REAL LIFE NEWS: CERES HAS WEATHER
by Hazed
The Dawn probe which is orbiting dwarf planet Ceres in the asteroid belt has spotted icy activity on its surface, indicating that there is a weather system of sorts which results in ongoing change to Ceres’ surface.
This “seasonal water cycle” is caused by the planet moving closer to the Sun as it orbits. This results in water vapour being released from ice in the subsurface, which condenses into ice in the shadows of cold crater walls.
The warming of the surface also seems to trigger landslides which expose fresh ice crystals.
The observations were made between April and October 2016, and they show an increase in ice inn the shadows of the northern wall of the Juling crater, a 20km-wide depression.
“This is the first direct detection of change on the surface of Ceres,” said Andrea Raponi of the Institute of Astrophysics and Planetary Science in Rome.
Dawn’s mission has been extended twice but now it is nearing the end of its life as it is running low on the hydrazine fuel needed to maintain its orientation, after its reaction wheels failed.
The plan is to move it from its current orbit of 24,000km into a new orbit that will dive as close as 50km above the surface before heading back up to 4,000km. This would probably exhaust its fuel, leaving it to coast in a high circular orbit.
This final dive is sure to yield many more fascinating images and a lot of data that scientists will pore over for years.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/15/an_icy_dawn_on_ceres/
