Interesting: BBC News has a new article on the Ceres spots.
Seems to be confirmed now that they're shiny white salt (probably magnesium sulphate) evaporated out of briny water that's come to the surface. And this is a lot closer than I remember seeing before, the pic at the top of the page shows the inside of the biggest and brightest one, Occator Crater; a bit of the edge of the crater rim is just visible at bottom right.
I wonder if there's any good way of aging the salt deposits and the central dome? There are other smaller white spots, but not a lot of them, and this water upwelling has to have happened quite a lot over Ceres' history — how long would they stay visible?
Closer look at Ceres white spots
Moderator: Alyrium Denryle
-
SpottedKitty
- Jedi Master
- Posts: 1004
- Joined: 2014-08-22 08:24pm
- Location: UK
Closer look at Ceres white spots
“Despite rumor, Death isn't cruel — merely terribly, terribly good at his job.”
Terry Pratchett, Sourcery
Terry Pratchett, Sourcery