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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

NASA Dawn Reveals Recent Changes in Ceres' Surface [nasa.gov]

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.

Ceres [wikipedia.org].

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

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

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

Original Submission