Dawn Arrives at Ceres: Coverage

originally posted by: Abednego
Interesting days to come.

i hope so

originally posted by: Abednego
Interesting days to come.

Quite. It seems that a lot of new understanding of asteroid belt bodies will come out of this. These types of scientific discoveries can be exciting, because the mission scientists are not sure what to expect -- therefore, unexpected new understandings of nature and the solar system are likely.

Gaining a new understanding of nature and how things work is always exciting. Great stuff.

As a bonus, in July science will again learn more unexpected things when the New Horizons spacecraft is scheduled to do its fly-by of Pluto. I say "unexpected", but in reality the scientific community already "expects" to learn the unexpected.

I wonder if NASA actually created the bright spots in the photo, to create a buzz around the up coming mission. It would be a great way for NASA to put the spotlight back on an agency that has struggled in recent years. Of course I dont think that is what the bright spots are, I think its either a mixture of water Ice reflection or something maybe tied to volcanism. still what an exciting time we all live in right now.

originally posted by: AgentSmith

originally posted by: Ultralight
a reply to: and14263

Of course that's what we will be told. But truth isn't in the cards. Someday...

Yes because the truth isn't the truth unless it's what you want to hear of course. Unless it's an alien city 'they' must be hiding the 'truth'!!

The mentality does fascinate me. I mean, these are people who have dedicated their lives to science and space exploration, if there was the slightest piece of evidence of any intelligent life outside of our planet they would be on the news within minutes sharing the discovery with the entire world!

This is the kind of scientific discovery these people live for, and yet we're supposed to believe that these thousands of scientists would all conspire to hide the truth and ignore the scientific reality? And for what purpose?

If there was some kind of massive cover up of an "alien race" in our solar system then why would any government even allow a space agency to travel outside of our immediate vicinity?

Surely the best way to hide what these people think is a conspiracy would be to NOT constantly throw scientific apparatus into space to look around?

Why do we keep sending things out into space to conduct research if our governments are all desperately trying to hide something?

originally posted by: Rocker2013

The mentality does fascinate me. I mean, these are people who have dedicated their lives to science and space exploration, if there was the slightest piece of evidence of any intelligent life outside of our planet they would be on the news within minutes sharing the discovery with the entire world!

I've always found it fascinating (and a little depressing) that so many people are bored by the discoveries NASA announces simply because NASA hasn't announced "Aliens Contact!!!".

Every time NASA announces that they will be holding a mission briefing or press conference (which they do on a regular basis to discuss their latest data and discoveries), some people on ATS start speculating about these briefings being the announcement of alien disclosure. But when the briefing fails to deliver that alien disclosure, those same people on ATS post how boring the briefing was -- even when the scientific discoveries covered in the briefings were really exciting and scientifically interesting to many of us. It's as if they feel if the announcement isn't about aliens, then it is otherwise a worthless discovery.

But, alas, some people just aren't excited about science and learning new things -- and that's what I find depressing. How can people be so blasé about the learning new things about nature of the universe around us?

Did these people have such a bad experience in high school science class that now as adults they can feel absolutely no joy or excitement over the process of humanity learning new things about nature, the solar system, and the universe??

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People
OK, so I have a question for everyone who's been following the pics of Ceres as the probe has been approaching it......

The pics from a month ago show a bluish hazed dwarf planet with a tan and blue mottled surface. Now they are all black and white pictures of a sterile cratered surface. WTF??????

originally posted by: skeptical29
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People
OK, so I have a question for everyone who's been following the pics of Ceres as the probe has been approaching it......

The pics from a month ago show a bluish hazed dwarf planet with a tan and blue mottled surface. Now they are all black and white pictures of a sterile cratered surface. WTF??????

Artistic License??

a reply to: All Seeing Eye
I thing the first images are really Ceres, may have a thin atmosphere and might be more of an interest than NASA is willing to disclose.

Now they are showing us pics of something else entirely!

Expect lots of "cosmic ray hits" on the images!

a reply to: skeptical29

Care to show us the images your are talking about?

originally posted by: skeptical29
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People
OK, so I have a question for everyone who's been following the pics of Ceres as the probe has been approaching it......

The pics from a month ago show a bluish hazed dwarf planet with a tan and blue mottled surface. Now they are all black and white pictures of a sterile cratered surface. WTF??????

The two cameras on Dawn are essentially black and white cameras that use seven color filters to capture light at different frequencies of interest to scientists. These images can then be combined into a "false color" image that may or may not simulate what the human eye might see.

The bright spots appear to be frost!

originally posted by: skeptical29
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People
OK, so I have a question for everyone who's been following the pics of Ceres as the probe has been approaching it......

The pics from a month ago show a bluish hazed dwarf planet with a tan and blue mottled surface. Now they are all black and white pictures of a sterile cratered surface. WTF??????

I think you mean this image from Hubble?:

www.jpl.nasa.gov...

The description says:

Astronomers enhanced the sharpness in these Advanced Camera for Surveys images to bring out features on Ceres' surface, including brighter and darker regions that could be asteroid impact features. The observations were made in visible and ultraviolet light between December 2003 and January 2004.

The colors represent the differences between relatively red and blue regions. These differences may simply be due to variation on the surface among different types of material.

So it is an enhanced image that used both visible and ultraviolet light, and the colors may only indicate relative difference in materials -- not the true colors of the materials.

I just finished listening to the Sloosh presentation, and am quite concerned about what I heard.

No one is taking into consideration that the asteroid belt, at one time, had far more material in it than it presently has. AND, if it was a full size planet at one time, they are not considering that if hollow, it would have had far less material to account for. Besides, much of the material has already left the belt and ended up on other planets to include earth.

If Ceres is the "Planet Seed", I dread using the word central sun, and it was encased by a crust of a hollow planet, the amount of materials seen in the asteroid belt, minus what has already escaped, is exactly what one might expect to see. Look at all the impact craters on other planets and moons, that should also be considered in the equation...

This is exciting! The live feed the OP posted had a scientist suggesting if the bright spots are exposure from beneath the surface, they would have to be from a recent impact because the ice would dissolve. It is possible we are looking at salt, she said.

originally posted by: All Seeing Eye
I just finished listening to the Sloosh presentation, and am quite concerned about what I heard.

No one is taking into consideration that the asteroid belt, at one time, had far more material in it than it presently has.
AND, if it was a full size planet at one time, they are not considering that if hollow, it would have had far less material to account for. Besides, much of the material has already left the belt and ended up on other planets to include earth.

Source?

If Ceres is the "Planet Seed", I dread using the word central sun, and it was encased by a crust of a hollow planet, the amount of materials seen in the asteroid belt, minus what has already escaped, is exactly what one might expect to see. Look at all the impact craters on other planets and moons, that should also be considered in the equation...

What?

Ceres sort resembles a golf ball, don't it? I look forward to seeing what becomes of this space mission.

a reply to: AshOnMyTomatoes

Source?

Hollow Earth, hollow planets theory

What?

There may have not been as much material present in the asteroid belt as is presently considered by main stream academia for the remains of a "Solid" planet. But if the planet that resided in the belt was "Hollow" to begin with, there would be much less material seen. And of that, much of it ended up on other planets and moons as meteorites, debris, and maybe the occasional flood. The solar system is not static in nature. and always on the move.

The theory of Tiamat being that missing planet, in honesty, must be considered.

www.tokenrock.com...
www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People
Yes. That's it. Thanks for the clarification.

www.nasa.gov...

really??? that's it from march 1st?!?! we were even closer than february 25th and they give us just this single tiny picture with no lights?!?!

originally posted by: All Seeing Eye
a reply to: AshOnMyTomatoes

Source?

Hollow Earth, hollow planets theory

What?

There may have not been as much material present in the asteroid belt as is presently considered by main stream academia for the remains of a "Solid" planet. But if the planet that resided in the belt was "Hollow" to begin with, there would be much less material seen. And of that, much of it ended up on other planets and moons as meteorites, debris, and maybe the occasional flood. The solar system is not static in nature. and always on the move.

The theory of Tiamat being that missing planet, in honesty, must be considered.

www.tokenrock.com...
www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

Must it? How, pray tell, does a hollow planet form? I suspect new age mumbo-jumbo. New age mumbo jumbo does not fly a satellite to Ceres.

Edit to add: You linked us to Zacharia Sitchin. Case closed.