The mystery of what exactly is causing all those bright spots/reflections on the dwarf-planet Ceres remains solidly in place … even after NASA and a citizen scientist created high-resolution 3D images of the features.
The debate centers on whether the reflective stuff is water/ice or some other substance such as salt. NASA said,
In examining the way Occator’s bright spots reflect light at different wavelengths, the Dawn science team has not found evidence that is consistent with ice. The spots’ albedo - a measure of the amount of light reflected - is also lower than predictions for concentrations of ice at the surface.
However, NASA said the mystery will survive at least until mid-August when the spacecraft Dawn resumes “its observations of Ceres in mid-August from an altitude of 900 miles (less than 1,500 kilometers), or three times closer to Ceres than its previous orbit.”
(You can see a zoomable image of the Occator crater as well as the 4-mile high “pyramid-shaped” mountain below.)
NASA remarked in its news release on the 3D images:
“The science team is continuing to evaluate the data and discuss theories about these bright spots at Occator,” said Chris Russell, Dawn’s principal investigator at the University of California, Los Angeles. “We are now comparing the spots with the reflective properties of salt, but we are still puzzled by their source. We look forward to new, higher-resolution data from the mission’s next orbital phase.”
About “Pyramid Mountain” (3D renderings are also in the above gallery), NASA stated:
A prominent mountain with bright streaks on its steep slopes is especially fascinating to scientists. The peak’s shape has been likened to a cone or a pyramid. It appears to be about 4 miles (6 kilometers) high, with respect to the surface around it, according to the latest estimates. This means the mountain has about the same elevation as Mount McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska, the highest point in North America.
“This mountain is among the tallest features we’ve seen on Ceres to date,” said Dawn science team member Paul Schenk, a geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston. “It’s unusual that it’s not associated with a crater. Why is it sitting in the middle of nowhere? We don’t know yet, but we may find out with closer observations.”
Rise of the citizen scientist
We’ve been having a great email exchange with Mark Burginger, an architect, NASA aficionado and citizen scientist, about the bright spots and his own 3D model of the Occator Crater. Check out this gallery for that part the story:
Here are those zoomable images we mentioned:
Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8334 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook.
If Google Plus is your thing, check out our science coverage here.
from The Big Science Blog http://ift.tt/1KTlFkg
The mystery of what exactly is causing all those bright spots/reflections on the dwarf-planet Ceres remains solidly in place … even after NASA and a citizen scientist created high-resolution 3D images of the features.
The debate centers on whether the reflective stuff is water/ice or some other substance such as salt. NASA said,
In examining the way Occator’s bright spots reflect light at different wavelengths, the Dawn science team has not found evidence that is consistent with ice. The spots’ albedo - a measure of the amount of light reflected - is also lower than predictions for concentrations of ice at the surface.
However, NASA said the mystery will survive at least until mid-August when the spacecraft Dawn resumes “its observations of Ceres in mid-August from an altitude of 900 miles (less than 1,500 kilometers), or three times closer to Ceres than its previous orbit.”
(You can see a zoomable image of the Occator crater as well as the 4-mile high “pyramid-shaped” mountain below.)
NASA remarked in its news release on the 3D images:
“The science team is continuing to evaluate the data and discuss theories about these bright spots at Occator,” said Chris Russell, Dawn’s principal investigator at the University of California, Los Angeles. “We are now comparing the spots with the reflective properties of salt, but we are still puzzled by their source. We look forward to new, higher-resolution data from the mission’s next orbital phase.”
About “Pyramid Mountain” (3D renderings are also in the above gallery), NASA stated:
A prominent mountain with bright streaks on its steep slopes is especially fascinating to scientists. The peak’s shape has been likened to a cone or a pyramid. It appears to be about 4 miles (6 kilometers) high, with respect to the surface around it, according to the latest estimates. This means the mountain has about the same elevation as Mount McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska, the highest point in North America.
“This mountain is among the tallest features we’ve seen on Ceres to date,” said Dawn science team member Paul Schenk, a geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston. “It’s unusual that it’s not associated with a crater. Why is it sitting in the middle of nowhere? We don’t know yet, but we may find out with closer observations.”
Rise of the citizen scientist
We’ve been having a great email exchange with Mark Burginger, an architect, NASA aficionado and citizen scientist, about the bright spots and his own 3D model of the Occator Crater. Check out this gallery for that part the story:
Here are those zoomable images we mentioned:
Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8334 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook.
If Google Plus is your thing, check out our science coverage here.
from The Big Science Blog http://ift.tt/1KTlFkg
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