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.
Related Stories
Dawn spacecraft captures new images of Ceres' Occator Crater
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has entered into its final planned orbital position from which it will study the dwarf planet Ceres, the lowest the probe has descended to the tiny world since it arrived in orbit on March 6, 2015.
The probe is powered by three xenon ion thrusters and it enter[ed] into its new orbit around the dwarf planet on June 6, 2018. Since then, the spacecraft has begun beaming back to Earth stunning new and closer images of this tiny worldlet.
One of Dawn's targets is Occator Crater. While the name might not ring a bell even among space enthusiasts, the "bright spots" contained within the crater should. These deposits are thought to be salt from briny water that erupted from the dwarf planet's surface before sublimating. It was found that the bright regions were comprised of sodium carbonate. On Earth, these salts are left behind when water evaporates.
Dawn was instructed to fire its ion engine—for what could be the last time—last week. By carrying out this maneuver, the probe flew closer to the dwarf planet's Cerealia Facula. This is the region of Occator Crater that contains a large deposit of sodium carbonate.
Perhaps more important than the cool photographs will be the data collected by the spacecraft's two other instruments, and particularly the Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector (GRaND).
Previously: Ceres Bright Spots Seen Closer Than Ever
Life On Ceres? Mysterious Changes in the Bright Spots Still Baffle Scientists
Bright Areas on Ceres Suggest Geologic Activity
Evidence of a Seasonal Water Cycle and Surface Changes Found on Ceres
Dawn's Orbit Around Ceres: A New Low
Dawn's Orbit Around Ceres: First Images
(Score: 1) by canopic jug on Friday May 22 2015, @11:16AM
Aren't some asteroids thought to be partially metal? Some largish bits could have been sheared or polished during the formation of the crater and certainly wouldn't oxidize out there, staying just as shiny as when the crater was first blasted.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by nyder on Friday May 22 2015, @12:43PM
I think this might be more likely, because if ice was able to survive in that crater, why haven't we spotted any other in the other craters? Would think there would be more, but what do I know?
What I do know is I can't wait to find out, can't wait for some of these new probes & stuff to get to their locations. Think how much we could learn if we invested even 1/8th of the military budget to the space/science communities.
(Score: 4, Informative) by sudo rm -rf on Friday May 22 2015, @01:16PM
We will hopefully soon find out, DAWN has a spectrometer [nasa.gov] on board. Also there are apparently more craters with bright spots, as can be seen in this animated gif [nasa.gov] from May 11th. I think it is amazing that every single celestial body we start to take a closer look at seems to have unthought-of features.
(Score: 2) by TK on Friday May 22 2015, @03:12PM
That gif is incredible. I love living in the future.
The fleas have smaller fleas, upon their backs to bite them, and those fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday May 22 2015, @09:51PM
I'm going with tinfoil: Ceres, our first conspiracy theorist dwarf planet!!
(Score: 5, Informative) by francois.barbier on Friday May 22 2015, @11:25AM
Light comes from below. Look at the crater in the top left corner. You should see it correctly and the rest of the picture should make more sense.
Or you could just rotate the picture [imgur.com].
(Score: 2, Funny) by Linatux on Saturday May 23 2015, @08:06AM
Thanks - just a brain problem then :)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 22 2015, @11:34AM
Stick your hand into the Holy Asshole, and if it lights up, you will receive the Sign of the Brown Ring.
(Score: 3, Informative) by wonkey_monkey on Friday May 22 2015, @01:38PM
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.
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(Score: 3, Funny) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday May 23 2015, @09:50AM
As I now feel compelled to play Kerbal Space Program for the next 14 hours or so.
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