003
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- 15,431
Is anyone else thinking of Barbelith? 
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Bright spotlight on Dawn mission to Ceres
By Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent
Scientists say they are hugely excited to learn the origin of two bright spots on the surface of Ceres.
The US space agency's Dawn probe is bearing down on the dwarf planet and on Friday will be captured by its gravity.
That will allow the satellite to spiral down in altitude in the coming months, to take ever sharper images of the spots, which sit inside a wide crater.
The striking features could be where an impact has dug out surface deposits and exposed the dwarf's interior layers.
But deputy project scientist Dr Carol Raymond cautioned that the resolution of Dawn's imagery was not good enough at the moment to make any definitive statements.
"These spots were extremely surprising and they have been puzzling to everyone who has seen them," the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory researcher told reporters.
"They show up in a 92km-wide crater that's about 19 degrees North latitude. The spot in the centre is about twice as bright as the spot on the side of the crater, and as yet it has not been resolved, meaning it is smaller than the 4km pixel size [of the images].
"But its apparent brightness is already off-scale; it's consistent with high reflective materials."
etc...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31702639
Seems like the cloaking mechanism on the alien base in the Solar System has failed!
By Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent
Scientists say they are hugely excited to learn the origin of two bright spots on the surface of Ceres.
The US space agency's Dawn probe is bearing down on the dwarf planet and on Friday will be captured by its gravity.
That will allow the satellite to spiral down in altitude in the coming months, to take ever sharper images of the spots, which sit inside a wide crater.
The striking features could be where an impact has dug out surface deposits and exposed the dwarf's interior layers.
But deputy project scientist Dr Carol Raymond cautioned that the resolution of Dawn's imagery was not good enough at the moment to make any definitive statements.
"These spots were extremely surprising and they have been puzzling to everyone who has seen them," the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory researcher told reporters.
"They show up in a 92km-wide crater that's about 19 degrees North latitude. The spot in the centre is about twice as bright as the spot on the side of the crater, and as yet it has not been resolved, meaning it is smaller than the 4km pixel size [of the images].
"But its apparent brightness is already off-scale; it's consistent with high reflective materials."
etc...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31702639
Seems like the cloaking mechanism on the alien base in the Solar System has failed!
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2003
- Messages
- 58,263
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- Eblana
Dawn Over Ceres - NASA Probe To Arrive At Dwarf Planet | Images and Visualization
Inserted into Ceres orbit on March 6th, 2015, the Dawn mission has been sending progressively better imagery to Earth since December 2014. Ceres is by far the largest body in the Main Belt of asteroids
http://www.space.com/28707-dawn-ove...at-dwarf-planet-images-and-visualization.html
Vid at link.
Inserted into Ceres orbit on March 6th, 2015, the Dawn mission has been sending progressively better imagery to Earth since December 2014. Ceres is by far the largest body in the Main Belt of asteroids
http://www.space.com/28707-dawn-ove...at-dwarf-planet-images-and-visualization.html
Vid at link.
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
6 March 2015 Last updated at 00:34
Nasa's Dawn probe set for Ceres arrival
By Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent
The US space agency's Dawn probe is set to go into orbit around Ceres, the largest object in the Solar System between Mars and Jupiter.
It has taken the satellite 7.5 years to reach its destination, and it will spend the next 14 months mapping the diminutive world.
Ceres is the first of the dwarf planets to be visited by a spacecraft.
It is expected to retain information about the Solar System's beginnings, four and a half billion years ago.
Dawn is travelling at a relatively slow pace with respect to its quarry and it should just be captured very gently by the gravity of Ceres.
Unlike on some other space missions, there will be no need to fire a big engine to insert the satellite into orbit.
Engineers have timed the moment of capture to be about 12:20 GMT.
At closest approach, the separation between Dawn and Ceres will be roughly 40,000km.
"That's about 10 times closer than the Moon is to the Earth," explained Robert Mase, the Dawn project manager at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
"Over the next month, we'll re-shape the orbit and get ready to begin the prime science phase."
The intention is to progressively lower the orbit until the probe is just a few hundred km above the surface.
etc...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31754586
Nasa's Dawn probe set for Ceres arrival
By Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent
The US space agency's Dawn probe is set to go into orbit around Ceres, the largest object in the Solar System between Mars and Jupiter.
It has taken the satellite 7.5 years to reach its destination, and it will spend the next 14 months mapping the diminutive world.
Ceres is the first of the dwarf planets to be visited by a spacecraft.
It is expected to retain information about the Solar System's beginnings, four and a half billion years ago.
Dawn is travelling at a relatively slow pace with respect to its quarry and it should just be captured very gently by the gravity of Ceres.
Unlike on some other space missions, there will be no need to fire a big engine to insert the satellite into orbit.
Engineers have timed the moment of capture to be about 12:20 GMT.
At closest approach, the separation between Dawn and Ceres will be roughly 40,000km.
"That's about 10 times closer than the Moon is to the Earth," explained Robert Mase, the Dawn project manager at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
"Over the next month, we'll re-shape the orbit and get ready to begin the prime science phase."
The intention is to progressively lower the orbit until the probe is just a few hundred km above the surface.
etc...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31754586
Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2005
- Messages
- 11,076
Dawn probe in orbit around Ceres
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31754586
Nasa's Dawn probe achieves orbit around Ceres
By Jonathan AmosBBC Science Correspondent
An artist's impression of Dawn firing its ion engine on approach to Ceres
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
The US space agency, Nasa, has confirmed that its Dawn probe has gone into orbit around Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
- Bright spotlight on Ceres mission
- Best ever view of asteroid Ceres
- Probe gets an eyeful of dwarf Ceres
It has taken the satellite 7.5 years to reach its destination, and it will spend the next 14 months mapping the diminutive world.
Ceres is the first of the dwarf planets to be visited by a spacecraft.
It should tell us something about the origins of the Solar System.
Dawn had been chasing down its quarry at a relatively slow pace and so was being captured very gently by the gravity of Ceres.
At closest approach, the separation between Dawn and Ceres will be roughly 40,000km.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31754586
Analogue Boy
Bar 6
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2005
- Messages
- 13,547
Whatever happened to those lights on Ceres?
I thought the probe was in orbit now. It all seems to have gone quiet.
I thought the probe was in orbit now. It all seems to have gone quiet.
Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2005
- Messages
- 11,076
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2001
- Messages
- 51,690
- Location
- Inside a starship, watching puny humans from afar
I think the 2 bright lights may be sunlight reflecting off 2 large shiny monoliths.
Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2005
- Messages
- 11,076
When the story broke I couldn't help thinking about The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke...
Analogue Boy
Bar 6
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2005
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- 13,547
Thanks for that link. So we have to wait until May then
Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2005
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GNC
King-Sized Canary
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2001
- Messages
- 33,634
By then the aliens will have realised they are being watched and will have left
Either that or Aliens Got Talent is the next big thing on TV.
Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2005
- Messages
- 11,076
New image of bright spots on Ceres
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32696746
Best view yet of Ceres' spots
By Jonathan AmosScience Correspondent
- 51 minutes ago
- From the sectionScience & Environment
The fascinating bright spots on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres have come into sharper view.
What were initially thought to be just a couple of brilliant, closely spaced features at one location now turn out to be a clutch of many smaller dots.
The latest pictures were acquired by the US space agency's Dawn spacecraft on its first full science orbit since arriving at Ceres on 6 March.
The spots were seen from a distance of 13,600km.
Researchers on the mission concede they still have much to learn about the dots' true nature, but the new data is hardening their ideas.
"Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice," said Chris Russell, who is the principal investigator on the mission.
With a diameter of 950km, Ceres is the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Dawn will spend the coming months studying its geology and surface chemistry with a suite of cameras and remote-sensing instruments.
The intention is to get some insights into the processes that have sculpted the dwarf since its formation with the rest of the Solar System some 4.5 billion years year ago.
Having completed its first science orbit, Dawn is now heading downwards to get even closer to the body.
This second second mapping campaign, which will commence on 6 June, will see Dawn moving just 4,400km from the surface.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32696746
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
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- 54,631
Ever since the BBC 'improved' their news website, large images there are horribly blurry in my browser.
For anyone else with a similar problem I found this page:
http://astronomynow.com/2015/05/11/ceres-mysterious-white-spots-resolved-in-latest-dawn-images/
This gives an animated view of Ceres, spots an' all, rotating - which is nice!
EDIT: '“Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice,” said Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission from the University of California, Los Angeles."'
Drat! I was hoping they would say the spots are working lights at an alien mining complex, rather than stating the bleedin' obvious!
For anyone else with a similar problem I found this page:
http://astronomynow.com/2015/05/11/ceres-mysterious-white-spots-resolved-in-latest-dawn-images/
This gives an animated view of Ceres, spots an' all, rotating - which is nice!
EDIT: '“Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice,” said Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission from the University of California, Los Angeles."'
Drat! I was hoping they would say the spots are working lights at an alien mining complex, rather than stating the bleedin' obvious!
Last edited:
Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2005
- Messages
- 11,076
Ever since the BBC 'improved' their news website, large images there are horribly blurry in my browser.
For anyone else with a similar problem I found this page:
http://astronomynow.com/2015/05/11/ceres-mysterious-white-spots-resolved-in-latest-dawn-images/
This gives an animated view of Ceres, spots an' all, rotating - which is nice!
EDIT: '“Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice,” said Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission from the University of California, Los Angeles."'
Drat! I was hoping they would say the spots are working lights at an alien mining complex, rather than stating the bleedin' obvious!
Don't despair just yet, the aliens may have highly reflective buildings
GNC
King-Sized Canary
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2001
- Messages
- 33,634
Don't despair just yet, the aliens may have highly reflective buildings
Just don't park your car underneath them, or risk it getting fried.
Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2005
- Messages
- 11,076
Ceres Bright Spots Seen Closer Than Ever
NASA's Dawn mission captured a sequence of images, taken for navigation purposes, of dwarf planet Ceres on May 16, 2015. The image showcases the group of the brightest spots on Ceres, which continue to mystify scientists. It was taken from a distance of 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) and has a resolution of 2,250 feet (700 meters) per pixel.
"Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice," Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission from the University of California, Los Angeles, said recently.
Dawn arrived at Ceres on March 6, marking the first time a spacecraft has orbited a dwarf planet. Previously, the spacecraft explored giant asteroid Vesta for 14 months from 2011 to 2012. Dawn has the distinction of being the only spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial targets.
The spacecraft has been using its ion propulsion system to maneuver to its second mapping orbit at Ceres, which it will reach on June 6. The spacecraft will remain at a distance of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) from the dwarf planet until June 30. Afterward, it will make its way to lower orbits.
Dawn's mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, 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 acknowledgements, visit:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission
For more information about the Dawn mission, visit:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news-detail.html?id=4594
Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2005
- Messages
- 11,076
NEWS | JUNE 10, 2015
Bright Spots Shine in Newest Dawn Ceres Images
The brightest spots on dwarf planet Ceres are seen in this image taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on June 6, 2015. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
› Full image and caption
New images of dwarf planet Ceres, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, show the cratered surface of this mysterious world in sharper detail than ever before. These are among the first snapshots from Dawn's second mapping orbit, which is 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) above Ceres.
The region with the brightest spots is in a crater about 55 miles (90 kilometers) across. The spots consist of many individual bright points of differing sizes, with a central cluster. So far, scientists have found no obvious explanation for their observed locations or brightness levels.
"The bright spots in this configuration make Ceres unique from anything we've seen before in the solar system. The science team is working to understand their source. Reflection from ice is the leading candidate in my mind, but the team continues to consider alternate possibilities, such as salt. With closer views from the new orbit and multiple view angles, we soon will be better able to determine the nature of this enigmatic phenomenon," said Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission based at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Numerous other features on Ceres intrigue scientists as they contrast this world with others, including protoplanet Vesta, which Dawn visited for 14 months in 2011 and 2012. Craters abound on both bodies, but Ceres appears to have had more activity on its surface, with evidence of flows, landslides and collapsed structures.
Additionally, new images from Dawn's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) show a portion of Ceres' cratered northern hemisphere, taken on May 16, including a true-color view and a temperature image. The temperature image is derived from data in the infrared light range. This instrument is also important in determining the nature of the bright spots.
Having arrived in its current orbit on June 3, Dawn will observe the dwarf planet from 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) above its surface until June 28. In orbits of about three days each, the spacecraft will conduct intensive observations of Ceres. It will then move toward its next orbit of altitude 900 miles (1,450 kilometers), arriving in early August.
On March 6, 2015, Dawn made history as the first mission to visit a dwarf planet, and the first to orbit two distinct extraterrestrial targets. At its previous target, Vesta, Dawn took tens of thousands of images and made many observations about the body's composition and other properties.
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, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of mission participants, visit:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission
More information about Dawn is available at the following sites:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov
http://www.nasa.gov/dawn
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4619
ramonmercado
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Ceres, the biggest asteroid in the Solar System, has a haze that appears occasionally in a crater above some of its mysterious white spots.
The phenomenon, observed by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, suggests that the bright spots “could be providing some atmosphere in this particular region of Ceres”, says Christopher Russell, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dawn has been orbiting Ceres since March. Russell, the mission’s principal investigator, described its initial findings at a NASA exploration meeting at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, on 21 July.
Haze on Ceres would be the first ever observed directly in the asteroid belt. In 2014, researchers using the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory reported seeing water vapour spraying off Ceres, which suggested that it was a geologically active world1. Ceres is made of at least one-quarter water, a far greater proportion than seen in most asteroids.
http://www.nature.com/news/mystery-haze-appears-above-ceres-bright-spots-1.18032
The phenomenon, observed by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, suggests that the bright spots “could be providing some atmosphere in this particular region of Ceres”, says Christopher Russell, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dawn has been orbiting Ceres since March. Russell, the mission’s principal investigator, described its initial findings at a NASA exploration meeting at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, on 21 July.
Haze on Ceres would be the first ever observed directly in the asteroid belt. In 2014, researchers using the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory reported seeing water vapour spraying off Ceres, which suggested that it was a geologically active world1. Ceres is made of at least one-quarter water, a far greater proportion than seen in most asteroids.
http://www.nature.com/news/mystery-haze-appears-above-ceres-bright-spots-1.18032
Bigphoot2
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Latest image from Ceres of the bright spots https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/ceres-bright-spots-seen-in-striking-new-detail
Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
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New clues to Ceres' bright spots
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4785
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4785
ramonmercado
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Could We Colonize Ceres Like in SyFy's 'The Expanse'?
"The Expanse" features a highly-developed Ceres colony whose gravity comes from the whole asteroid spinning. Living on real-life Ceres would be more of a challenge, at least at first.
Credit: SyfyIn "The Expanse" on SyFy features a hollowed-out asteroid (and dwarf planet) populated by a core group of miners as well as a society of civilians. The asteroid spins, so the colonists all experience gravity. But if an expedition went out today, the explorers would find a totally untamed environment. What challenges would they face?
This is something that in small part is already being explored by the Dawn mission, which has been hanging around Ceres for the better part of 2015. The orbiting probe has just moved to a lower mapping altitude to get a good look at the surface of Ceres, and already some clear differences are showing up compared with another large, rocky body: Earth's moon. [Living on Ceres: What It Would Be Like (Infographic)]
Ceres' surface is an intriguing place: Dawn has seen white spots on Ceres, which are likely salt deposits, and craters with hexagonal shapes, which happen because the gravity is so low that the edges of a crater form along fractures of the surface. And the terrain is rough, meaning it will prove difficult for future rovers and humans to explore, Dawn's investigators said. ...
http://www.space.com/31584-dwarf-pl...id=687004883044577280&adbpl=tw&adbpr=15431856
"The Expanse" features a highly-developed Ceres colony whose gravity comes from the whole asteroid spinning. Living on real-life Ceres would be more of a challenge, at least at first.
Credit: SyfyIn "The Expanse" on SyFy features a hollowed-out asteroid (and dwarf planet) populated by a core group of miners as well as a society of civilians. The asteroid spins, so the colonists all experience gravity. But if an expedition went out today, the explorers would find a totally untamed environment. What challenges would they face?
This is something that in small part is already being explored by the Dawn mission, which has been hanging around Ceres for the better part of 2015. The orbiting probe has just moved to a lower mapping altitude to get a good look at the surface of Ceres, and already some clear differences are showing up compared with another large, rocky body: Earth's moon. [Living on Ceres: What It Would Be Like (Infographic)]
Ceres' surface is an intriguing place: Dawn has seen white spots on Ceres, which are likely salt deposits, and craters with hexagonal shapes, which happen because the gravity is so low that the edges of a crater form along fractures of the surface. And the terrain is rough, meaning it will prove difficult for future rovers and humans to explore, Dawn's investigators said. ...
http://www.space.com/31584-dwarf-pl...id=687004883044577280&adbpl=tw&adbpr=15431856