# Dawn Probe Orbits Dwarf Planet Ceres



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 6, 2015)

*Update for March 6 at 10:09 a.m. EST*: NASA's Dawn probe successfully entered orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres today at 7:39 a.m. EST (1339 GMT). Read the full story here - NASA Dawn Probe Enters Orbit Around Dwarf Planet Ceres, a Historic First







7 facts i found....there are probably more  


*1. It was the first asteroid to be discovered*
Ceres was first spotted on Jan. 1, 1801 by Sicilian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi. The asteroid was found after Piazzi followed up on mathematical predictions (later determined to be false) that there should be a planet between Mars and Jupiter.

At first Ceres was called a planet, but as more asteroid belt members were discovered, Ceres was demoted to asteroid. Its status changed again in 2006 when it was promoted to dwarf planet — a classification it shares withPluto, which was demoted from full-fledged planet that same year in a move that remains controversial today.

*2. It was named after the Roman goddess of agriculture*
Piazzi called his discovery Ceres after the Roman goddess of harvests and corn. She also was considered the patron goddess of Sicily, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. In 1803, the element cerium was named after the dwarf planet. Cerium is the most abundant of rare-Earth metals, the encyclopedia says, and (among other occurrences) it is found as a fission product of plutonium, thorium and uranium.

*3. It has mysterious bright spots*
As Dawn sped towards the dwarf planet in late 2014 and early 2015, astronomers found two surprise bright spots at about 19 degrees north latitude on Ceres, inside a crater. There don't seem to be any mounds or features close to these spots, which suggests that they are not volcanic in origin.

The bright spots indicate a highly reflective material, likely water ice or salts, researchers say. Dawn team members hope the spacecraft will solve the mystery.




*4. Ceres may have a water-vapor plume*
The Herschel Space Observatory recently spotted water vapor emanating from Ceres. The plumes appeared to be generated from two locations (including close to where the white spots were found) and could be a product of icy volcanoes, scientists have said.

The vapor may also have sublimated off after a meteorite strike exposed subsurface ice to space. The plume's nature is another mystery for Dawn to investigate.

*5. Ceres may harbor a subsurface ocean*
Water-vapor geysers would hint at the presence of a subsurface ocean on Ceres, which might be capable of supporting life as we know it, some scientists say.

Icy moons of the outer solar system such as the Jovian satellite Europa andSaturn's moon Enceladus are thought to have underground oceans, which are apparently kept liquid by tidal forces generated by the gravity of neighboring moons and their huge host planets. Ceres would not experience such tidal forces but could possibly retain some radioactive heat from elements in its interior.

*6. It's round*
Unlike other members of the asteroid belt, Ceres is round, because it's large enough for gravity to mold its shape into a sphere. (Ceres is about 590 miles, or 950 kilometers, wide.) Scientists also believe that round bodies tend to have differentiated interiors, meaning that there are different zones inside of them. Ceres probably has a rocky core, an icy mantle, perhaps some subsurface liquid water and a dusty top layer.

*7. It may have an atmosphere*
Ceres is relatively far from the sun, but scientists believe its surface temperatures could rise as high as minus 37 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 38 degrees Celsius). If there is any water ice at the surface, it would quickly sublimate — change directly to a gas — which could generate an atmosphere around the dwarf planet. That said, there have only been a few observations of possible sublimation to date. Dawn will be on the lookout for more.


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 6, 2015)

I must be a total space geek, because I've been waiting for this for weeks! I actually awoke this morning thinking "today's the day!".

Thanks for the great set of factoids.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 7, 2015)

@rtwjunkie
you are very welcome....and everyone else.   

For those of us that like this stuff............oh yeah  







September 27, 2007 11:34:00


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 7, 2015)

*Nasa's has confirmed that the Dawn spacecraft has successfully entered orbit around Ceres *

*It was captured by the planet's gravity at 12.39pm (7.39am), after the spacecraft fired its ion thruster to slow down*

*'We're exploring the last uncharted world of the solar system,' Chief Engineer Dr Marc Rayman *

*The spacecraft entered orbit on the 'night' side of the planet, so images won't be taken until mid-April*

*But those images could finally reveal what the two mystery bright spots on the surface of the dwarf planet are *

*Scientists suggest these strange spots may be pools of ice at the bottom of a crater that are reflecting light*

To enter orbit around Ceres, Dawn fired its* ion thruster* to gently allow it to be captured by the dwarf planet's gravity.












Ion propulsion is a form of electric propulsion that generates thrust by accelerating ions. Its bonus over regular chemical propulsion is it requires less fuel, and it can accelerate and decelerate over longer periods of time.


However, the amount of thrust ion propulsion produces is incredibly small - equivalent to the force of a piece of paper resting on your hand - so the engine must run continuously for weeks, months or even years to generate significant thrust.

This is what Dawn has been doing for the past few years, as it neared its encounter with the dwarf planet. When it was close enough, the gravity of the planet grabbed the small vehicle, which will now allow it to slowly spiral inwards to a tighter and tighter orbit over the next few months.

As the spacecraft and planet are moving rather sedately compared to each other, about 100mph (160km/h) difference in speed (39,000mph or 63,000km/h in total), there was little opportunity for anything to go wrong with the capture.

'It's always possible for something to go wrong, it's a complex probe in the depths of space, always possible for a glitch or anomaly to occur. However, it is pretty straightforward,' said Dr Rayman.

As the spacecraft entered orbit on the 'dark' side of the planet - with the other side illuminated by the sun - it won't be taking any new images for a few weeks, until around 10 April, except for maybe a few of the dwarf planet in darkness.

By 10 April, scientists at Nasa in California are expecting Dawn to return images 9.6 times better than anything possible than Hubble.

Four days later, the spacecraft will return images that are 14 times better as it makes its closest approach to the dwarf planet so far - a distance of just 14,000 miles (22,000km).

The most impressive images, though, will begin to be returned in December of this year - when Dawn begins its scientific orbit around the planet.

It will be at an altitude of just 225 miles (360km) above the surface - below the orbital height of the International Space Station around Earth - allowing it to get high resolution images of the surface.


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## the54thvoid (Mar 7, 2015)

Decepticons.  The bright spots.

Will be cool though if some of the hypotheses about it's core are true - rock, ice, rock, perhaps the ice being also water.....


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 7, 2015)




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## rtwjunkie (Mar 7, 2015)

Ceres is expected to have more water than all the water on Earth.

It would be cool if we could figure out how to get it to earth should we ever need a crapload of new water! I know, science fiction for now....


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Sep 10, 2015)

Nasa today revealed stunning new close up images of showing the brightest spots on the dwarf planet Ceres gleam with mystery in new views delivered by NASA's Dawn spacecraft.

These closest-yet views of Occator crater, with a resolution of 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel, give scientists a deeper perspective on these very unusual features.






The new up-close view of Occator crater from Dawn's current vantage point reveals better-defined shapes of the brightest, central spot and features on the crater floor.

Because these spots are so much brighter than the rest of Ceres' surface, the Dawn team combined two different images into a single composite view - one properly exposed for the bright spots, and one for the surrounding surface.

Scientists also have produced animations that provide a virtual fly-around of the crater, including a colorful topographic map.


Dawn scientists note the rim of Occator crater is almost vertical in some places, where it rises steeply for 1 mile (nearly 2 kilometers).

Views from Dawn's current orbit, taken at an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers), have about three times better resolution than the images the spacecraft delivered from its previous orbit in June, and nearly 10 times better than in the spacecraft's first orbit at Ceres in April and May.

'Dawn has transformed what was so recently a few bright dots into a complex and beautiful, gleaming landscape,' said Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission director based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

'Soon, the scientific analysis will reveal the geological and chemical nature of this mysterious and mesmerizing extraterrestrial scenery.'

The spacecraft has already completed two 11-day cycles of mapping the surface of Ceres from its current altitude, and began the third on Sept. 9.

Dawn will map all of Ceres six times over the next two months.

Each cycle consists of 14 orbits.

By imaging Ceres at a slightly different angle in each mapping cycle, Dawn scientists will be able to assemble stereo views and construct 3-D maps.

Dawn is the first mission to visit a dwarf planet, and the first to orbit two distinct solar system targets.

It orbited protoplanet Vesta for 14 months in 2011 and 2012, and arrived at Ceres on March 6, 2015.

Another image shows the unusual shape of the Gaue crater, named after Germanic goddess to who offerings are made in harvesting rye.





This tall, conical mountain on Ceres from a distance of 915 miles (1,470km). The 'pyramid', located in the southern hemisphere, stands 4 miles (6 kilometers) high. Its perimeter is sharply defined, with almost no accumulated debris at the base of the brightly streaked slope





Dawn took this image that shows a mountain ridge, near lower left, that lies in the center of Urvara crater on Ceres. Urvara is an Indian and Iranian deity of plants and fields. The crater's diameter is 101 miles (163km). This view was acquired on August 19, 2015, from a distance of 915 miles (1,470km). The resolution of the image is 450ft (140 metres) per pixel





Nasa's Dawn spacecraft took this image of Gaue crater, the large crater on the bottom, on Ceres. Gaue is a Germanic goddess to whom offerings are made in harvesting rye. The center of this crater is sunken in. Its diameter is 84 kilometers (52 miles). The resolution of the image is 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel. The image was taken from a distance of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers) on August 18, 2015





The intriguing brightest spots on Ceres lie in a crater named Occator, which is about 60 miles (90 kilometers) across and 2 miles (4 kilometers) deep


*WHAT ARE THE BRIGHT SPOTS? *
Several theories are currently being touted for what the mysterious bright white spots are on Ceres.

The Hubble Space Telescope has found more than 10 on the surface, but Ceres has found that the two most prominent - 'spot 5' - are in a crater about 57 miles (92km) wide.

One theory is that they are salt flats that are reflecting sunlight, left on the surface by saltwater or by other chemical reactions.


Another possibility is that they are cryovolcanoes - volcanoes that are shooting out water or ice.

However, the lack of a raised area around the spots consistent with a volcano suggests this might not be correct.

And they could even be water vapour ejecting from a liquid reservoir under the ground, although again current observations - namely a lack of additional material near the spots - suggests this is not the case.

*GREAT VID*
*







*


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## Drone (Sep 10, 2015)




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## Drone (Oct 1, 2015)

Ceres' Composition map


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Oct 31, 2015)

Entering the last chapter of an eight-year mission, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is spiraling closer to the dwarf planet Ceres to its final planned orbit less than 235 miles from the icy world, a perch that will furnish fresh data to geologists eager to explain mysterious bright markings that have captivated scientists since the beginning of the year.






This mosaic shows Ceres’ Occator crater and surrounding terrain from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers), as seen by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Occator is about 60 miles (90 kilometers) across and 2 miles (4 kilometers) deep. Occator is home to the brightest area on Ceres, which tends to appear overexposed in most images. This view uses a composite of two images of Occator: one using a short exposure that captures the detail in the bright spots, and one where the background surface is captured at normal exposure. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Entering the last chapter of an eight-year mission, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is spiraling closer to the dwarf planet Ceres to its final planned orbit less than 235 miles from the icy world, a perch that will furnish fresh data to geologists eager to explain mysterious bright markings that have captivated scientists since the beginning of the year.







The probe activated its ion propulsion system Oct. 23 to begin pulsing closer to Ceres, heading from a 915-mile-high (1,470-kilometer) orbit to a 235-mile-high (380-kilometer) orbit.

The orbit transfer will take more than seven weeks, according to NASA, with Dawn’s arrival in its so-called low altitude mapping orbit expected in mid-December. Dawn’s science team has scheduled more than 90 days of observations in the low-altitude orbit — comprising more than 400 orbits — but the mission is funded through June.

The limiting factor for Dawn is its supply of hydrazine fuel, which is expected to run out in the spring, said Jim Green, head of NASA’s planetary science division, in a presentation to a science advisory board Tuesday.





Dawn is in a polar orbit around Ceres, with the natural precession of its low-altitude mapping orbit illustrated in this view. Ceres rotates on its axis every 9.1 hours, allowing Dawn to observe the entire surface. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The low-altitude science campaign is geared toward measurements of Ceres’ composition with Dawn’s gamma ray and neutron detector, which collects data on the chemical elements present in the top three feet — one meter — of the icy world’s crust.

The composition data will be vital for scientists to verify whether reflective deposits identified on Ceres, most prominently in a 57-mile-wide (92-kilometer) crater named Occator, are made of salt or ice. The latest evidence, shared by Dawn principal investigator Chris Russell in September, suggests the bright spots are most likely salt, based on the reflectivity of markings.









Either explanation would imply that Ceres has been geologically active in its recent past.

From its final science orbit, Dawn’s camera will take pictures of Ceres with a resolution of 120 feet (35 meters) per pixel, according to NASA. That is four times sharper than imagery captured from Dawn’s previous orbit.

As of Monday, Dawn’s average altitude was 835 miles (1,345 kilometers).

Ceres is the second destination for the $472 million Dawn mission, which blasted off from Cape Canaveral in September 2007 to become the first spacecraft to orbit two objects in the solar system besides the Earth and the moon.

Ceres is the largest world in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and Dawn is the first mission to visit the Texas-sized dwarf planet. Dawn’s first destination, asteroid Vesta, is the asteroid belt’s second most massive resident.

Dawn was captured by Ceres’ gravity in March after an interplanetary transit from Vesta.












Its all happening upstairs folks............


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## Drone (Nov 21, 2015)

First Complete Look at Ceres' Poles






The region around the south pole appears black in this view because this area has been in shade ever since Dawn's arrival on March 6, 2015, and is therefore not visible.

At the north polar region, craters Jarovit, Ghanan and Asari are visible, as well as the mountain Ysolo Mons. Near the south pole, craters Attis and Zadeni can be seen.

Detailed maps of the polar regions allow researchers to study the craters in this area and compare them to those covering other parts of Ceres. Variations in shape and complexity can point to different surface compositions. In addition, the *bottoms of some craters located close to the poles receive no sunlight throughout Ceres' orbit around the Sun*. Scientists want to investigate whether surface ice can be found there.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 13, 2015)

Nature.






Scientists believe they have solved the mystery of Cere's 'alien' bright spots (pictured), claiming they may be ice. This image of the Occator crater in false colours shows the differences in the surface composition






Water vapour has previously been found close to Ceres, raising interest in this dwarf planet's composition and life cycle. A The Occator crater is shown in 3D, including several bright spots







They discovered that although the surface of the dwarf planet is black like asphalt, more than 130 bright spots can be seen. Mosaic of the surface is shown above. The Occator crater is shown top left, Oxo crater, top right and bottom, a typical crater without signs of ice





When sunlight reaches the Occator crater, a kind of haze of dust and evaporating water forms there. This haze can only be discovered by looking at it laterally, as has been done here


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## rtwjunkie (Dec 13, 2015)

I thought I saw somewhere today they are pretty certain it's Epsom salts (well, the chemical equivalent of that salt) that are the bright spots, leading them to believe there is water under the surface?


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 13, 2015)

The Nature. link is beyond me, i will be the first to admit......but, i did read it and i understood some of it.



this is a little simpler


*WHERE DID CERES COME FROM? MINERAL SUGGEST OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM *
The dwarf planet may have formed in the outer Solar System, based upon the identification of specific minerals on the surface of Ceres.

Recently, water vapour was reported around Ceres and although measurements obtained from telescope data indicate several minerals exist on the dwarf planet’s surface, they could not be identified until now.







two different hypotheses regarding the formation of Ceres are presented: In the first image, Ceres formed in the main belt and ammonia was incorporated from the external zones of the Solar System. In the second, Ceres itself was formed in the external zones of the Solar System, including ammonia in its formation process, and then migrated to the main belt



Maria Cristina De Sanctis and colleagues from Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma (INAF) in Rome detected ammoniated phyllosilicates - sheet silicate minerals - on the dwarf planet, according to the study in Nature.

The results suggest that ammonia, incorporated into the planet either as organic matter or as ice, may have reacted with Ceres’ clays during its formation.

Ammonia ice is stable only at the cold temperatures of the outer Solar System, suggesting that either Ceres formed there before reaching the main asteroid belt, or that pebble-sized objects were transported from that region and incorporated into the main asteroid belt.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 12, 2016)

The Dawn spacecraft has revealed its surface in unprecedented detail with the latest images sent back from the dwarf planet.

Dawn took the images near its lowest ever altitude to Ceres, at 240 miles (385 km) from the surface, between December 19 and 23.

Kupalo Crater, one of the youngest craters on Ceres, shows off fascinating features at the high image resolution of 120 feet (35 meters) per pixel





Shown here is one of the youngest craters on Ceres known as 'Kupalo'. The crater has bright material exposed on its rim and walls, which could be salts. Its flat floor likely formed from impact melt and debris. Kupalo, which measures 16 miles (26 km) across and is located at southern mid-latitudes, is named for the Slavic god of vegetation and harvest



'This crater and its recently-formed deposits will be a prime target of study for the team as Dawn continues to explore Ceres in its final mapping phase,' said Paul Schenk, a Dawn science team member at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Dawn's low vantage point also captured the dense network of fractures on the floor of 78-mile-wide (126 km -wide) Dantu Crater. One of the youngest large craters on Earth's moon, called Tycho, has similar fractures.

This cracking may have resulted from the cooling of impact melt, or when the crater floor was uplifted after the crater formed.

A 20-mile (32 km) crater west of Dantu is covered in steep slopes, called scarps, and ridges.

The features likely formed when the crater partly collapsed during the formation process.

The curvilinear nature of the scarps resembles those on the floor of Rheasilvia, the giant impact crater on protoplanet Vesta, which Dawn orbited from 2011 to 2012.

Dawn's other instruments also began studying Ceres intensively in mid-December.

The visible and infrared mapping spectrometer is examining how various wavelengths of light are reflected by Ceres, which will help identify minerals present on its surface.

Dawn's gamma ray and neutron detector (GRaND) is also keeping scientists busy.

Data from GRaND help researchers understand the abundances of elements in Ceres' surface, along with details of the dwarf planet's composition that hold important clues about how it evolved.

The spacecraft will remain at its current altitude for the rest of its mission, and indefinitely afterward. The end of the prime mission will be June 30, 2016.







Nasa's Dawn spacecraft viewed this Cerean crater, which is covered in ridges and steep slopes, called scarps. These features likely resulted when the crater partly collapsed during its formation. The curvy nature of the scarps resembles those on the floor of Rheasilvia, the giant impact crater on Vesta. The 20-mile-wide (32-km-wide) crater is located just west of the larger, named crater Dantu






The fractured floor of Dantu Crater on Ceres is seen in this image from Nasa's Dawn spacecraft. Similar fractures are seen in Tycho, one of the youngest large craters on Earth's moon. This cracking may have resulted from the cooling of impact melt, or when the crater floor was uplifted after the crater formed






This image from the Dawn spacecraft shows part of Messor Crater (25 miles or 40 km, wide), located at northern mid-latitudes on Ceres. The scene shows an older crater in which a large lobe-shaped flow partly covers the northern (top) part of the crater floor. The flow is a mass of material ejected when a younger crater formed just north of the rim. The image resolution is 120 feet (35 meters) per pixel


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 14, 2016)

Two stories here........Water and Oxygen in space.

The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft detected relatively large grains of water ice in two different places on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which the probe has been orbiting since August 2014.







These big grains may have formed after heat from the sun sublimated (or vaporized) buried water ice, which then recondensed and was redeposited in subsurface layers, without ever leaving Comet 67P, researchers said. [Spectacular Comet Photos from Rosetta]
"If the thin ice-rich layers that we see exposed close to the surface are the result of the comet's activity, then they represent its evolution, and it does not necessarily require global layering to have occurred early in the comet's formation history," study lead author Gianrico Filacchione, of the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology at the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome, told Space.com via email.
Comets are made primarily of water ice, but the stuff is rarely observed on their frigid surfaces. Indeed, the 2.5-mile-wide (4 kilometers) Comet 67P appears to be covered by a nearly uniform layer of dark dust, Filacchione said.
"We have measured that the surface reflects only a few percent of solar light," he said. "Ices are not stable for a long time on the surface of the nucleus because, during the perihelion passage [closest approach to the sun], they sublimate, originating the gaseous coma."
Filacchione and his colleagues studied observations of Comet 67P made by Rosetta's Visual and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) instrument. VIRTIS detected surface water ice in two separate, 3.3-foot-wide (1 meter) areas within a region of the comet dubbed Imhotep, the researchers report in a study published online today (Jan. 13) in the journal Nature.









Both patches are associated with cliff walls and recent debris falls, which likely explains why the ice did not quickly boil away into space.





"The two water-ice-rich areas detected by VIRTIS were, in fact, scarcely illuminated by the sun at the time of their observation," Filacchione said.
The instrument's observations suggest that the water ice is present in two different grain sizes, he added — those on the micrometer (one-millionth of a meter) scale, and those with an average size of about 2 millimeters (0.08 inches).
The 2-millimeter grains are particularly intriguing, Filacchione said, because they can be explained by the growth of secondary ice crystals. These secondary crystals can form via "sintering" (the compaction of smaller grains) or via the sublimation process outlined above.
Lab work suggests that sublimation could well be involved — and, therefore, that layers of water ice have been deposited beneath 67P's surface over the course of the comet's history.
"This idea is supported by laboratory experiments that simulate the sublimation behavior of ice buried under dust, showing that more than 80 percent of the sublimating ice is not released through the dust mantle but is redeposited below the surface, resulting in the formation of ice layers immediately below the dust crust," Filacchione said.





This image shows the water ice abundance when compared to dark comet material. The areal graph on the top referse to larger grains of water ice, and the initimate shows the small grains



*ROSETTA'S 'MOST SURPRISING DISCOVERY SO FAR': RESEARCHERS STUNNED TO FIND COMET SURROUNDED BY OXYGEN *

Air surrounding the comet where a European probe landed last year is rich with oxygen, scientists have learned.
The surprise discovery may force a rethink of theories about the origins of the Solar System - but does not imply the presence of life.
Experts controlling the ESA's Rosetta orbiter discovered that free oxygen is the fourth most common gas in the atmosphere around Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Its other constituents are water vapour, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
Oxygen is highly reactive and according to current theories should not exist on its own in such quantities.








The team analysed more than 3000 samples collected around the comet between September 2014 and March 2015 to identify the oxygen ( readings illustrated above)
Over vast amounts of time, most of Comet 67P's oxygen should by now have combined with hydrogen to form water, it was thought.
Professor Kathrin Altwegg, project leader for Rosetta's Rosina mass spectrometer instrument, said: 'We had never thought that oxygen could 'survive' for billions of years without combining with other substances.'
While microbes and plants are responsible for most of Earth's oxygen, the new discovery does not mean that Comet 67P is teeming with life.
Instead, scientists believe the comet's oxygen originated very early, before the solar system had even finished forming.
High energy particles are thought to have freed the oxygen by striking grains of ice in the cold and dense birthplace of the solar system, known as a 'dark nebula'.
The oxygen was incorporated into the comet nucleus when it was created some 4.6 billion years ago and has remained ever since, according to the researchers writing in the journal Nature.
Professor Altwegg added: 'This evidence of oxygen as an ancient substance will likely discredit some theoretical models of the formation of the Solar System.'


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## Drone (Jan 29, 2016)




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## Drone (Feb 25, 2016)

tooooooons of new images:






NASA's Dawn spacecraft captured this view of a region in the mid-southern latitudes of Ceres. The largest crater in the scene is *Fluusa*. Fluusa has a densely cratered floor and therefore is interpreted as an old impact feature.






This image of Ceres from NASA's Dawn spacecraft was taken at an oblique viewing angle relative to the surface. The crater to the upper right is named *Juling* which displays prominent spurs of compacted material along its walls.






This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the interior of the crater *Datan*, which is superimposed on the northwestern rim of the larger crater *Geshtin*. The area at right, above the rim of Datan, is within Geshtin.






The image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the northeast rim of *Sintana* Crater on Ceres. The crater's steep rim is shadowed in this particular view. The crater density along this area of Sintana's rim (both interior and exterior) appears to be roughly the same, and is dominated by small impacts.






This view captured by NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows a section of *Jarimba* Crater on Ceres. A portion of the crater rim near top center appears much sharper, with smoother walls, than elsewhere.


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## Drone (Feb 25, 2016)

Part 2:






This view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft captures the northern rim of *Toharu Crater* on Ceres.






This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows a densely cratered region within *Meanderi Crater* on Ceres. Elongated craters in the wall of the largest impact feature are likely the result of material slumping down the crater walls.


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## Drone (Feb 27, 2016)

I know Ceres better than my hometown. Weeeeeeeeeeee! new images:






This view shows the northern rim of *Fejokoo* crater on Ceres. The crater rim is not circular and varies in steepness around its perimeter. The scene includes some small, bright features.

Some other craters:


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## Drone (Feb 28, 2016)

This image shows terrain in the southern hemisphere within the large crater called *Yalode* (260 km across).
The prominent crater at top-right is called *Lono* (20 km wide). The crater directly below it is called *Besua* (17 km wide).


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## Drone (Mar 4, 2016)

This view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the southwestern rim of Sintana Crater. The inside of the crater shows a hummocky surface. The crater's rim shows different stages of degradation - some parts appear distinct and smooth, whereas the part at the bottom of the image is heavily degraded.






NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this view of *Azacca* Crater (50 km wide) on Ceres. The rim of this crater has terraces descending from its rim down to its floor. The crater's floor is relatively free of large impact scars, and displays a prominent set of north-south trending fractures.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 8, 2016)

Nasa has revealed stunning new close up images of the three mile high mountain Ahuna Mons.
They reveal the 'pyramid' is in fact a dome with smooth, steep walls - one of which appears to glow.





*From afar, Ahuna Mons looked to be pyramid-shaped, but upon closer inspection, it is best described as a dome with smooth, steep walls. On its steepest side, it is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) high.. This side-perspective view of Ceres' mysterious mountain Ahuna Mons was made with images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The resolution of the component images is 120 feet (35 meters) per pixel.*





*Ahuna Mons is seen in this mosaic of images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. Dawn took these images from its low-altitude mapping orbit, from an altitude of 240 miles (385 kilometers) in December 2015.*





*This side-perspective view of Ceres' mysterious mountain Ahuna Mons was made with images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft to create a 3-D (anaglyph) view.*

The spacecraft is currently in its final and lowest mapping orbit, at about 240 miles (385 kilometers) from the surface. 






*Shown here is one of the youngest craters on Ceres known as 'Kupalo'. The crater has bright material exposed on its rim and walls, which could be salts. Its flat floor likely formed from impact melt and debris. Kupalo, which measures 16 miles (26 km) across and is located at southern mid-latitudes, is named for the Slavic god of vegetation and harvest*


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## Drone (Mar 8, 2016)

New images:











The rim of *Ikapati Crater*. The rough features around the rim of this impact scar give way to smoother, lightly cratered terrain in the lower half of the image.


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## Drone (Mar 11, 2016)

Unnamed Cerean crater that is surrounded by a smooth blanket of ejecta, including bright material. Both the area around the crater and its floor are peppered with giant boulders.






A small patch of bright material close to the northern rim of the giant crater Yalode, seen at lower left. Yalode is one of the largest impact basins on Ceres, with a diameter of 260 km.


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## Drone (Mar 14, 2016)

new images:











The view features a portion of a crater between the large impact features *Urvara and Yalode*.











These color topographic views show variations in surface height around Ahuna Mons, a mysterious mountain on Ceres


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 14, 2016)

Ahuna Mons is my favourite crater/feature.


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## Drone (Mar 14, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Ahuna Mons is my favourite crater/feature.


Yup it's awesome. They combined previous images (you posted them before) and color-coded them to show elevation/depression


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 14, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Ahuna Mons is my favourite crater/feature.



I can't decide if it's that or the aliens' porch lights they left on (the bright spots).

Seriously, it's mine too.  It's quite a significant feature in the solar system, and kind of out of character for Ceres.


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## Drone (Mar 14, 2016)

According to spectrometer data the bright spots are salts


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 14, 2016)

Drone said:


> According to spectrograph data the bright spots are salts



Yes, I know.  A paltry attempt at humor on my part.


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## Drone (Mar 14, 2016)

Yup I know it was a joke.

Btw here's the article

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4785


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## Drone (Mar 16, 2016)

Astronomers discover unexpected changes of bright spots on Ceres






As Ceres rotates the bright spots approach the Earth and then recede again, which affects the spectrum of the reflected sunlight arriving at Earth.
Ceres spins every 9 hours and calculations showed that the velocities of the spots towards and away from the Earth due to this rotation would be very small, of order 20 km/h. But this motion is big enough to be measurable via the Doppler effect with high-precision instruments such as HARPS.

The team concluded that the observed changes could be due to the presence of _volatile substances that evaporate under the action of solar radiation_. When the spots inside the Occator crater are on the side illuminated by the Sun they form plumes that reflect sunlight very effectively. These plumes then evaporate quickly, lose reflectivity and produce the observed changes. This effect, however, changes from night to night, giving rise to additional random patterns, on both short and longer timescales.


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## Drone (Mar 18, 2016)

A portion of the southern rim of *Jarovit Crater* in the northern hemisphere of Ceres. Compacted material forms spurs along the upper part of the crater wall, near the center of the image.






Cratered terrain in the northern hemisphere of Ceres. The large crater in the scene appears quite ancient, with its features smoothed and rounded by subsequent impacts and the slow infall of debris from other craters.


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## Drone (Mar 22, 2016)

This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows a variety of small craters in the northern hemisphere of Ceres. The majority of Ceres images from Dawn show heavily cratered terrains such as this.

And now more exciting stuff:











Occator crater ... Sharpest images ever!






Haulani crater in visible and infrared






The map acquired by the gamma ray and neutron detector.






Colorized global map created from a clear-filter mosaic.






Global nap in infrared


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## Drone (Mar 24, 2016)

videos by *Dawn Mission Engagement and Communications (E/C)





*


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## Drone (Mar 29, 2016)

*Mondamin Crater*

Shadows created by the low angle of solar illumination in this scene make visible rays of ejected material that spread radially outward from the crater. Boulders of various sizes can be seen around the crater's rim and on the sunlit part of its floor.






This view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows an area in mid-southern latitudes on Ceres. The crater named *Juling* (20 km wide) is seen at lower right. *Bright material is visible along its upper walls*. Several narrow fractures are visible just above and to the left of the crater's rim.


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## Drone (Apr 19, 2016)

New Ceres Images Show Bright Craters












*Haulani Crater*, with a diameter of 34 km, shows evidence of landslides from its crater rim. Smooth material and a central ridge stand out on its floor. "Haulani perfectly displays the properties we would expect from a fresh impact into the surface of Ceres. The crater floor is largely free of impacts, and it contrasts sharply in color from older parts of the surface," said Martin Hoffmann, co-investigator on the Dawn framing camera team.






A hidden treasure on Ceres is the 10 km *Oxo Crater*, which is the second-brightest feature on Ceres. "Little Oxo may be poised to make a big contribution to understanding the upper crust of Ceres," said Chris Russell, principal investigator of the mission.


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## Drone (Jul 3, 2016)

last images:
















because Dawn completes primary mission


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## Drone (Jul 8, 2016)

Occator Crater - the brightest area on Ceres. The inset perspective view shows new data on this feature: Red signifies a high abundance of carbonates.










*Permanently shadowed regions* capable of accumulating surface ice were identified in the northern hemisphere of Ceres.
Ceres has just enough mass to hold on to water molecules, and the permanently shadowed regions are extremely cold [colder than most that exist on the Moon or Mercury].


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## Drone (Sep 1, 2016)

New images and video:

Dawn's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) has found evidence of water ice at Oxo crater






Ceres' lonely mountain, Ahuna Mons, is seen in this simulated perspective view. The elevation has been exaggerated by a factor of two. The view was made using enhanced-color images from NASA's Dawn mission.






This view from Dawn spacecraft shows part of the floor and eastern rim on Consus Crater (64 km wide).


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## Drone (Nov 19, 2016)

New Ceres views as Dawn moves higher

Occator crater and Ceres in true colour


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Nov 19, 2016)

Why aren't there more dawn type probes out there ?? Ion propulsion rocks.


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## Drone (Dec 15, 2016)

Just like in my other posts I repeat: anyone who wants to see NASA pictures just click on reply on any of my posts but don't reply, the images will show, what a pain in the ass.


Whatever ...



*New* video from NASA's Dawn team:


This video shows the intriguing Occator Crater on Ceres, home to the dwarf planet's brightest area. It may have been produced by *upwelling of salt-rich liquids after the impact that formed the crater*. The animated flyover includes topographic and enhanced-color views of the crater, highlighting the central dome feature.


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## Drone (Dec 19, 2016)

The cameras of the Dawn space probe discover *water ice* in Ceres' polar region. It can survive for aeons in the extreme cold traps, even though there is no atmosphere.


Red full article here


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 19, 2016)

Drone said:


> The cameras of the Dawn space probe discover *water ice* in Ceres' polar region. It can survive for aeons in the extreme cold traps, even though there is no atmosphere.
> 
> 
> Red full article here




Exciting stuff, is there life on Ceres? 

I cant wait for more research on our Moons' polar regions.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 23, 2017)

The latest discovery to come from the dwarf planet shows its surface is not as rich in carbon as observations had previously indicated.

It turns out the carbon-rich material on Ceres’ surface is just fragments of other asteroids, and it means the dwarf planet is not as similar to asteroids as we thought.

Ceres is much larger than the rest of the objects in the asteroid belt, and was classified as a dwarf planet in 2006.

Researchers thought it had a similar composition to the rest of the asteroids in the belt, until now.

A new set of infrared scans by Nasa’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) shows the surface is likely contaminated by material, called dry pyroxene dust, from asteroid impacts, mixing in with 'wet' dust, ice and carbonates.

This challenges the previous classification of Ceres as a carbon-rich body, and suggest it may have formed near the edge of the solar system.

‘Models of Ceres based on data collected by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft plus ground-based telescopes indicated substantial amounts of water- and carbon-bearing minerals such as clays and carbonates,’ said Pierre Vernazza, lead author of the study. 





A new set of infrared scans by Nasa’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) shows the surface is likely contaminated by material, called dry pyroxene dust, from asteroid impacts, mixing in with 'wet' dust, ice and carbonates.




‘Only the mid-infrared observations made using SOFIA were able to show that both silicate and carbonate materials are present on the surface of Ceres.’ 

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a joint German-US space science project. 
https://www.sofia.usra.edu/

Carrying a 8 foot (2.5-metre) telescope inside a modified Boeing 747SP, the airborne observatory performs astronomical observations, high above the disturbance of Earth's atmosphere.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_Observatory_for_Infrared_Astronomy






‘SOFIA, with its airborne location and sensitive FORCAST instrument, is the only observatory, currently operating or planned, that can make these kind of observations,’ said Franck Marchis, co-author of the study published in the Astronomical Journal.


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## Drone (Feb 17, 2017)

*Dwarf planet Ceres hosts home-grown organic material*


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## Drone (Mar 8, 2017)

The bright central area of Ceres' Occator Crater, known as Cerealia Facula, *≅* 30 million years younger than the crater in which it lies, according to a new study in the Astronomical Journal. Scientists used data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft to analyze Occator's central dome in detail, concluding that this intriguing bright feature on the dwarf planet is *≅* 4 million years old - quite recent in terms of geological history.

Read more


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