Cassius Methyl

January 20, 2015

(ANTIMEDIA) New images from the Dawn spacecraft of the dwarf planet, Ceres, prove the existence of a strange feature on its surface. This may further indicate the presence of large amounts of water on Ceres. So much water, in fact, that scientists think it’s possible that the tiny planet could have more fresh water than Earth.

A white dot, approximately the size of a city on Earth, has now been confirmed to be a genuine feature on the surface of Ceres, not a visual error in photographing the planet. These are the first photographs of Ceres to be released since 2003-2004, since the Hubble photographs. The white dot is quite large and bright.

It is thought to be ice, some kind of volcano, or some feature perhaps distinct to Ceres and moons native to that region of the solar system, like the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. However, it is a mystery why Ceres may be active volcanically or why it bears the characteristics of celestial bodies strongly affected by gravity, as it is a planet affected by relatively little gravitational pull.

When asked what Ceres would need to host microbial life, or have hosted life in the past, Dawn scientist Paul Schenk said,

“The presence of carbon molecules is often regarded as necessary for life and we think we see that on the surface spectroscopically in the form of carbonates and clays. So, I think the questions will be, whether there is actually liquid water of any kind, whether the carbon compounds are just a surface coating or in the interior, and whether Ceres has ever been warm. If those are true then some sort of prebiotic or biotic activity is in play.”

If more information about Ceres, the solar system, or astronomy interest you, I highly encourage you to conduct your own research and share your finds with us. It seems these days people don’t care about these things as much as they used to. There are all kinds of profound, perspective warping discoveries taking place that you probably aren’t hearing about, so I say give it some research!

Please share this with as many people as possible.

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