Talk:Bright spots on Ceres

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HST[edit]

Hi everyone, I removed the section showing the Hubble images and modified the introduction based on the Slate article by Phil Plait which says that the lighter areas seen by Hubble are not identical with the Bright Spots. On the official Dawn website there doesn't seem to be any statement on the issue, so I suppose this is the best information available at the moment. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.103.24.248 (talk) 08:32, 15 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

What are they?[edit]

While previously the nature of the bright spots had been simply a matter of speculation, with nothing more than low-resolution images, Dawn has attained much higher quality of images, able to discern some important features. I think it's time a discussion, sharing of ideas, and general thoughts on the bright spots. Here's what's clearly known so far:

They are all over Ceres in small quantities, but most noticeably in a small crater with a relatively recently-made appearance to it (deeper than most of the other craters, overlaying every other crater, and the ridges on Ceres' surface.
There are several of them, so far the main spot appears to be a single object, but this will likely be changed in the future by more observations. The secondary is additionally separated into two bright areas, surrounded by 6 other smaller spots.
There is what appears to be at least one ejecta ray at 7:00 to the brighter spot, if the smaller ones are at 12:00. This is present in every frame of the recent animation, so it's unlikely to be an artifact.
As noted in the discussion above this, there was a very bright object observed by the HST more than a decade before Dawn 's images of the dwarf planet. They were considerably brighter than the current bright spots, as in the 4 February images the spots don't appear considerably brighter than the rest of Ceres's surface.

Besides that, nothing else really seems certain. Whatever they are, although astronomers at NASA are already doing this work, and will likely announce it officially later, keep in mind that they still have the same material to work with as us. exoplanetaryscience (talk) 22:13, 18 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I think they ruled out gas plumes. Can we delete that from the article or mention it as a past speculation? Cheers, BatteryIncluded (talk) 22:31, 18 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting you should mention that, because I recently found that if one looks closely at the below image, in the last frame the majority of the crater is in shadow, yet the spots are still visible, meaning that they either emit their own light (which is impossible, as in images of the spots when they are in darkness see no anomalous features) or that they rise above the surface of the crater. exoplanetaryscience (talk) 04:02, 25 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The black-gray contrast is adjustable. If the spots were actually glowing in the dark, Dawn would have seen them from its night side and NASA would have reported that months go. That is why they are referred to as albedo, meaning reflective. Cheers, BatteryIncluded (talk) 04:11, 25 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

But is it not possible that they are visible because they rise above the crater floor? This would be easily identifiable as the apparent location of the bright spot rising, as lower-altitude parts of it would become invisible in the shadow. exoplanetaryscience (talk) 04:49, 25 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but scientists are looking at the same images (plus many more unpublished images) and have not seen or interpreted that. I am sure that whatever it is, it will be published in time. I would say to sit tight and wait for this interesting mission to develop. Cheers, BatteryIncluded (talk) 06:28, 25 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Please don't include media speculations in this article. I've removed the "silver or aluminum" thing because that's preposterous and downright stupid. Endimion17 (talk) 17:56, 22 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Move content to Occator (crater)?[edit]

It seems like Occator_(crater) might be a better location for the content here about the spots in that crater. Tom Ruen (talk) 11:15, 28 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, Occator has the largest spots, but the spots are a feature in many other craters across the asteroid. BatteryIncluded (talk) 20:32, 28 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed, but it doesn't make much sense to have more material on the summary article than the individual crater articles. Tom Ruen (talk) 20:37, 28 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Keep ("don't merge") => @Tomruen and BatteryIncluded: FWIW - the present article (ie, "Bright spots on Ceres") seems ok for now - and may become even more important soon - after all, much closer "HAMO & LAMO images of Ceres" are only now "beginning to be released" - with many more close-up images likely soon - besides "Spot 5" in Occator crater, seems many more "bright spots" are likely to be identified - maybe wait and see for now? - the present article (ie, "Bright spots on Ceres") may be even more relevant soon - in any case - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 21:20, 28 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

My thought is to expand the Occator crater article as needed, but leave this article as is. The reason is that by early 2016 the space probe will be orbiting low enough to analyze the spectra of the surface chemistry, and new data and hypotheses will flow all the way here. Cheers, BatteryIncluded (talk) 21:31, 28 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Probably makes sense. Because the largest bright spots are in Occator, there is bound to be some overlap, but the topics are distinct. --JorisvS (talk) 10:16, 29 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Keep - The bright spots are a feature found inside the larger crater. The name is discriptive and makes the article easier to find. Jus da fax 16:52, 29 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Salt[edit]

News say [1]

Ceres’ bright spots have been a winking mystery for months, but NASA finally thinks it’s solved the riddle: No, we’re not looking at a giant alien ice rink. More likely, enormous piles of salt.

“We believe this is a huge salt deposit,” principal investigator for the Dawn spacecraft Chris Russell told scientists on Monday at the European Planetary Science Congress. “We know it’s not ice and we’re pretty sure it’s salt, but we don’t know exactly what salt at the present time.”

Cryovolcanism[edit]

Just added details about the announcement of recent, possibly present day cryovolcanism from the MPS. Robert Walker (talk) 22:48, 8 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]