Post by WeAreAllOne on Feb 20, 2017 23:24:07 GMT -8
Life on Ceres? Mysterious changes in the bright spots still baffle scientists. Organic compounds were also reported 4 days ago (February 2017)
What is Ceres? Where is it? Here is a good visual representation of it.
Some other interesting information on Ceres before we continue.
In October 2015, NASA released a true color portrait of Ceres made by Dawn.[39] In February 2017, organics were reported to have been detected on Ceres in Ernutet crater. (related image)[40]
4 days ago, it was announced that Localized aliphatic organic material was found on the surface of Ceres.
To read the full article on the discovery, click here or scroll to the bottom.
Below are some pictures of these bright spots.
New images of dwarf planet Ceres, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, show the cratered surface of this mysterious world in sharper detail than ever before. These are among the first snapshots from Dawn's second mapping orbit, which is 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) above Ceres.
The region with the brightest spots is in a crater about 55 miles (90 kilometers) across. The spots consist of many individual bright points of differing sizes, with a central cluster. So far, scientists have found no obvious explanation for their observed locations or brightness levels.
"The bright spots in this configuration make Ceres unique from anything we've seen before in the solar system. The science team is working to understand their source. Reflection from ice is the leading candidate in my mind, but the team continues to consider alternate possibilities, such as salt. With closer views from the new orbit and multiple view angles, we soon will be better able to determine the nature of this enigmatic phenomenon," said Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission based at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Numerous other features on Ceres intrigue scientists as they contrast this world with others, including protoplanet Vesta, which Dawn visited for 14 months in 2011 and 2012. Craters abound on both bodies, but Ceres appears to have had more activity on its surface, with evidence of flows, landslides and collapsed structures.
Additionally, new images from Dawn's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) show a portion of Ceres' cratered northern hemisphere, taken on May 16, including a true-color view and a temperature image. The temperature image is derived from data in the infrared light range. This instrument is also important in determining the nature of the bright spots.
Having arrived in its current orbit on June 3, Dawn will observe the dwarf planet from 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) above its surface until June 28. In orbits of about three days each, the spacecraft will conduct intensive observations of Ceres. It will then move toward its next orbit of altitude 900 miles (1,450 kilometers), arriving in early August.
On March 6, 2015, Dawn made history as the first mission to visit a dwarf planet, and the first to orbit two distinct extraterrestrial targets. At its previous target, Vesta, Dawn took tens of thousands of images and made many observations about the body's composition and other properties.
Dawn's mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of mission participants, visit:
dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission
More information about Dawn is available at the following sites:
dawn.jpl.nasa.gov
www.nasa.gov/dawn
Elizabeth Landau
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6425
elizabeth.landau@jpl.nasa.gov
Sources:
www.nasa.gov/jpl/bright-spots-shine-in-newest-dawn-ceres-images
phys.org/news/2016-05-life-ceres-mysterious-bright-baffle.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(dwarf_planet)
science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6326/719
www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/dawn-discovers-evidence-for-organic-material-on-ceres
What is Ceres? Where is it? Here is a good visual representation of it.
Some other interesting information on Ceres before we continue.
In October 2015, NASA released a true color portrait of Ceres made by Dawn.[39] In February 2017, organics were reported to have been detected on Ceres in Ernutet crater. (related image)[40]
4 days ago, it was announced that Localized aliphatic organic material was found on the surface of Ceres.
This enhanced color composite image, made with data from the framing camera aboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows the area around Ernutet Crater. The bright red portions appear redder with respect to the rest of Ceres.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
To read the full article on the discovery, click here or scroll to the bottom.
Below are some pictures of these bright spots.
The brightest spots on dwarf planet Ceres are seen in this image taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on June 6, 2015.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
New images of dwarf planet Ceres, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, show the cratered surface of this mysterious world in sharper detail than ever before. These are among the first snapshots from Dawn's second mapping orbit, which is 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) above Ceres.
The region with the brightest spots is in a crater about 55 miles (90 kilometers) across. The spots consist of many individual bright points of differing sizes, with a central cluster. So far, scientists have found no obvious explanation for their observed locations or brightness levels.
"The bright spots in this configuration make Ceres unique from anything we've seen before in the solar system. The science team is working to understand their source. Reflection from ice is the leading candidate in my mind, but the team continues to consider alternate possibilities, such as salt. With closer views from the new orbit and multiple view angles, we soon will be better able to determine the nature of this enigmatic phenomenon," said Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission based at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Numerous other features on Ceres intrigue scientists as they contrast this world with others, including protoplanet Vesta, which Dawn visited for 14 months in 2011 and 2012. Craters abound on both bodies, but Ceres appears to have had more activity on its surface, with evidence of flows, landslides and collapsed structures.
Additionally, new images from Dawn's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) show a portion of Ceres' cratered northern hemisphere, taken on May 16, including a true-color view and a temperature image. The temperature image is derived from data in the infrared light range. This instrument is also important in determining the nature of the bright spots.
Having arrived in its current orbit on June 3, Dawn will observe the dwarf planet from 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) above its surface until June 28. In orbits of about three days each, the spacecraft will conduct intensive observations of Ceres. It will then move toward its next orbit of altitude 900 miles (1,450 kilometers), arriving in early August.
On March 6, 2015, Dawn made history as the first mission to visit a dwarf planet, and the first to orbit two distinct extraterrestrial targets. At its previous target, Vesta, Dawn took tens of thousands of images and made many observations about the body's composition and other properties.
Dawn's mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of mission participants, visit:
dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission
More information about Dawn is available at the following sites:
dawn.jpl.nasa.gov
www.nasa.gov/dawn
Elizabeth Landau
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6425
elizabeth.landau@jpl.nasa.gov
Sources:
www.nasa.gov/jpl/bright-spots-shine-in-newest-dawn-ceres-images
phys.org/news/2016-05-life-ceres-mysterious-bright-baffle.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(dwarf_planet)
science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6326/719
www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/dawn-discovers-evidence-for-organic-material-on-ceres