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Ceres' Mystery Bright Dots May Have Volcanic Origin
astroengine writes As NASA's Dawn mission slowly spirals in on its dwarf planet target, Ceres' alien landscape is becoming sharper by the day. And, at a distance of only 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers), the robotic spacecraft has revealed multiple bright patches on the surface, but one of the brightest spots has revealed a dimmer bright patch right next door. "Ceres' bright spot can now be seen to have a companion of lesser brightness, but apparently in the same basin," said Chris Russell, of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and principal investigator for the Dawn mission. "This may be pointing to a volcano-like origin of the spots, but we will have to wait for better resolution before we can make such geologic interpretations."
and crashed. http://news.discovery.com/spac...
The space sharks are trying to destroy Dawn before it can get too close to image their civilization.
I'm 222 years old and as far as I'm concerned Ceres is still a planet.
Shouldn't we wait until the probe actually arrives and gets details before speculating?
There are bright spots on Ganymede (Jupiter moon) that are probably from meteors smashing into its icy surface.
Even our moon has Tycho crater which is surrounded with bright dust due to the recency of the impact. (Radiation tends to darken soil and rocks over time.) Volcano claims are premature.
Table-ized A.I.
Perhaps it is the correct time to remind people that in the plasma laboratory, current-carrying filaments tend to exhibit both long-range attraction and short-range repulsion. Setting the scientific framework's needs aside for a moment, that would seem to point more logically to an electrical inference. Note that we see a similar dipolar structure at the poles of Venus as well.
The key test will be to observe whether or not they rotate around one another.
If they do, then it's time for Slashdot to end its ban on the electric discharge machining inference.
That's no dwarf planet.
Dimpled spinning ball
ice in bottoms of craters
glints bright in sunlight.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
"OMGWTFBBQ"
Let me guess: this was the gender orientation of the politically hypercorrect journotards covering Rosetta in that epic news conference last summer?
I do believe you have won the comments section for this article ;). Thanks to everyone else for playing!
Getting serious for a moment - and making a prediction of my own, what you're witnessing in the picture is the creation of a "bullseye" crater, with electrical machining. it's an electrical phenomena. We can discount the volcanism straight away. Where's the ash clouds? someone take some temperature readings, please! You'll see "saturated" responses, because it'll be off the charts, and we'll be left speculating. it's off the charts, because it's the kind of temperatures you'd see with lightning. Sounds crazy, but so does every theory, until it's taught as fact.
If we all woke up to what alternative thinking on the universe has been telling us for quite some time, we wouldn't have a lost century in the understanding of our universe, and we could stop wasting so much research grants on finding pixie dust in the cosmos.
WTF is wrong with you? Judging by OP's history he's probably a right-wing Duhmerican nutjob, so you're barking up the wrong tree.
BTW: The Dawn camera was developed by the German Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research. Seems like real scientists are above your stupid jingoism.
That chip on your shoulder. You shouldn't make it quite so obvious.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
If we all woke up to what alternative thinking on the universe has been telling us for quite some time, we wouldn't have a lost century in the understanding of our universe, and we could stop wasting so much research grants on finding pixie dust in the cosmos.
Cool - what has alternative thinking been telling us? I think I missed that memo. Does it involve tin foil in any way?
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
In an electric universe, wearing a tinfoil hat is unwise
Dimpled spinning ball
ice in bottoms of craters
glints bright in sunlight.
Burma Shave.
When I was younger, I remember reading a sci-fi novel about aliens in our solar system who were overseeing mankind's growth.
The aliens chose their base on Ceres because the asteroid field offered nigh-unlimited resources outside the confines of a gravity well, because Ceres had water for living and powering fusion engines, and because it was far enough away from earth to stay out of sight.
While those two white spots *could* be an example of cryovolcanism, I think that we can all agree that ancient abandoned alien city is really the more likely choice ;-)