Mysterious 'bright spots' on the surface of dwarf planet Ceres have fascinated cosmologists and conspiracy theorists alike since Nasa's Dawn spacecraft began to approach it in 2015.
Now, a year after Dawn entered orbit around the small world, it has unveiled the clearest images so far of the planet's landscape and the spots on its surface.
The images focus on the fractured Occator Crater, the brightest area on the planet, capturing the "smooth-walled pit" in its centre and its textured surface. At 92km across and 4km deep the crater is relatively small, but is still raising new questions about the dwarf world's make-up and formation.
Dawn team leader Ralf Jaumann referred to the planet's "complex features" that provide "new mysteries to investigate" in a statement. "The intricate geometry of the crater interior suggests geologic activity in the recent past, but we will need to complete detailed geologic mapping of the crater in order to test hypotheses for its formation," he said.
Much of the evidence gathered from Ceres is complex, with the surface of the planet changing in composition across different areas. The team describe Haulani crater as a "particularly intriguing example of how diverse Ceres is in terms of its surface material composition", with its surface materials a "different proportion" to its surroundings.
The team have also discovered evidence of subsurface ice and even water at another crater in the planet's northern hemisphere, which could take the form of ice or minerals. The team believe that the water-bearing material could have been exposed "during a landslide or an impact". "We're excited to unveil these beautiful new images, especially Occator, which illustrate the complexity of the processes shaping Ceres' surface," said principle investigator Carol Raymond. Now that we can see Ceres’ enigmatic bright spots, surface minerals and morphology in high resolution, we're busy working to figure out what processes shaped this unique dwarf planet. By comparing Ceres with Vesta, we'll glean new insights about the early solar system."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
