It looks to me like the center spot is a peak within the crater and the smaller white spots are material that's been ejected from the center spot.
Like John Belushi being a zit in the cafeteria in Animal House.
Posted on 06/10/2015 8:10:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Naturally, when you try to capture details in something bright, your background will go dark. But that might be what’s needed here – a change in exposure to reveal more detail in the spots at the expense of the landscape. Doubtless NASA will release enlarged and detailed images of these enigmatic dots later this summer.....
Scientists still don’t understand the nature of the spot cluster, but reflective ice or salt remain the strongest possibilities.
“The bright spots in this configuration make Ceres unique from anything we’ve seen before in the solar system,” said Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission. “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.”
It’s interesting to compare and contrast Ceres with Dawn’s first target asteroid, Vesta. Craters of every size dominate both small worlds, but Ceres shows evidence of a more activity in the form of relaxed crater rims (possibly due to ice deformation), landslides and collapsed structures.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
It looks to me like the center spot is a peak within the crater and the smaller white spots are material that's been ejected from the center spot.
Like John Belushi being a zit in the cafeteria in Animal House.
Nice photo, very impressive. Lets get up there close enough to lick it.
...
The danger would be your tongue sticking to it.
Looks like a huge sand boil.
Or rather, a sand blow, which can be seismic, while sand boils are more associated with water pressure due to flooding.
Thanks Army Air Corps, extra to APoD.
Giant pool of silver!........................
A giant pool of mercury!..................
Could it possibly be that the underlying subsurface material is being exposed by a big impact? The white may be ice or frozen CO2 that is the major constituent of the planetoid and the impact just removed enough of the outer surface to let it show. Any of the ice/CO2 that was ejected, sublimated away into space eons ago.................
A sandblow?.....................
Yes, but the "oddness" (of those being the only spots) which you allege has nothing to do with their (possibly) consisting of salt and/or ice, right?
So, if their consisting of salt and/or ice is irrelevant to their oddness, then to mention, in your comment, their composition is only confusing.
Glad to be of help in straightening out your thinking! [ducks and runs for cover]
Regards,
You’re right, I would expect many different shots with various filters and exposures. Unanswered questions allow the buzz of speculation to grow.
It really makes me wonder how they could put up a spacecraft with an array of very sophisticated cameras, yet totally over expose the most stunning surface features.
That’s what we have NASA for.
That’s it! They’ve found another tomb of the Chinese Emperor.
LOL
It might be something stronger, and more hallucinogenic, than coffee.
I wish they’d hurry up and excavate that thing. People are so afraid of mercury nowadays that it may be decades before they get inside that mound................
Yeah, I’d like to see what they can find in there too. Considering what they’ve found in the outlying companion sites there has to be some amazing things in the main tomb.
I have to wonder if the Chinese are more afraid of the Emperor himself than they are of the mercury though. lol
So far everything they have unearthed is stupendous!................
Could be guano. Ten of the constellations are birds.
That’s what it looks like to me...
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