Mystery bright spots on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres continues

Mysterious bright spots on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres do not give rest to scientists. The first time they were able to see close up a month ago.





New infrared images showed that they have different thermal properties. Photos were taken by Dawn probe Agency NASA, which is now in orbit around planet Ceres located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The results were presented at the General Assembly of the European geophysical Union in Vienna.

According to New Scientist, on Ceres was observed two bright spots are noticeably stand out against the gray surface of the dwarf planet. This allowed us to make the assumption that these areas of the celestial body can be water volcanoes, also known as cryovolcanism.

The researchers presented infrared image, showing thermal properties of these two spots.





Bright spot number 1 corresponds to the dark area on the thermal image. This means that it is much colder than its surroundings. Another spot that is presented in the form of a pair of bright spots at number 5, remains invisible in the image, which tells about a similar temperature to its surroundings.

Currently, Dawn is far from Ceres to find out other features of the mysterious stains. The reason for the different brightness may be different materials or the structure of the surface.





Recently the device left the dark side of the dwarf planet. A few months Dawn will shorten the distance to Ceres. This will allow you to better see the bright spots on the surface and to seek the fountains of water vapor, previously seen space telescope Herschel.

The mission say that any conclusions about the nature of the bright spots can be done only if you have high resolution photos.

Dawn also discovered that the surface of Ceres, there are no large craters, which in sufficient quantities have been observed on the asteroid Vesta, visited in 2011.published

 

P. S. And remember, just changing your mind — together we change the world! ©

Source: hi-news.ru

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