Bright spots on dwarf planet Ceres seen in greater detail

CBS ^ | September 9, 2015, 6:59 PM | WIlliam Harwood

[BenLurkin]

The latest images from Dawn reveal surface features as small as 450 feet across. The two bright spots are now resolved into one very bright area near the center of a crater known as Occator with about eight smaller concentrations to one side surrounding an area where the deposits appear more spread out.

Researchers with the Dawn project have not yet weighed in on what the bright material might be or how it got there.

"Although our data are now of higher resolution, we're still missing key pieces of information that we really need to know the whole picture," Carol Raymond, the Dawn deputy principal investigator, told CBS News.

"Essentially, the important information we're missing is the detailed chemistry of these deposits. We won't know that until we complete the spectral mapping and have fully analyzed those data. Then, as we get much closer to the surface, we'll be able to better resolve at the level of these individual deposits and assess whether these bright materials are all the same or are there different flavors of the constituents?"

[BenLurkin]

Intriguing bright spots on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres are coming into sharper focus as NASA's Dawn spacecraft studies the world from a high-altitude mapping orbit 915 miles up. The spacecraft is expected to descend to an altitude of just 230 miles or so later this year./ NASA

[piytar]

Just a guess: That’s most likely ice from when a comet went “splat” (creating the crater), part of it “bounced,” and that part went “splat” again (creating the smaller crater inside the bigger one).

[NonValueAdded]

It’s quite obvious that is a landing platform and docking beacon.

[Hulka]

I think I see a moose in the center of that spot.

[fhayek]

I think I see a moose in the center of that spot.

That could be Ceres!

[Boogieman]

Any ice would have been instantly vaporized on impact.

[Cold Heat]

I think ice would have disappeared by sublimation. Unless it’s continuously replenished.

[dainbramaged]

Pretty interesting, what ever they are. Dilithium crystals?

[Hulka]

LOL. . .I saw what you did there. . .

[The Iceman Cometh]

I thought ‘dwarf’ had become an offensive term? (See the story on Snow White and her Seven Friends)

[Lee Enfield]

And you can't use the term bright as it might imply an intelligence difference. It should be "Areas of excessive coloration on the size challenged (though without any fat shaming) celestial body.

[Lee Enfield]

And you can't use the term bright as it might imply an intelligence difference. It should be "Areas of excessive coloration on the size challenged (though without any fat shaming) celestial body.

[Moonman62]

One thing they already know is that’s a relatively young crater, due to the absence of smaller craters within in it.

My feeling all along is the white stuff is ice that is normally below the dusty crust.

[The Iceman Cometh]

Areas of excessive coloration on the size challenged (though without any fat shaming) celestial body.

Highly illuminated diminutive body of celestial origination?

[XRdsRev]

My 2 cents.....it’s glass that is reflecting light. The glass was formed by the friction of impact. Some of it coats the impact crater center and some was ejected at the time of impact, either following or opposite of the impacting objects direction.

[Verginius Rufus]

Ceres the Vertically Challenged Planet.

[fwdude]

Light pollution from evil humanoid beings?

[chopperman]

It also shines when this side is dark. Its most likely lava.

[Lee Enfield]

Reflective ball of mostly rock?

[CedarDave]

It’s pretty obvious that someone’s been mining there and didn’t get a reclamation permit from the EPA!