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This image, made using images taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft during the mission’s High Altitude Mapping Orbit (HAMO) phase, shows Occator crater on Ceres, home to a collection of intriguing bright spots. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
The question on everyone’s mind about Ceres is what the heck are those bizarre bright spots discovered by NASA’s Dawn orbiter?
Since scientists believe that Ceres occupies a “unique niche” in the solar system and apparently harbors subsurface ice or liquid oceans, could the bright spots arise from subsurface “water leakage?” To find out Universe Today asked Dawn’s Principal Investigator and Chief Engineer.
“The big picture that is emerging is that Ceres fills a unique niche,” Prof. Chris Russell, Dawn principal investigator told Universe Today.
“Ceres fills a (…)
Read the rest of Do Ceres Bizarre Bright Spots Seen in Dazzling New Close Ups Arise from ‘Water Leakage’? Dawn Science Team Talks to UT (1,290 words)
© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: 1 Ceres, 4 vesta, ceres bright spots, ceres dawn, Chris Russell, dawn, Dawn Asteroid Orbiter, dwarf planet ceres, HAMO, ion propulsion, LAMO, Main Asteroid Belt, Marc Rayman, NASA, Occator, Occator crater, Orbital ATK, ULA
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