Space & Astronomy

Ceres bright spot mystery deepens further

By T.K. Randall
April 14, 2015

Image: Rendering of the Dwarf Planet Ceres
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA / (PD) Of all the mysteries that Ceres has to offer by far the most intriguing is that of the mysterious bright spots that have been repeatedly observed and photographed on its surface.

During the Dawn probe's approach there was much speculation over what these anomalous bright areas could be with theories ranging from mineral deposits to water volcanoes. When Dawn arrived in orbit around Ceres it was hoped that it would quickly put an end to the mystery but if anything it has done the opposite.

The latest data from the probe's Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIR) has revealed that the bright spots don't even exhibit consistent properties with each behaving in a slightly different way. Of the two most visible spots, one is colder than its surroundings and the other is not."For sure, we have bright spots on the surface of Ceres which, at least from a thermal perspective, seem to behave in different ways," said Federico Tosi of Dawn's VIR team.

There were other susprises too - Ceres appears to be quite unlike its neighbor Vesta, which Dawn had previously visited, and also seems to be home to far fewer craters on its surface.

"When we compared the size of the craters on Ceres with those on Vesta, we're missing a number of large craters, the number we would expect," said Dawn principal investigator Christopher Russell.

It is hoped that the answers to these mysteries, along with many more, will be found over the coming months as the Dawn spacecraft continues to explore its new home.

Source: Yahoo! News

Tags: Ceres, Dawn