This representation of Ceres’ Occator Crater in false colors shows differences in the surface composition. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
2 new studies from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft show insights about mysterious bright features found all over the dwarf planet’s surface. In one study, scientists identify this bright material as a kind of salt. The 2nd study suggests the detection of ammonia-rich clays, raising questions about how Ceres formed.
Ceres has more than 130 bright areas, and most of them are associated with impact craters. The bright material is consistent with a type of magnesium sulfate, hexahydrite.
Nathues and colleagues, using images from Dawn’s framing camera, suggest these salt-rich areas were left behind when water-ice sublimated in the past...
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