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."

Comments

Re:Why only Pluto is getting the love?

[Tablizer]

I'm 222 years old and as far as I'm concerned Ceres is still a planet.

I'm 4,000 years old, and as far as I'm concerned, Earth is still flat. You newfangled roundies have it all wrong. You are projecting your own image onto earth, you sedentary belly blobs.

Concerning a hypothesis about light spots on Ceres

[Geoffrey.landis]

Dimpled spinning ball

ice in bottoms of craters

glints bright in sunlight.