Dwarf planet Ceres' bright spots shrink but stay strange on approach

cnet.com ^ | Erik Mack

[BenLurkin]

As Dawn descends toward its closest orbit around Ceres, it has been imaging the spots along the way, gradually giving us a less pixelated view of the large crater containing what now appear to be several bright spots reflecting the sun back at us. What once looked to be a large bright spot near the center of the dwarf planet soon split into two smaller, nearly adjacent spots upon closer inspection. In the latest view from Dawn, shot on May 16, those two large spots seem to be resolving into several smaller bright spots.

The leading guess from NASA scientists at the moment is that we're seeing some sort of natural reflective surface like ice on the surface of a body that's expected to harbor quite a bit of frozen water beneath its rocky shell.

However, NASA has asked the public for an opinion via online surveys at least twice in the last several months, and so far most humans don't seem to believe (or want to believe, perhaps) that those spots are something as common as patches of ice. In an ongoing survey on the Dawn mission site, "other" is the most popular choice. In another, earlier survey, "frozen lakes" come in second to "underground light soil uncovered by recent meteor impacts." "Something completely different" is the third most popular choice.

While closer views of the spots reveal that they may be smaller and less monolithic than at first glance, they're also getting arguably weirder.

[sten]

that probe has 1 mission... get out there, take clear pics of interesting things, and send it back

transmission distance is irrelevant.

[cripplecreek]

[dr_lew]

That's a hot link to the JPL DAWN site, which I have been following assiduously. Assiduously, I say. I invite anyone to go check it out

[cripplecreek]

And anyone can download the http://eyes.nasa.gov/download.html

I’ve also been following it daily since its approach to Vesta.

[dr_lew]

The JPL DAWN site goes hour by hour, with 4 to 6 updates per day all time stamped with the MYSTIC simulator. This is the official mission site run by JPL. The EYES ON site is a comprehensive overview of some kind, and when I went to it, it invited me to do some downloads. No thanks, I'll stick with the JPL DAWN site, upon which I have relied.

[cripplecreek]

Whatever.

Obviously you’re a very important person. LOL

[cuban leaf]

I’m curious if the camera and length of exposure is making these spots look brighter than they really are.

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Good point. We assume that the rest of the rock is the same color as the moon. What if it’s significantly darker and this is brightened up to make it look much lighter, making the lighter part look almost dayglow white.