NASA reveals the most detailed views yet of Ceres' bizarre bright spots
NASA's Dawn spacecraft is finally giving scientists on Earth a truly close up view of the dwarf planet Ceres' distinctive bright spots, and they remain stubbornly mysterious.
A new photo showing the most distinctive of the reflective patches in the dwarf planet's Occator crater reveals a dome covered with the bright material, which might be salt, according to research published last year.
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Thanks to the new observations, the bright spots are now understood to be more nuanced than they previously appeared.
"Before Dawn began its intensive observations of Ceres last year, Occator Crater looked to be one large bright area," Ralf Jaumann, Dawn co-investigator, said in a statement. "Now, with the latest close views, we can see complex features that provide new mysteries to investigate."
Dawn scientists have put together a full map of the world, allowing them to pick out bright spots and color changes as well as any areas playing host to other odd features, like the cone-shaped mountain Ahuna Mons.
These kinds of maps can help researchers learn more about the evolution of the dwarf planet, the largest object in the belt of asteroids between Jupiter and Mars.
Scientists think that Dawn's observations are pointing to the idea that the bright features covering the mound in Occator likely formed relatively recently.
"It appears that material has come up from below and been emplaced in the central pit. We're investigating when this process occurred," Dawn scientist Carol Raymond said during a press briefing about the new observations.
Occator -- which is about 2.5 miles deep and 57 miles wide -- also hosts other bright spots sprinkled throughout the crater, though none shine as brightly as the patch covering the mound.
And Occator isn't alone.
"We see bright spots elsewhere on Ceres, and so this is not a process that is unique to Occator," Raymond said.
The Haulani crater, for example, also features bright streaks of mysterious material within it.
"False-color images of Haulani show that material excavated by an impact is different than the general surface composition of Ceres," Maria Cristina de Sanctis, another scientist working with Dawn, said in the statement.
"The diversity of materials implies either that there is a mixed layer underneath, or that the impact itself changed the properties of the materials," she said.
Dawn was able to get detailed views of Ceres' surface because of its low orbit mapping of the dwarf planet. The spacecraft now orbits the world from about 240 miles above its surface, which is closer than the Space Station is to Earth, providing views like this of other mysterious features as well.
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Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
