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Ceres' bright spots are back: Dawn captures new images of mystery features - and scientists STILL...
MailOnline ^
| Jonathan O'Callaghan
Posted on 04/20/2015 8:06:31 PM PDT by BenLurkin
As the spacecraft gets closer to the dwarf planet and moves around it, more and more of the surface is coming into view.
The two brightest spots seen in a crater are known as ‘spot 5’.
The scale in the image is about 1.3 miles (2.1km) per pixel, almost 70 per cent better than previous images.
But the origin of the bright spots remains a mystery for now - with theories ranging from exposed ice to volcanoes.
Salt flats or ice seem to be the predominant theories at the moment, with the bright spots appearing to reflect incoming sunlight towards the spacecraft’s cameras.
Until Dawn gets closer, though, it’s unlikely the mystery will be resolved.
‘It’s too early to say what they are,’ Dr Marc Rayman, Dawn's mission director and chief engineer, told MailOnline.
‘Some people have offered they might be ice, but I don’t consider that necessarily the most likely explanation.’
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
TOPICS: Astronomy
KEYWORDS:
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1
posted on
04/20/2015 8:06:31 PM PDT
by
BenLurkin
To: BenLurkin
Gated communities full of white liberals?
To: BenLurkin
Dawn got as close as about 9,000 miles but is headed outward again and was a bit more than 11,000 miles out as of about an hour ago.
Still settling into its orbit.
3
posted on
04/20/2015 8:09:56 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
To: BenLurkin
4
posted on
04/20/2015 8:17:21 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
To: BenLurkin
5
posted on
04/20/2015 8:20:12 PM PDT
by
TBP
(Obama lies, Granny dies.)
To: BenLurkin
They are definitely reflective, which destroys my theory that they are full of stars.
Maybe we’ll find a monolith on Pluto in a few months.
6
posted on
04/20/2015 8:24:29 PM PDT
by
Moonman62
(The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
To: BenLurkin
shiny metal? crashed ship? (that’d be exciting)
7
posted on
04/20/2015 8:29:38 PM PDT
by
sten
(fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
To: Moonman62
Spectral analysis will tell us more.
8
posted on
04/20/2015 8:30:45 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
To: cripplecreek
It is the Medellin Cartel’s long-lost mega stash.
9
posted on
04/20/2015 8:33:08 PM PDT
by
Army Air Corps
(Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
To: cripplecreek
10
posted on
04/20/2015 8:36:32 PM PDT
by
Farmer Dean
(stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
To: Farmer Dean
I notice that Ceres doesn’t have the striations we see on other asteroids which do look like mined areas.
11
posted on
04/20/2015 8:39:08 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
To: Swordmaker
The biggest “bright spot” seems to be located directly in the center of what looks like a discharge crater to me, what do you think?
To: cripplecreek
Maybe they just got started on Ceres.
13
posted on
04/20/2015 8:40:16 PM PDT
by
Farmer Dean
(stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
To: Farmer Dean
Alien mining operation?
Maybe the drug ring that Sean Connery broke up is back, and has moved on to manufacturing meth.
14
posted on
04/20/2015 8:43:38 PM PDT
by
jjsheridan5
(The next Ronald Reagan will not be a Republican, but rather a former Republican)
To: Farmer Dean
They strip mined the other asteroids. They’re deep shaft mining Ceres.
15
posted on
04/20/2015 8:43:47 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
To: cripplecreek
You’re saying other asteroids got stripped, and Ceres got the shaft?
16
posted on
04/20/2015 8:50:30 PM PDT
by
null and void
(He who kills a tyrant (i.e. an usurper) to free his country is praised and rewarded ~ Thomas Aquinas)
To: BenLurkin
Just a molten spot caused by a misdirected ash tray hurled by Hillary.
17
posted on
04/20/2015 9:38:46 PM PDT
by
spokeshave
(He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people,)
To: Boogieman; 1FreeAmerican; A. Patriot; AndrewC; antonia; aristotleman; Carilisa; Churchjack; ...
The biggest “bright spot” seems to be located directly in the center of what looks like a discharge crater to me, what do you think? I don't know. The scientists say it is not a light source itself but rather a reflective of another source I don't know if I believe that or not because earlier photos showed it center on and still glowing on a dark view. That would seem to argue against the reflective claim. If it is a discharge crater, an anode, where is the cathode?
Let's see what Electric Universe Ping List Members think. . .
If you want on or off the Electric Universe Ping List, Freepmail me.
18
posted on
04/20/2015 9:51:12 PM PDT
by
Swordmaker
(This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users contnue...)
To: BenLurkin
Looks like a pair of beady little eyes.
To: BenLurkin
Used UFO dealership having a “Push, Pull or Drag” sale.
20
posted on
04/20/2015 10:14:44 PM PDT
by
bluejean
(The lunatics are running the asylum)
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