What are the bright spots on Ceres

[AussieTrooper]

Vote!

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/dawn/world_ceres/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content=worldcerespoll-20150424#

[Ric]

I went for a salt deposit of some type.

I hope it will turn out to be something really different, that will get everyone thinking for a while. :confused2:

[JB80]

I chose 'Other'.
That should cover it. :D

[AussieTrooper]

I went for 'ice'. It might be a fairly large icy deposit under the surface, exposed by meteor strikes.
Or alien radar dishes looking for signs of life on earth ;)

[sil]

Superman's Fortress of Solitude obviously :)

[sn1987a]

http://australianmuseum.net.au/uploads/images/1822/tk_05_big.jpg



:D

[sn1987a]

:shrug:

[clive milne]

Classic!

[sn1987a]

I'll confess I stole the idea from a post on Reddit :ashamed:

[clive milne]

btw) you need more telescopes Barry.

[sn1987a]

Yeah there's still some gaps to fill. :P

[ZeroID]

Beer foam, there's a hidden brewery somewhere :drink:

[sil]

The Aussie space program:

Step 1 Shake the Keg
Step 2 point at ceres
Step 3 hit keg base with pick
Step 4 drink to lift off

Increase success rate when done in proximity to Weber BBQ.
And one handed so you dont have to put down your snag:

[sn1987a]

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/archive/PIA19547.gif


Latest gif, there's more spots!

http://i2.wp.com/www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Ceres-Tom-Ruen-montage-May-11.jpg

[Pinwheel]

Clearly it's a kid with a green laser!

[BilliGoatsGruff]

It's obviously mould spots, because everyone knows that moons are made from cheese!

[sn1987a]

http://i.imgur.com/tsm3wN0.gif

[mikesbytes]

Oh that pole is rigged, there is no option to select Alien space station (http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/572657/Great-Whites-Ceres-ice-UFO-buffs-think-aliens)

[mikesbytes]

New photos of the spots and they have multiplied, particularly around the smaller spot, which is now 2 spots.

I'm wondering what happened to the old man who use to stand at the side of the road, not too far from my abode holding a sign with the word 'UFO'

[mikesbytes]

Calla Cofield is going to kick herself when she realises what she wrote

Next closer orbit commences 6th June, so we should have even better info then. For now we know that its reflected light and that's about it

[deanm]

The fact that the largest high-reflectivity feature is right in the centre of a whopping great crater suggests to me that what we see are the remnants of an incoming icy body (comet?), breaking up because of gravitational tidal forces, then impacting (hence the adjacent reflective blobs).

Either that or a significant impact has exposed or excavated pre-existing icy sub-surface material.

But then, I'm only a biologist...!

Dean

[Regulus]

What I found interesting was that in one of the movies it remained the same size and the albido didn't change as the planet rotated. You would expect it to fade as it rotated away from direct on to the camera and sun.

Trev

[tonybarry]

If the stuff is crystalline (particularly cubic crystalline) then it will reflect light back in the general direction of the incident light rather well. This is the same principle that the reflective paint used on the roads employs to "light up" at night when headlights shine on it.

Regards,
Tony Barry
WSAAG

[AussieTrooper]

Clearly these are space snow monsters that are multiplying and preparing for attack.
Given that they will have noticed Dawn and that their form up point for the invasion has been discovered, it will be interesting to see if they press on with the invasion, or call it off.

[ZeroID]

Yes, I wondered that myself ...:question:

[sn1987a]

Money shot?

[clive milne]

I'll pay that.

[Slawomir]

The latest theories suggest that it is a large hole in the surface and there is a big bright light bulb inside Ceres.

[Regulus]

If it's a multi storey car (UFO) park, then the security lighting is good.

[glend]

An incomplete section of the outer skin of the Death Star.

[Eratosthenes]

Enceladus, which is a moon orbiting Saturn is the most reflective large object in our solar system (apparently the surface of Enceladus reflects about 90% of the sunlight that reaches it).

I wonder what the surface of Enceladus is composed of and why it has such a high reflectivity?;)

http://www.seasky.org/solar-system/assets/images/enceladus01_sk12.jpg

[Slawomir]

Ice?

Here...http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Enceladus

and here...http://t.space.com/all/25328-ocean-on-saturn-moon-enceladus-suspected-beneath-ice-video#1

[Eratosthenes]

...we can also thank material discharge from the surface of Enceladus, to keep one of the rings going strong around Saturn. Enceladus is my 4th favourite object in our solar system ladies and gentlemen:D

[scoperboy]

Ice