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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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To: Red Badger

as you say...


21 posted on 07/02/2018 6:36:48 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
I thought that “dwarf” was politically incorrect these days? Perhaps “little planet?”

The term is "Gravitationally Challenged"

22 posted on 07/02/2018 6:40:41 AM PDT by spokeshave2 (Formerly as spokeshave...now restarted after computer issues.)
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To: Red Badger; brytlea; cripplecreek; decimon; disndat; KoRn; Grammy; steelyourfaith; Mmogamer; ...
Thanks Red Badger. Ping to APoD members.

23 posted on 07/02/2018 7:01:16 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: I want the USA back

You’re right. They hype this stuff. Don’t get me wrong; it’s cool that we go check out the solar system and I support it completely. Exploring Ceres increases our knowledge of space and the technology to explore it. But it is what it is. A drab lifeless piece of rock.


24 posted on 07/02/2018 8:01:59 AM PDT by henkster (Monsters from the Id.)
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To: I want the USA back

The mixture of ingredients present is “necessary but insufficient”, also lacking the organizational theme present in all life.


25 posted on 07/02/2018 11:22:19 AM PDT by Ozark Tom
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To: ETL

In the third of the four photos, all the impact craters appear to be on one side of that ridge line. What’s up with that?


26 posted on 07/02/2018 11:46:47 AM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: JimRed

Probably the result of some sort of geologic activity that covered up the craters there.


27 posted on 07/02/2018 11:54:48 AM PDT by ETL (Obama-Hillary, REAL Russia collusion! Uranium-One Deal, Missile Defense, Iran Deal, Nukes: Click ETL)
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To: ETL

On Earth that would be the effects of wind, water or both. Where high mountains block moisture and it only rains/snows on one side, for example. But does that li’l thing even have an atmosphere?


28 posted on 07/02/2018 12:05:34 PM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: fwdude
I thought that “dwarf” was politically incorrect these days?

You might be thinking of "midget".

29 posted on 07/02/2018 12:09:04 PM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: fwdude

Little Planet, Big World.

Change the Name from Ceres to Roloff.


30 posted on 07/02/2018 12:13:03 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (THEY LIVE, and we're the only ones wearing the Sunglasses.)
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To: JimRed

Could be ejecta material from an impact. Or lava flow from volcanic activity.


31 posted on 07/02/2018 12:30:46 PM 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

A weird indy movie “The American Astronaut” was set on a bar on Ceres. Very strange, artsy movie on Hulu.


32 posted on 07/02/2018 12:41:39 PM PDT by fwdude (History has no 'sides;' you're thinking of geometry.)
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To: henkster

Lifeless? Maybe not, judging by the luminosity in one crater it appears to be inhabited.


33 posted on 07/02/2018 12:57:23 PM PDT by rawcatslyentist ("All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing")
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To: I want the USA back
"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."

They called it a "dwarf planet", which is also the categorization that includes Pluto.

34 posted on 07/02/2018 1:03:29 PM PDT by mlo
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