Strange lights on dwarf planet Ceres have scientists perplexed

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Without going too off topic if you sold the story the other and then re wrote it are you not plaugurising yourself?

It would be an interesting court case if so!

Great discovery adventure, and I hope folks notice, strange images released immediately.

March 6 is not a boundary date, the probe is using an ion engine to slip into a stable orbit and is currently drifting past it and farther away and will then approach from down sun, with a crescent Ceres all that is visible.

It will wind up in a polar orbit, fortunately Ceres axis is only 4 deg to the ecliptic, and its day is 9 hours long, so almost all except close to the south pole [where it's now winter] will be visible.

originally posted by: nonspecific
are you not plaugurising yourself?

The entity I sold it to has not existed for a long, long time.

Looking forward to a closer look -- if the probe survives. That was the other aspect of my short story, a probe was destroy right after transmitting the images of an extraterrestrial observation post.

Not to be too pedantic but shouldn't this be under Space Exploration

Also, anyone know if Ceres is ever viewable using amateur telescopes (I assume its too dark?)

a reply to: nonspecific

Off topic I know, but that has happened before. IIRC John Foggerty got sued for plagiarizing himself. After Creedence Clearwater Revival broke up and he went solo one of his new songs was apparently a little too similar to one of his old songs. The record company that held the rights to the CCR song sued him for plagiarism.

Back on topic:
If the bright spots are geysers/ice volcanoes, what is the process behind them? The Jovian and Saturnian moons that have geysers and/or ice volcanoes have them because tidal forces squeeze and pull on the moon causing the inside to heat up. There isn't anything close enough to Ceres to do that and aren't small bodies like Ceres usually geologically dead?

It's clearly the Milenium Falcon. Duh.

originally posted by: Justshrug
Not to be too pedantic but shouldn't this be under Space Exploration

Also, anyone know if Ceres is ever viewable using amateur telescopes (I assume its too dark?)

At its brightest, it has an apparent magnitude of 6.7, which is for all intents and purposes too dim to be seem by the naked eye, but it is possible under perfect conditions and with someone with sharp vision (but not very probable).

However, magnitude 6.7 objects can certainly be seen with modest telescopes, or even good binoculars, if the binoculars could be kept steady.

At its dimmest, Ceres is magnitude 9.3, which can still be seen with a modest telescope.

originally posted by: Roxxo

Back on topic:
If the bright spots are geysers/ice volcanoes, what is the process behind them? The Jovian and Saturnian moons that have geysers and/or ice volcanoes have them because tidal forces squeeze and pull on the moon causing the inside to heat up. There isn't anything close enough to Ceres to do that and aren't small bodies like Ceres usually geologically dead?

I don't know what would cause vulcanism, but here is an article from last year that gives some speculation into the cause of the water plumes:

Water Plume 'Unequivocally' Detected at Dwarf Planet Ceres

originally posted by: Baltazar84
first off im not sure if this is the correct forum. if not feel free to move it

p.s. how the heck do you attach a photo?? i clicked insert an image and couldnt navigate anywhere..anyways heres the story
found it very interesting. as well as their "theories" on whats causing it. not sure if im buying the "its ice reflecting light" excuse

Occam's Razor.

Dwarf planets and asteroids at Ceres distance are beyond the "snow line" of the solar system, meaning they can contain permanent chunks of exposed ice on the surface. They are the left over building blocks of our solar system.

So which is more likely.. High albedo ice reflecting 40% more light than the area around it or "OMG ALIENZZZZ!!!!" ?

In science when faced with a mystery the first place we go is nature, not wild ideas of alien bases, etc.

As it turns out, that's the wisest choice to avoid disappointment.

what do you guys think this could be??

Ice. And if it's not ice or very high albedo ore of some sort then it gets a lot more interesting.

That article you posted is typical of a lot of sensationalist mainstream articles on science stories. The headline itself is implying artificial light rather than reflected sunlight.

Gee, I wonder why? Cause "OMG ALIENZ!" gets more clicks.

originally posted by: Justshrug
Not to be too pedantic but shouldn't this be under Space Exploration

Also, anyone know if Ceres is ever viewable using amateur telescopes (I assume its too dark?)

I agree and would love this thread moved there because a duplicate one will probably pop up.

I'm guessing right about the time it slips into orbit some sort of "Major" news will break here on earth that will shift focus away from this until it slips all the way out of the mainstream media.

originally posted by: w810i
I'm guessing right about the time it slips into orbit some sort of "Major" news will break here on earth that will shift focus away from this until it slips all the way out of the mainstream media.

Or sometime after Dawn reaches orbit and investigates the bright spot, science will discover the natural reasons behind the bright spots (exposed ice or whatever), and provide scientifically interesting explanations that some people would find boring because it doesn't involve aliens.

originally posted by: w810i
I'm guessing right about the time it slips into orbit some sort of "Major" news will break here on earth that will shift focus away from this until it slips all the way out of the mainstream media.

Right. That's why you are being told about it now, when it would be SO EASY NOT TO DO SO. Because "they" are going to hide from you the aliens. --rolls eyes, throws up--

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

That idea makes sense. It would be similar to a comet outgassing when the sun heats it up. Though I guess we will have to wait until the probe gets there to really find out what causes the plumes and the bright spots.

Well if you take a closer look at the older ones


it seems fairly mundane for ceres,

2 Views of Ceres on Approach, Uncropped NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained these uncropped images of dwarf planet Ceres on Feb. 19, 2015, from a distance of about 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers). They are part of a series taken as Dawn observed Ceres completing one full rotation, which lasted about nine hours. The images show the full range of different crater shapes that can be found at Ceres' surface: From shallow, flattish craters to those with peaks at their centers. These views show sections of Ceres' surface that are similar to those in PIA19056 .

Source

Or maybe, Just maybe we've pissed off hostile Beings on that planet, and they've fired a plasma cannon at us which will not reach us until 2024

I always wondered if at some point in our explorations of the solar system we might find some long abandoned extraterrestrial outpost. This is most probably just a couple of bright impact craters. But one can always hope....

a reply to: Baltazar84

Ice? Let's see, ice sublimates on earth, which has an atmosphere and it can be a slow process. Sublimation is going directly from a solid phase to a gas phase. "Ice" on a planet/moon/body with no atmosphere would sublimate much faster. If it's gone in a couple of days or seriously shrinks, yeah probably ice, dry ice, etc.

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

You know that in the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card, the "Buggers" setup an outpost in the asteroid belt as well (I'm pretty sure). In the prolouge to Ender's Game, humans first come into contact with the aliens by exploring the asteroid belt and finding their outpost.

Looking at the image, it's interesting that one of the lights is smack in the middle of the crater.

Swamp gas. It's gotta be swamp gas ... not a secret US space program installation.

In all reality, it's probably some ice or something boring.

a reply to: intrptr

Someone parked there and left the lights on. Someone's gonna need a new battery.