REAL LIFE NEWS: MORE DETAILS ON CERES BRIGHT SPOTS
by Hazed
Remember the curious bright spots on dwarf planet Ceres, which the Dawn spacecraft has been sending back images of? Now the ship has sent back the closest pictures we have seen so far.
Dawn is currently in its lowest orbit around Ceres, just 240 metres above the surface. The latest pictures reveal more details about their origin. The glow is likely to come from salt, and the craters that house the spots are not as old as we had thought.
The picture at the source link below shows the Haulani crater. Martin Hoffmann, co-investigor for the research, says, “Haulani perfectly displays the properties we would expect from a fresh impact into the surface of Ceres. The crater floor is largely free of impacts, and it contrasts sharply in color from older parts of the surface.”
Researchers are also investigating an active network of fault lines that lies beneath the bright spots, which have been identified because of the shape of the craters, which are often fractured into polygons.
The second brightest object on Ceres is the Oxo crater, which appears to have collapsed on one side. When researchers looked at this cave-in they found that the minerals lying on its floor seemed to be different from anything else they’ve seen on Ceres. Their next steps will be to figure out what these minerals are and how they got there.
Clearly Ceres still has many mysteries to be uncovered.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/our-closest-view-yet-of-ceres-strange-bright-spots-fina-1771798052
