Monroe Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 This should be interesting ... the Dawn space probe will enter orbit around Ceres on March 6. Some nice pictures at the link with the white flashes. What is flashing us from mysterious dwarf planet? Riddle of Ceres' spots deepens as probe finds ANOTHER flashing mark. 25 February 2015 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2969463/Another-alien-mark-Ceres-Dawn-probe-spots-dimmer-companion-close-dwarf-planet-s-strange-bright-spot.html Ceres orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter, and may have water gushing from its surface. Latest images to reveal the mystery patch were taken by Dawn at a distance of 29,000 miles (46,000 km). Scientists suggest these strange spots may be frozen pools of ice at the bottom of a crater that reflect light. Dawn is currently travelling to meet Ceres in March where it will attempt to understand its geological history.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TELVM Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 The same than in Vesta, just impact-related geological stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monroe Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 Interesting ... the same spacecraft, I missed that earlier about Vesta. "Since launching in 2007, Dawn has already visited Vesta, a giant protoplanet currently located 104 million miles (168 million km) away from Ceres. The distance between Vesta and Ceres is greater than the distance between the Earth and the sun. During its 14 months in orbit around Vesta, the spacecraft delivered unprecedented scientific insights, including images of its cratered surface and important clues about its geological history. Vesta and Ceres are the two most massive bodies in the main asteroid belt."... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZortMcGort11 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Probably sunlight reflecting off ices of some kind. On the surface is the old ice, once there's a fresh impact crater it exposes the "clean" ices underneath, I'm guessing. Soon we should be getting first glances of Pluto up close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TELVM Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Almost there. BTW couple days ago New Horizons set a new record for farthest away ever spacecraft mid-course correction, 4.83 billion kilometers/3 billion miles or about 4 light hours from Earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinifera Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 hehe those pictures on linkcomparing to death star its bit sad that so little is invested in space exploration now but rather in warsure they are mapping our galaxy and some parts of space, sure they get pictures of other galaxiesbut nothing else ... these probes are just fast collectorswhat happened to beacons ? are voyagers last of its kind ? what is behind Oorts Cloud ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TELVM Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 If you like Ceres you are gonna love Saturn's moon Mimas : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TELVM Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 White spots are in vogue , a possible polar ice cap on Pluto courtesy of New Horizons: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TELVM Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Closer views of Ceres' most popular crater as Dawn tightens its orbit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSchool38 Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 Looks like some sort of ice patch, maybe there's more under the surface? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TELVM Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 (edited) Some theoretical models of Ceres' interior postulate an icy (perhaps even watery) mantle around a rocky core. Such a heavily cratered ancient surface suggests a geologically quite dead world in principle, but who knows, Ceres might be somehow venting water like Saturn's moon Enceladus: Edited May 16, 2015 by TELVM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelC Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) An interesting comparison in sizes between Earth, our Moon, and Ceres: From http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ceres_Earth_Moon_Comparison.png With just 3% of our gravity, a 175 lb (80 kg) person would weigh just over 5 lbs (2 kg) on Ceres (though the necessary space suit would add another few lbs). -Noel Edited May 19, 2015 by NoelC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TELVM Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 ^ For the scientific interest: Given such a low surface gravity, escape velocity from Ceres is also relatively low, just 0.51 km/s (510 m/s or 1673 ft/s). That means if you'd fire an M16 rifle (muzzle velocity 948 m/s or 3110 ft/s) from there, the bullet would escape Ceres' gravitational influence and (provided superb markmanship ) could potentially hit Earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TELVM Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Nice NASA/JPL video: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TELVM Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 (edited) If you liked the white spots don't miss the 'pyramid'. http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/whats-up-in-space-great-pyramid-of-ceres-mars-conjunction-lunar-dust-cloud/52920/ Edited June 18, 2015 by TELVM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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