bright spots on Ceres

[Halmyre]

jmorgan said:

OK, that an ejecta pattern to the right? An impact in an impact crater and the albedo just stands it out a tad?

Impact from or by what, though?

[jmorgan]

Halmyre said:

jmorgan said:

OK, that an ejecta pattern to the right? An impact in an impact crater and the albedo just stands it out a tad?

Impact from or by what, though?

Other lumps of crud left over from the formation of the solar system.


Or alien space craft.

[jbudgie]

Such a huge contrast in brightness though---strange.


Aliens .....

[Eric Mc]

Halmyre said:

jmorgan said:

OK, that an ejecta pattern to the right? An impact in an impact crater and the albedo just stands it out a tad?

Impact from or by what, though?

Asteroidal material - of which there is lots floating around the solar system.

[funkyrobot]

jbudgie said:

Such a huge contrast in brightness though---strange.


Aliens .....

It's tin foil. Aliens developed it long before we did.

[marksx]

funkyrobot said:

It's tin foil. Aliens developed it long before we did.

Aliens in tin foil hats? Whoa.


In the animation above, around 90 degrees around from the bright spots are some other craters, also with bright markings.

Could it be that Ceres is like that under the surface, and the brighter areas are 'fresh'?

Somehow degrading over time to reduce the albedo? Effects of sunlight or something?

Why a particular lump of rock would do that I don't know though. Maybe they all do and we've never noticed!

/clutching at straws.

[MiniMan64]

What type of pictures is sending back? Black & White? Colour? Something in between?

[Einion Yrth]

Monochrome, but the camera carries 7 bandpass filters so pseudo-colour images can be synthesized.

[MrCarPark]

New image just released:


It looks to be icy with a dusty coating.

[MartG]

Yes, definitely looks like impact ejecta around the crater

[NRS]

Could be a big bird poo?

[V8FGO]

Just posted on NASA's Twitter feed
Picture of a pyramid dome structure.
Bright spot looks like fresh ejecta
Maybe from an irregular shaped body

Take a look at @NASA's Tweet:
https://twitter.com/NASA/status/612989290
348417024?s=09

[jammy_basturd]

Working link

[MiniMan64]

And people thought dwarf planets would be boring!!

[MartG]

That 'dome' looks like a volcano to me

[jmorgan]

Or one of them optical illusions where people sea a peak but it is a crater.

[MiniMan64]

MartG said:

That 'dome' looks like a volcano to me

Tectonic activity on something that small?

[jbudgie]

MiniMan64 said:

And people thought dwarf planets would be boring!!

There is nothing boring about astronomy.

[MartG]

MiniMan64 said:

MartG said:

That 'dome' looks like a volcano to me

Tectonic activity on something that small?

It depends what the 'lava' is made of I guess - frozen mud slurry could be formed under certain circumstances

[MiniMan64]

jbudgie said:

MiniMan64 said:

And people thought dwarf planets would be boring!!

There is nothing boring about astronomy.

As someone who teaches it, trust me, you are preaching to the choir!