Those bright spots on Ceres just wo n’t go away , will they ? While New Horizons and the dwarf satellite Pluto might have been hogging thelimelightrecently , the Dawn space vehicle deserve its fair part of attention too – and it may now be close to solving the mystery of the brilliant spots on fellow dwarf planet Ceres .
Ever sinceDawnentered arena around Ceres originally this year , scientists have been left nonplus by the appearance of bright slur apparently reflecting sunlight in crater on the surface . Theories for theiroriginhave ranged from ice – exposed by impacts on the Earth’s surface – to salt flats or even cryovolcanoes .
Now scientists might be closer to reset the closed book by spotting a " fog " above one group of spots , paint a picture their origin is ice . The latest findings were let out by Christopher Russell , the principal investigator on the mission , at an exploration meeting at NASA ’s Ames Research Center yesterday .
If confirmed , this would be the first such haze ever found in the asteroid knock , and could indicate the presence of ice turning into gas – bonk as sublimation – on Ceres . The daze was found confined to the Occator volcanic crater , which contains the most famous smear on the surface , labelled Spot 5 .
“ At noontime , if you look at a glancing angle , you’re able to see what seems to be haze , ” read Russell toNature . “ It comes back in a unconstipated pattern . ”
NASA ’s Dawn space vehicle ( artist ’s impression show ) entered orbit around Ceres on March 6 , 2015 . NASA / JPL - Caltech .
More than a after part of Ceres ’ mass isthoughtto be composed of piddle ( the other three - quarter is John Rock ) , much more than is thought to be present on asteroid . Whether these spots are made of water - frappe , though , or something else only has been up fordebate . Now , this discovery of haze lends inviolable grounds to the ice theory .
Andrew Rivkin , a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel , Maryland , indite forThe Planetary Society , notes that the squad had been favoring “ a non - ice composition for the bright spots in recent weeks , ” so there may yet be another account for the daze .
Dawn is cover to spiralcloser and closerto Ceres as it lowers its orbit , and by August it will be 1,500 kilometer ( 900 mile ) above the airfoil , compare to less than 4,000 kilometer ( 2,500 international nautical mile ) now . It will also presently apply its infrared mass spectrometer , which should be able to work out if the patch are made of ice or salt .
By August , then , we can require to have a much better understanding of the promising speckle . Whatever they bend out to be , the answer is certain to cater a fascinating brainstorm into some of the processes acquire place on Ceres .
