Posted on 05/11/2015 10:25:52 AM PDT by Red Badger
Mysterious Spot 5 – the most prominent of Ceres’ bright spots – is shown in a new image from the orbiting Dawn spacecraft to consist of many smaller spots.
Bright spots on Ceres are revealed to be composed of many smaller spots in this May, 2015 image from the Dawn spacecraft. Image via NASA Dawn mission.
Alright! Now we’re getting somewhere. The Dawn spacecraft – which has now completed its first mapping orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres – acquired these closest-yet images of the mysterious bright spots on Ceres, known as Spot 5, on May 3 and 4, 2015. The distance from Ceres was 8,400 miles (13,600 kilometers). In this view, the brightest spots within a crater in Ceres’ northern hemisphere are revealed to be composed of many smaller spots. As of now, their exact nature remains unknown.
Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission from the University of California, Los Angeles said in a statement from NASA:
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.
There have been suggestions that Spot 5 and the other bright spots on Ceres are icy plumes – or other signs of active ice – on the surface of this little world.
NASA also released a new animation of the bright spots on Ceres, which you can see here
Dawn has now concluded its first mapping orbit, in which it completed one 15-day full circle around Ceres. During this time, Dawn made many new observations with its scientific instruments.
On May 9, the spacecraft powered on its ion engine to begin the month-long descent toward its second mapping orbit. It’ll enter the new orbit on June 6. In this next phase, Dawn will circle Ceres about every three days at an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) – three times closer than the previous orbit. During this phase, referred to as Dawn’s survey orbit, the spacecraft will comprehensively map Ceres’ surface.
It’s during this coming phase of the Dawn mission that Ceres’ geologic history is expected to be revealed in more details. Scientists will also assess whether the dwarf planet is active.
The spacecraft will pause twice between now and June 6, to take images of Ceres as it spirals down into its new orbit.
Planned Dawn mission science orbits around dwarf planet Ceres. Image via NASA Dawn mission.
Space Ping!....................
 Hugh |
and Ceres. |
Clearly a Starbucks next to a McDonalds...
I’ll become more intrigued if they take a photograph when that area is rotated away from the sun and in darkness and the bright spots remain visible as light sources.
Was down at Panama City Beach a couple of weeks ago, in Capn Norm’s neighborhood. They said some manatees were spotted hanging around St. Andrews Bay. Wonder if ole’ Hugh or any of his offspring were in the herd?
The last good round of animated images showed them looking like a raised area that became more reflective as they came into full sunlight.
Maybe that’s where the astronauts planted the flag.
I theorize that this has something to do with dilithium crystals.
Eat at Xenu’s” ?
Eat here and get gas?
LAST CHANCE for fill-up for 1,000,000,000 miles...................
Street lights, I’m tellin’ ya...
Wild
That’s the Asteroid Belt Gambling Mecca. . . Lost Wages. . . where all the asteroid miners go after a hard week of asteroid drilling for heavy metals and diamonds to blow off steam. It’s all the neon signs.
Thanks Red Badger, extra to APoD.
That’s the port. If you get close enough to it, they either pull you in with a tractor beam or demolecularize you.
The feature may be an imaging artifact caused by the fact that most things in the solar system are more reflective than Ceres. The contrast of any albedo feature would tend to be enhanced in the processed images.
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