Bright Spots Resolved in Occator Crater on Ceres
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
What created these bright spots on Ceres? The spots were first noted as the robotic Dawn spacecraft approached Ceres, the
largest object in the asteroid
belt, in February, with the expectation that the mystery would soon
be solved in higher resolution images.
However, even after Dawn arrived at Ceres in March, the riddle remained.
Surprisingly, although images including the featured composite taken
in the last month do resolve many details inside Occator crater, they
do not resolve the
mystery.
Another recent clue is that a faint
haze develops over the crater's bright spots.
Dawn
is scheduled to continue to spiral down toward Ceres and
scan the dwarf planet in several
new ways that, it is hoped, will determine the chemical composition of
the region and finally reveal the nature and history of the spots.
In several years, after running out of power, Dawn
will continue to orbit Ceres indefinitely, becoming an artificial
satellite and an enduring
monument to human
exploration.
