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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday December 19 2017, @02:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the Ceres'-future-looks-bright dept.

Bright Areas on Ceres Suggest Geologic Activity

Since Dawn arrived in orbit at Ceres in March 2015, scientists have located more than 300 bright areas on Ceres. A new study in the journal Icarus, led by Nathan Stein, a doctoral researcher at Caltech in Pasadena, California, divides Ceres' features into four categories.

The first group of bright spots contains the most reflective material on Ceres, which is found on crater floors. The most iconic examples are in Occator Crater, which hosts two prominent bright areas. Cerealia Facula, in the center of the crater, consists of bright material covering a 6-mile-wide (10-kilometer-wide) pit, within which sits a small dome. East of the center is a collection of slightly less reflective and more diffuse features called Vinalia Faculae. All the bright material in Occator Crater is made of salt-rich material, which was likely once mixed in water. Although Cerealia Facula is the brightest area on all of Ceres, it would resemble dirty snow to the human eye.

More commonly, in the second category, bright material is found on the rims of craters, streaking down toward the floors. Impacting bodies likely exposed bright material that was already in the subsurface or had formed in a previous impact event.

Separately, in the third category, bright material can be found in the material ejected when craters were formed.

The mountain Ahuna Mons gets its own fourth category -- the one instance on Ceres where bright material is unaffiliated with any impact crater. This likely cryovolcano, a volcano formed by the gradual accumulation of thick, slowly flowing icy materials, has prominent bright streaks on its flanks.

Ceres and cryovolcanos.

The formation and evolution of bright spots on Ceres (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2017.10.014) (DX)

Previously: A Closer Look At Mystery Spots On Dwarf Planet Ceres
NASA's Dawn Orbiter Finds a Mountain on Ceres
Ceres's Cryovolcanoes Viscously Relax Into Nothingness
Organic Molecules Found on Ceres
Dawn Mission Extended at Ceres
Ceres May Have Had a Global Surface Ocean in the Past


Original Submission

Related Stories

A Closer Look At Mystery Spots On Dwarf Planet Ceres 14 comments

The Dawn space probe will enter orbit of the dwarf planet Ceres this Friday. Once in orbit it will be at a separation distance of 40,000km. Years ago, Hubble photos revealed a curious bright patch on Ceres. The Dawn probe has been capturing increasingly clearer images as it approaches Ceres and the spots remain mysterious. Rather than a large lighter patch, the resulting photos reveal multiple spots, smaller and brighter than expected.

From a recent BBC article:

"These spots were extremely surprising and they have been puzzling to everyone who has seen them," the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory researcher told reporters.
"They show up in a 92km-wide crater that's about 19 degrees North latitude. The spot in the centre is about twice as bright as the spot on the side of the crater, and as yet it has not been resolved, meaning it is smaller than the 4km pixel size [of the images].

By December it will have reached a final orbit of just 380km, from that distance the images it captures will resolve much finer detail, and hopefully will reveal more about these odd reflective areas.

According to a Scientific American article, "No one knows what the bright spots are but guesses abound: Perhaps they are scars from recent impacts or minerals deposited by active geysers or water ice erupted by “cryovolcanoes”—or something even wilder."

NASA's Dawn Orbiter Finds a Mountain on Ceres 14 comments

An unexpected mountain has been discovered on Ceres in images sent by NASA's Dawn orbiter:

One year ago, on March 6, 2015, NASA's Dawn spacecraft slid gently into orbit around Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Since then, the spacecraft has delivered a wealth of images and other data that open an exciting new window to the previously unexplored dwarf planet.

"Ceres has defied our expectations and surprised us in many ways, thanks to a year's worth of data from Dawn. We are hard at work on the mysteries the spacecraft has presented to us," said Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator for the mission, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Among Ceres' most enigmatic features is a tall mountain the Dawn team named Ahuna Mons. This mountain appeared as a small, bright-sided bump on the surface as early as February 2015 from a distance of 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers), before Dawn was captured into orbit. As Dawn circled Ceres at increasingly lower altitudes, the shape of this mysterious feature began to come into focus. From afar, Ahuna Mons looked to be pyramid-shaped, but upon closer inspection, it is best described as a dome with smooth, steep walls.

Dawn's latest images of Ahuna Mons, taken 120 times closer than in February 2015, reveal that this mountain has a lot of bright material on some of its slopes, and less on others. On its steepest side, it is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) high. The mountain has an average overall height of 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). It rises higher than Washington's Mount Rainier and California's Mount Whitney. Scientists are beginning to identify other features on Ceres that could be similar in nature to Ahuna Mons, but none is as tall and well-defined as this mountain.

"No one expected a mountain on Ceres, especially one like Ahuna Mons," said Chris Russell, Dawn's principal investigator at the University of California, Los Angeles. "We still do not have a satisfactory model to explain how it formed."


Original Submission

Ceres's Cryovolcanoes Viscously Relax Into Nothingness 3 comments

Scientists theorize that Ceres's cryovolcanoes slowly flatten over time:

A recently discovered solitary ice volcano on the dwarf planet Ceres may have some hidden older siblings, say scientists who have tested a likely way such mountains of icy rock – called cryovolcanoes – might disappear over millions of years. NASA's Dawn spacecraft discovered Ceres's 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) tall Ahuna Mons cryovolcano in 2015. Other icy worlds in our solar system, like Pluto, Europa, Triton, Charon and Titan, may also have cryovolcanoes, but Ahuna Mons is conspicuously alone on Ceres. The dwarf planet, with an orbit between Mars and Jupiter, also lies far closer to the sun than other planetary bodies where cryovolcanoes have been found.

Now, scientists show there may have been cryovolcanoes other than Ahuna Mons on Ceres millions or billions of years ago, but these cryovolcanoes may have flattened out over time and become indistinguishable from the planet's surface. They report their findings in a new paper accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

[...] Ceres has no atmosphere, so the processes that wear down volcanoes on Earth – wind, rain and ice – aren't possible on the dwarf planet. Sori and his colleagues hypothesized that another process, called viscous relaxation, could be at work. Viscous relaxation is the idea that just about any solid will flow, given enough time. For example, a cold block of honey appears to be solid. But if given enough time, the block will flatten out until there is no sign left of the original block structure. On Earth, viscous relaxation is what makes glaciers flow, Sori explained. The process doesn't affect volcanoes on Earth because they are made of rock, but Ceres's volcanoes contain ice – making viscous relaxation possible. On Ceres, viscous relaxation could be causing older cryovolcanoes to flatten out over millions of years so they are hard to discern. Ceres's location close to the sun could make the process more pronounced, Sori said.

The vanishing cryovolcanoes of Ceres (open, DOI: 10.1002/2016GL072319) (DX)


Original Submission

Organic Molecules Found on Ceres 12 comments

Scientists using imagery from the Dawn spacecraft have found evidence of organic material on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres:

NASA's Dawn mission has found evidence for organic material on Ceres, a dwarf planet and the largest body in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists using the spacecraft's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) detected the material in and around a northern-hemisphere crater called Ernutet. Organic molecules are interesting to scientists because they are necessary, though not sufficient, components of life on Earth.

[...] "This is the first clear detection of organic molecules from orbit on a main belt body," said Maria Cristina De Sanctis, lead author of the study, based at the National Institute of Astrophysics, Rome. The discovery is reported in the journal Science. Data presented in the Science paper support the idea that the organic materials are native to Ceres. The carbonates and clays previously identified on Ceres provide evidence for chemical activity in the presence of water and heat. This raises the possibility that the organics were similarly processed in a warm water-rich environment.

[...] Having completed nearly two years of observations in orbit at Ceres, Dawn is now in a highly elliptical orbit at Ceres, going from an altitude of 4,670 miles (7,520 kilometers) up to almost 5,810 miles (9,350 kilometers). On Feb. 23, it will make its way to a new altitude of around 12,400 miles (20,000 kilometers), about the height of GPS satellites above Earth, and to a different orbital plane. This will put Dawn in a position to study Ceres in a new geometry. In late spring, Dawn will view Ceres with the sun directly behind the spacecraft, such that Ceres will appear brighter than before, and perhaps reveal more clues about its nature.

Localized aliphatic organic material on the surface of Ceres (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaj2305) (DX)


Original Submission

Dawn Mission Extended at Ceres 1 comment

The Dawn spacecraft will continue to orbit the dwarf planet Ceres, and will capture closer imagery than ever before:

NASA has authorized a second extension of the Dawn mission at Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. During this extension, the spacecraft will descend to lower altitudes than ever before at the dwarf planet, which it has been orbiting since March 2015. The spacecraft will continue at Ceres for the remainder of its science investigation and will remain in a stable orbit indefinitely after its hydrazine fuel runs out.

The Dawn flight team is studying ways to maneuver Dawn into a new elliptical orbit, which may take the spacecraft to less than 120 miles (200 kilometers) from the surface of Ceres at closest approach. Previously, Dawn's lowest altitude was 240 miles (385 kilometers).

[...] The extended mission at Ceres additionally allows Dawn to be in orbit while the dwarf planet goes through perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, which will occur in April 2018. At closer proximity to the Sun, more ice on Ceres' surface may turn to water vapor, which may in turn contribute to the weak transient atmosphere detected by the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory before Dawn's arrival. Building on Dawn's findings, the team has hypothesized that water vapor may be produced in part from energetic particles from the Sun interacting with ice in Ceres' shallow surface. Scientists will combine data from ground-based observatories with Dawn's observations to further study these phenomena as Ceres approaches perihelion.

The Dawn spacecraft will remain in orbit at Ceres, where it is expected to operate until late 2018, without being crashed into the surface or sent to another target.


Original Submission

Ceres May Have Had a Global Surface Ocean in the Past 14 comments

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.

Ceres.

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


Original Submission

Evidence of a Seasonal Water Cycle and Surface Changes Found on Ceres 4 comments

NASA Dawn Reveals Recent Changes in Ceres' Surface

NASA's Dawn mission has found recently exposed deposits that give us new information on the materials in the crust and how they are changing, according to two papers published March 14 in Science Advances that document the new findings.

Observations obtained by the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) on the Dawn spacecraft previously found water ice in a dozen sites on Ceres. The new study revealed the abundance of ice on the northern wall of Juling Crater, a crater 12 miles (20 kilometers) in diameter. The new observations, conducted from April through October 2016, show an increase in the amount of ice on the crater wall.

"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.

[...] In a second study, VIR observations also reveal new information about the variability of Ceres' crust, and suggest recent surface changes, in the form of newly exposed material.

[...] This study, led by Giacomo Carrozzo of the Institute of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, identified 12 sites rich in sodium carbonates and examined in detail several areas of a few square miles that show where water is present as part of the carbonate structure. The study marks the first time hydrated carbonate has been found on the surface of Ceres, or any other planetary body besides Earth, giving us new information about the dwarf planet's chemical evolution.

Ceres.

Variations in the amount of water ice on Ceres' surface suggest a seasonal water cycle (open, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao3757) (DX)

Nature, formation, and distribution of carbonates on Ceres (open, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1701645) (DX)

Previously: Ceres's Cryovolcanoes Viscously Relax Into Nothingness
Organic Molecules Found on Ceres
Ceres May Have Had a Global Surface Ocean in the Past
Bright Areas on Ceres Suggest Geologic Activity


Original Submission

Dawn Spacecraft Captures Closest-Ever Images of Ceres' Shiny Occator Crater

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


Original Submission

Dawn Spacecraft Runs Out of Hydrazine, Ceases Operations 13 comments

NASA's Dawn Mission to Asteroid Belt Comes to End

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has gone silent, ending a historic mission that studied time capsules from the solar system's earliest chapter.

Dawn missed scheduled communications sessions with NASA's Deep Space Network on Wednesday, Oct. 31, and Thursday, Nov. 1. After the flight team eliminated other possible causes for the missed communications, mission managers concluded that the spacecraft finally ran out of hydrazine, the fuel that enables the spacecraft to control its pointing. Dawn can no longer keep its antennae trained on Earth to communicate with mission control or turn its solar panels to the Sun to recharge.

The Dawn spacecraft launched 11 years ago to visit the two largest objects in the main asteroid belt. Currently, it's in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres, where it will remain for decades.

Ceres, Vesta, and Dawn.

Also at Ars Technica, The Verge, and Science News.

Previously: NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Nears the End of its Mission
NASA Retires the Kepler Space Telescope after It Runs Out of Hydrazine

Related:


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @03:15AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @03:15AM (#611694)

    You know its a coverup when they call in the geologists. So boring everybody just tunes out!

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:12AM (6 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:12AM (#611700) Journal

      You'd prefer 'Ceres has teenage acne' explanation?

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Tuesday December 19 2017, @05:23AM (4 children)

        by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday December 19 2017, @05:23AM (#611719) Journal

        "Ceres" is the Latin name for Demeter, the Goddess of grain, the Goddess of Agriculture, the Mother of Persephone. Of course she would have some geologic activity going on. Hardly acne, though. More "mature Goddess of Fertility" stuff. Oh My Goddess, if one of our MRA Red Pillar types were ever to run into Ceres! Hilarity would ensue!

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Tuesday December 19 2017, @06:40AM (3 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 19 2017, @06:40AM (#611733) Journal

          "Ceres" is the Latin name for Demeter,... Hardly acne, though. More "mature Goddess of Fertility" stuff.

          See her at spring time, then we'll talk about.

          Oh My Goddess, if one of our MRA Red Pillar types were ever to run into Ceres!

          Well, others goddesses [wikipedia.org] nearby weren't that lucky [wikipedia.org]

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 4, Informative) by aristarchus on Tuesday December 19 2017, @07:38AM (2 children)

            by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday December 19 2017, @07:38AM (#611740) Journal

            Some times, c0lo, I worry about your apparent knowledge of things that most Soylentils cannot even comprehend. But I do not think that any Egyptian Goddess could revive a Soylentil MRA type. On the other hand, at least they will not end up with their dick on the nose of fish.

            And, as an aside, there is an interesting story in the "Malleus Maleficarum" about witches that would steal penii. One priest was lead to a bird's nest in a tree [omgfacts.com] where there were at least a dozen phalluses, and it was pointed out that the smallest, but most active, one belonged to the local Bishop. And the lesson taken away from this, by the authors of the Malleum, was that we needed to burn more witches! Nice to see things have finally turned around, and Fox News has finally found their own bird's nest.

            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday December 19 2017, @09:31AM

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 19 2017, @09:31AM (#611754) Journal

              Some times, c0lo, I worry about your apparent knowledge of things

              Don't worry, magister, that too shall pass.

              I don't know if the ring this was written on was meant to be worn on active dicks (and thus became useless with time), but... they say the mind is the second thing to go; only a matter of time now.

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
            • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday December 19 2017, @07:19PM

              by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday December 19 2017, @07:19PM (#611915) Journal

              ...there is an interesting story in the "Malleus Maleficarum" about witches that would steal penii.

              Go witches! Should be a fairly small job. [sfgate.com]

      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @07:02AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @07:02AM (#611736)

        I was going for humor, but given the state of SN these days who can tell?

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