APOD: Dwarf Planet, Bright Spot (2015 May 14)

[APOD Robot]

Dwarf Planet, Bright Spot

Explanation: Now at Ceres, Dawn's camera recorded this closer view of the dwarf planet's northern hemisphere and one of its mysterious bright spots on May 4. A sunlit portrait of a small, dark world about 950 kilometers in diameter, the image is part of a planned sequence taken from the solar-powered spacecraft's 15-day long RC3 mapping orbit at a distance of 13,600 kilometers (8,400 miles). The animated sequence shows Ceres' rotation, its north pole at the top of the frame. Imaged by Hubble in 2004 and then by Dawn as it approached Ceres in 2015, the bright spot itself is revealed to be made up of smaller spots of reflective material that could be exposed ice glinting in the sunlight. On Saturday, Dawn's ion propulsion system was turned on to spiral the spacecraft into a closer 4,350-kilometer orbit by June 6. Of course another unexplored dwarf planet, Pluto, is expecting the arrival of a visitor from Earth, the New Horizons spacecraft, by mid-July.

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[the old blind man]

This is the roof of the alien underground facility, seemingly a treasure trove of alien technology, but actually an Ackbar singularity, a.k.a 'a trap'.

[somebodyshort]

I thought the anomaly is buried on the moon

[Jandotto]

It seems unlikely that the white spots are something glinting in the sunlight. In the animated view the spots stay the same throughout their rotation. It seems more likely they are light material - e.g. ice [maybe carbon dioxide?] as opposed to dark rock that pervades the planet.

[ta152h0]

natural LED's

[MrZorg]

Looks like Los Vegas from space at night...

[MrZorg]

Looks like Los Vegas from space at night...

[skiffle]

a planned sequence taken

There appear to be several more bright spots scattered around the globe in the planned sequence

[tomruen]

I selected cropped frames from the sequence including the spotted crater here:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Astronymus]

It's just junk. Left by tourists.

[Boomer12k]

I get that when my exposure is just a tad high on my camera, even if it is Jupiter, or Saturn... I have to reduce the exposure a bit, and that takes care of it. Happens with Galaxies, Stars, and even the Moon. Not to ruin the fun.

As per the Sequence LINK... the video shows....this is not the only area, and single frame shots, put into video, and thus could be camera induced.

Either that or it is GOLD!!! GOLD!!! I TELL YOU....MORE GOLD THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE!!!! GOLD!!!! AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!! GOOOOLLLL>.....ur...um....well.....um....NO...not gold....um....IRON...yup....glistening IRON....yup, not gold....nope....no gold there....NOT AT ALL....

Ummmm....going to be gone for a few days.... BYE....

(he, he, he,...Awm gonna be RICH!!!....and nobody knows...)
:---[===] *

[Xopianoi]

The animated sequence reveals that this is not a reflection but an emission of light.

[geckzilla]

The animated sequence reveals that this is not a reflection but an emission of light.

No. The spots do not continue to appear when they rotate into the darkness. There is another animation showing them doing this.
http://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/march/na ... et-arrival

[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

It appears, not like Vesta's parallel Divalia Fossa, that Ceres has crevasse-like features in the lower right quadrant. More like the Moon – rille.

http://www2.lpod.org/wiki/March_18,_2006

Rille, cracks or crevasses – it'll be interesting to see what they are.

[WonderBar]

Are you telling me they that can't determine what the material is from its light spectrum?
Likely it's water ice as there is seemingly an incredible supply of that stuff in the universe, created in the Waterfall Nebula of course, and shot out into space as globes, to end up circling planets like Jupiter and Saturn, and of course planet earth, out of which (the water) Pangea emerged.

[geckzilla]

Are you telling me they that can't determine what the material is from its light spectrum?
Likely it's water ice as there is seemingly an incredible supply of that stuff in the universe, created in the Waterfall Nebula of course, and shot out into space as globes, to end up circling planets like Jupiter and Saturn, and of course planet earth, out of which (the water) Pangea emerged.

The light spectrum might just say you're looking at the Sun.

[Reobed]

In the animated sequence, the bright spot(s) remain at the same brightness at all angles to the sun & camera. That makes it a diffuse reflector, like the rest of the surface, which you get with a layer of fine particles. The spots are much brighter, so much less absorptive = colorless. I think that makes it SNOW, either water or carbon dioxide (methane?).

[John Macdonald]

I wonder when Apple Inc. ran a secret space program to put its logo onto Ceres!

[Idaho Astro]

Actually, these are not the same bright features seen by Hubble: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronom ... spots.html

[geckzilla]

Actually, these are not the same bright features seen by Hubble: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronom ... spots.html

Thanks for pointing that out.

[WonderBar]

Actually, these are not the same bright features seen by Hubble: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronom ... spots.html

Thanks for pointing that out.

That animated sequence hints at a few other bright places, including one which could be a plume strewn onto the surface. Could be Ceres was once a bright snowball into which some very dark objects crashed resulting in a thin coating of dark powder. Is Ceres large enough for tectonic plate activity? Is the major bright spot consisting of smaller spots the result of water geysers?

[Chris Peterson]

That animated sequence hints at a few other bright places, including one which could be a plume strewn onto the surface. Could be Ceres was once a bright snowball into which some very dark objects crashed resulting in a thin coating of dark powder. Is Ceres large enough for tectonic plate activity? Is the major bright spot consisting of smaller spots the result of water geysers?

All of these airless bodies darken naturally due to a phenomenon called space weathering. Most asteroids have very low albedos, as do many bodies that are nearly pure ice.

Light areas result from the unweathered material being exposed by impacts or tectonic activity.

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[neufer]

http://www.universetoday.com/120428/cer ... ore-120428

[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

Ron's Top Ten (since Dave isn't around anymore)
1. A good shot with a "clean" snowball
2. Asteroid vomit
3. Ancient alien hieroglyphics
4. A moon shot gone terribly wrong
5. A paint ball shot gone amazingly right
6. An avalanche that likes to skip
7. The smallest asteroid yarmulke ever known; very frayed
8. The opposite of asteroid vomit
9. Asteroid Antarctica calving an iceberg
And finally
10. Our first encounter with "white matter"