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NASA Reveals Stunning New Photos Of Dwarf Planet Ceres
Forbes ^ | 06/30/18 | Bill Retherford ,

Posted on 07/02/2018 6:19:35 AM PDT by Simon Green

Just released by NASA: striking close-ups of the mysterious world Ceres, taken by a robotic probe turned paparazzi.

“These pictures are new to you and new to us too,” says Marc Rayman of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “It’s a wonderful flood of data.”

Every 27 hours, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft swoops near the surface of Ceres to grab the close-ups. At its lowest point, the probe is only 22 miles up. In outer space, that’s virtually skimming the ground.

The photo shoot started June 9; so far, Dawn has taken “hundreds” of pictures, says Rayman, “exotic alien landscapes, scenes truly otherworldly.”

The images are so new, NASA researchers “haven’t had time to analyze them yet,” he says.

“But it’s almost like we’re seeing a different Ceres.”

Space scientists already knew Ceres was more than a drab dead rock.

Dawn began orbiting the dwarf planet in March 2015; even before taking the close-ups, the spacecraft shot more than 50,000 images, all from hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Researchers mapped the surface. They analyzed data from the rest of Dawn’s instruments. They saw a cryovolcano, salt flats, and ancient Occator Crater, 57 miles across. They figured out that vast amounts of salt water, nearly all frozen, dwells underground.

They also found organic materials—the “building blocks” for life.

Indeed, the latest data shows lots of organics: “One area of 3,700 acres, covered with it,” says Rayman. “Five to ten times more prevalent than we thought was there.”

Still, Rayman—the chief engineer and mission director of the project—is skeptical that Ceres has life.

“It (life) is an extreme remote possibility,” he says.

“Ceres does have many of the ingredients we think are necessary for life—water, organics, a source of energy, internal geological forces.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; ceres; jpl; marcrayman; nasa; occatorcrater; science; spaceexploration
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Many more pictures at link.
1 posted on 07/02/2018 6:19:35 AM PDT by Simon Green
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To: Simon Green

I thought that “dwarf” was politically incorrect these days?

Perhaps “little planet?”


2 posted on 07/02/2018 6:23:21 AM PDT by fwdude (History has no 'sides;' you're thinking of geometry.)
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To: Simon Green
“It (life) is an extreme remote possibility,” he says.

You can't be Ceres!

3 posted on 07/02/2018 6:24:51 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: Simon Green

Cool stuff.


4 posted on 07/02/2018 6:24:58 AM PDT by stevio (MAGA)
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To: fwdude

I have this planet along with the other known planets shown in a very old atlas. Will see if I can find it.


5 posted on 07/02/2018 6:26:05 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Simon Green

Ceres - a size challenged planet.


6 posted on 07/02/2018 6:26:12 AM PDT by rigelkentaurus
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To: Simon Green

Just add heat and this is a new home for democrats. It’s Utopia! What a beautiful planet.


7 posted on 07/02/2018 6:26:42 AM PDT by Tenacious 1
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To: fwdude
I thought that “dwarf” was politically incorrect these days? Perhaps “little planet?”

Gimli disagrees.


8 posted on 07/02/2018 6:27:18 AM PDT by Simon Green ("Arm your daughter, sir, and pay no attention to petty bureaucrats.")
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To: Simon Green

bfl


9 posted on 07/02/2018 6:27:18 AM PDT by Skooz (Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us)
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To: Simon Green

That is hugh and Ceres!.......................


10 posted on 07/02/2018 6:28:40 AM PDT by Red Badger (July 2018 - the month the world discovered the TRUTH......Q Anon)
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To: Simon Green
Lots more at the "Dawn" spacecraft website.
11 posted on 07/02/2018 6:30:27 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: SunkenCiv

Hugh and Ceres Ping!...................


12 posted on 07/02/2018 6:30:29 AM PDT by Red Badger (July 2018 - the month the world discovered the TRUTH......Q Anon)
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To: Simon Green

For some years after its discovery, Ceres was considered to be a planet.


13 posted on 07/02/2018 6:31:14 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Give a man a fish and he'll be a Democrat. Teach a man to fish and he'll be a responsible citizen.)
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To: Simon Green


14 posted on 07/02/2018 6:31:57 AM PDT by ETL (Obama-Hillary, REAL Russia collusion! Uranium-One Deal, Missile Defense, Iran Deal, Nukes: Click ETL)
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To: Simon Green

Where’s the flag?


15 posted on 07/02/2018 6:32:10 AM PDT by blackdog
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To: Simon Green

most awesome and Im stuned ..


16 posted on 07/02/2018 6:32:39 AM PDT by ßuddaßudd (>> M A G A << "What the hell kind of country is this if I can only hate a man if he's white?")
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To: Simon Green

What impresses me is how NASA/JPL has been able to extend the mission after multiple failures on the spacecraft.

And before Dawn got to Ceres it explored Vesta.


17 posted on 07/02/2018 6:32:41 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Give a man a fish and he'll be a Democrat. Teach a man to fish and he'll be a responsible citizen.)
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To: fwdude
Here is an image of that other dwarf plant Pluto (though in the DoodleBob home it is still a full-rank planet) that NASA didn't show the public:


18 posted on 07/02/2018 6:34:17 AM PDT by DoodleBob
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To: Simon Green

This is Yuge and Ceres!


19 posted on 07/02/2018 6:35:40 AM PDT by null and void (Freedom is in our blood, we don't pass it down genetically, but through the blood we spill.)
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To: Simon Green

Journalists must all go to the same school. They parrot the words “building blocks of life” without knowing what they are saying. They usually mean amino acids, which are found in living organisms. By saying “building blocks of life” they want us to think that you can put some of them together, like blocks, to create life. Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Another reason to strip the journalist’s license, is that the article does not state this: “Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.” It’s an asteroid, but because it’s big, they call it a planet. Sorry, but you can’t do that. We’ve been taught that there are 8 planets, and that Pluto is not a planet. You can’t add one to the list without telling us.

Stop trying to find likely planets “just like Earth,” when there is no evidence for that.


20 posted on 07/02/2018 6:36:39 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Search Google for: "politico obama collusion with hezbollah". obama is a traitor to this country.)
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