Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Ceres Bright Spots Seen Closer Than Ever

posted by takyon on Friday May 22 2015, @10:51AM   Printer-friendly
from the a-new-dawn dept.

Linatux writes:

JPL has published an even closer look at the bright spots on Ceres.

Apart from a closer look, there isn't much new information. While looking at the picture though, I was having trouble with the perspective on the craters. If I invert/negative the image, the spots are of course black, but the craters look like craters. What gives?

"Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice," Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission from the University of California, Los Angeles, said recently.

Dawn is currently about 7,200 km from the surface of Ceres. On December 8th, it will be 375 km from the surface.

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Ceres Bright Spots Seen Closer Than Ever | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 10 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by wonkey_monkey on Friday May 22 2015, @01:38PM

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Friday May 22 2015, @01:38PM (#186438) Homepage

    If I invert/negative the image, the spots are of course black, but the craters look like craters. What gives?

    Normally the brain interprets something with a highlight along the top edge as being embossed instead of indented, as it defaults to assuming that things are lit from above (i.e. by the Sun). But that only really applies to simple geometric shapes like buttons on websites - anything "real world" enough will have more cues that the brain can use. Although the craters are quite shallow, there's probably enough information there for the brain to realise that whatever it is doesn't cast any external shadows - only internal ones.

    When you invert, instead of decided the things are mounds, the brain just decides that they're being lit from the opposite angle, thanks to those other cues.

    If you take a crop of the image, so that there's less context, you might find it looks a bit less cratery and more moundy.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Informative=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   3