Dawn Finds Possible Ancient Ocean Remnants at Ceres
Minerals containing water are widespread on Ceres, suggesting the dwarf planet may have had a global ocean in the past. What became of that ocean? Could Ceres still have liquid today? Two new studies from NASA's Dawn mission shed light on these questions.
The Dawn team found that Ceres' crust is a mixture of ice, salts and hydrated materials that were subjected to past and possibly recent geologic activity, and that this crust represents most of that ancient ocean. The second study builds off the first and suggests there is a softer, easily deformable layer beneath Ceres' rigid surface crust, which could be the signature of residual liquid left over from the ocean, too.
"More and more, we are learning that Ceres is a complex, dynamic world that may have hosted a lot of liquid water in the past, and may still have some underground," said Julie Castillo-Rogez, Dawn project scientist and co-author of the studies, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Constraints on Ceres' internal structure and evolution from its shape and gravity measured by the Dawn spacecraft (open, DOI: 10.1002/2017JE005302) (DX)
The interior structure of Ceres as revealed by surface topography (DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.07.053) (DX)
Previously: Dawn Spies Magnesium Sulphate and Possible Geological Activity on Ceres
Ceres's Cryovolcanoes Viscously Relax Into Nothingness
Organic Molecules Found on Ceres
Early Asteroids May Have Been Made of Mud Rather Than Rock
Dawn Mission Extended at Ceres
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 30 2017, @07:46AM (4 children)
Some people [soylentnews.org] would go bust if alcohol isn't available, what's with this discrimination?
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @08:04AM
You haven't heard of the scandal? Many alcohol products sitting on our nation's liquor store shelves are adulterated with 60%... or sometimes even as much as 96% water! ...Then there is O'Doul's.
(smirk)
(Score: 2) by rylyeh on Monday October 30 2017, @08:46AM
Some yeast, some sugar and Voila!
"a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @01:05PM (1 child)
wait, i don't get any busts without alcohol. well, if they don't get alcohol. still
and i discriminate amongst them because some busts are better than others, but alcohol can help provide a mountainous playing field.
what were we talking about
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @01:24PM
Not weed, no