The NASA Dawn space probe continues to give us more insight into our solar system as scientists continue to analyze data and observe photos snapped by the probe of our system’s dwarf planet Ceres.
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Orbiting the planet at a 915-mile altitude, Dawn has provided new topographic maps of Ceres that feature the Occator, the tall mountain, and over a dozen names for Ceres’ terrain, as recently approved by the worldwide Astronomical Union. The new names such as Ysolo Mons for a 12-mile wide mountain near Ceres’ north pole are all eponymous for agricultural spirits and deities from cultures all over the world.
According to Dawn’s principal investigator Chris Russell from the University of California, Los Angeles, Ceres still continues to amaze and puzzle everyone as new data is revealed that include a multitude of images, spectra and even energy particle bursts.
“The irregular shapes of craters on Ceres are especially interesting, resembling craters we see on Saturn’s icy moon Rhea”, said Carol Raymond, one of the researchers, in a news release. However, scientists also note that the craters are vastly different from the ones found in Vesta, which is a large asteroid that the Dawn spacecraft had explored prior to this mission. Ceres is the largest body in the asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
After about six months of orbiting the tiny planet, Dawn will descend to its lowest and final orbit starting in October. Once there it will remain operational until mid-2016 or later.
The NASA scientist added that any liquid water inside the planet might possibly contain life-highlighted as one reason Dawn will not be landing on Ceres and potentially contaminating the local environment with Earth matter.
NASA published the image on Wednesday; it is the result of multiple images snapped by the Dawn spacecraft from August to September. “We know it’s not ice and we’re pretty sure it’s salt, but we don’t know exactly what salt at the present time”.
Back in May, Russell speculated that the spots are caused by “the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice”. The mountain is sporting bright streaks along its sides, as per the spacecraft’s principal investigator.
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Russell said “many suggestions” have poured in from the public but did not provide an exact number. “Some comet or asteroid did not come in carrying salt, this is derived from the interior somehow”.
