Ceres' Brightest Spots Are Salt; Likely Due To Subsurface Water!

So, scientists believe that the bright spots found on Ceres are salt deposits due to sublimation of water from Ceres' itself. What? Ceres has water..? Well, YES it does-according to the article.

This represents the largest concentration of carbonate materials in the Solar System outside of Earth. An impacting asteroid could not have delivered them, indicating a recent hydrothermal origin from within Ceres itself. At the pressures interior to Ceres, liquid, briny water could have existed, depositing salts and then sublimating, leaving the reflective, bright carbonates behind.

Scientists believe that Ceres has subsurface water although they say it would be briny in nature. This is just another piece to the mystery of life elsewhere in the Solar System. What say you, ATS?

www.forbes.com...

originally posted by: lostbook

This is just another piece to the mystery of life elsewhere in the Solar System.

www.forbes.com...

Kind of a leap? Was that in the article?

originally posted by: Orionx2

originally posted by: lostbook

This is just another piece to the mystery of life elsewhere in the Solar System.

www.forbes.com...

Kind of a leap? Was that in the article?

Not in the article. That is just my opinion. Water on Ceres holds the potential for life.....? Where there is water, there's life.....correct?

a reply to: lostbook

No-this is A.T.S.-every single image of anything that is not on this planet can ever only be a rock!!!!

Sorry-had to get that off my chest,lol.

I'm wondering if Ceres is a chunk of a destroyed planet with a large amount of ice,accumulating a rock/dust coating over time because of it's gravity.

Maybe pressure would begin to build with the accumulation of mass.

originally posted by: Picklesneeze
a reply to: lostbook

No-this is A.T.S.-every single image of anything that is not on this planet can ever only be a rock!!!!

Sorry-had to get that off my chest,lol.

I'm wondering if Ceres is a chunk of a destroyed planet with a large amount of ice,accumulating a rock/dust coating over time because of it's gravity.

Maybe pressure would begin to build with the accumulation of mass.

I think Ceres is some sort of ancient Alien outpost. My opinion. However, this is ATS.......it has to only be a rock....

From the original source article.

More intriguingly, the results suggest that liquid water may have existed beneath the surface of Ceres in recent geological time. The salts could be remnants of an ocean, or localized bodies of water, that reached the surface and then froze millions of years ago.

"The minerals we have found at the Occator central bright area require alteration by water," De Sanctis said. "Carbonates support the idea that Ceres had interior hydrothermal activity, which pushed these materials to the surface within Occator."

www.nasa.gov...


It also offers clues to the origin of Ceres:

The new results also find ammonia-bearing salts -- ammonium chloride and/or ammonium bicarbonate -- in Occator Crater. The carbonate finding further reinforces Ceres' connection with icy worlds in the outer solar system.

An escaped moon of one of the gas giants? Enceladus' sister took a stroll to a new neighborhood?

The more we find out the more questions appear. Science is fun.

My god! Do any of you realize what this means for the human race.? Our astronauts will now be free of bland food while traveling or system.

Marvel at these wonderful times, people.

originally posted by: lostbook

originally posted by: Orionx2

originally posted by: lostbook

This is just another piece to the mystery of life elsewhere in the Solar System.

www.forbes.com...

Kind of a leap? Was that in the article?

Not in the article. That is just my opinion. Water on Ceres holds the potential for life.....? Where there is water, there's life.....correct?

Incorrect. Were is your proof of that?

originally posted by: lostbook
So, scientists believe that the bright spots found on Ceres are salt deposits due to sublimation of water from Ceres' itself. What? Ceres has water..? Well, YES it does-according to the article.

This represents the largest concentration of carbonate materials in the Solar System outside of Earth. An impacting asteroid could not have delivered them, indicating a recent hydrothermal origin from within Ceres itself. At the pressures interior to Ceres, liquid, briny water could have existed, depositing salts and then sublimating, leaving the reflective, bright carbonates behind.

Scientists believe that Ceres has subsurface water although they say it would be briny in nature. This is just another piece to the mystery of life elsewhere in the Solar System. What say you, ATS?

www.forbes.com...

As far as I know, water is very common in the universe.

originally posted by: lostbook

originally posted by: Picklesneeze
a reply to: lostbook

No-this is A.T.S.-every single image of anything that is not on this planet can ever only be a rock!!!!

Sorry-had to get that off my chest,lol.

I'm wondering if Ceres is a chunk of a destroyed planet with a large amount of ice,accumulating a rock/dust coating over time because of it's gravity.

Maybe pressure would begin to build with the accumulation of mass.

I think Ceres is some sort of ancient Alien outpost. My opinion. However, this is ATS.......it has to only be a rock....

So you would rather play imagination than talk about facts and science? You can head to science fiction forums if you prefer that no?

a reply to: lostbook

a reply to: Picklesneeze

I wouldn't be surprised if one day an old alien outpost or space craft is found on an asteroid or in the asteroid belt-especially on an asteroid with frozen water.

I would.
Delightfully so.

But then, I'd be happy with an alien microbe.

a reply to: 3danimator2014

a reply to: Phage

Posted days ago...

Try going to "Forums" and hiiting "New" or checking the date that Phage and I already responded to it!

Not salt... get it right... baking soda!

originally posted by: 3danimator2014

originally posted by: lostbook

originally posted by: Picklesneeze
a reply to: lostbook

No-this is A.T.S.-every single image of anything that is not on this planet can ever only be a rock!!!!

Sorry-had to get that off my chest,lol.

I'm wondering if Ceres is a chunk of a destroyed planet with a large amount of ice,accumulating a rock/dust coating over time because of it's gravity.

Maybe pressure would begin to build with the accumulation of mass.

I think Ceres is some sort of ancient Alien outpost. My opinion. However, this is ATS.......it has to only be a rock....

So you would rather play imagination than talk about facts and science? You can head to science fiction forums if you prefer that no?

I'm joking....! Relax....However, I do remember seeing what looked like a statue in one of the close-up images of Ceres I saw. I'll try to find it. Stay tuned!

originally posted by: Orionx2

originally posted by: lostbook

originally posted by: Orionx2

originally posted by: lostbook

This is just another piece to the mystery of life elsewhere in the Solar System.

www.forbes.com...

Kind of a leap? Was that in the article?

Not in the article. That is just my opinion. Water on Ceres holds the potential for life.....? Where there is water, there's life.....correct?

Incorrect. Were is your proof of that?

Indeed, Phage. Science is fun!

originally posted by: Mrgone
My god! Do any of you realize what this means for the human race.? Our astronauts will now be free of bland food while traveling or system.

Marvel at these wonderful times, people.

Yes, with all of the ice, there will be an abundance of frozen slushies available throughout the Solar system...!

I don't know about a subsurface ocean, but there are permanently-shadowed craters on Ceres that may hold water ice.




www.youtube.com...

Permanently shadowed regions capable of accumulating surface ice were identified in the northern hemisphere of Ceres using images taken by NASA’s Dawn mission combined with sophisticated computer modeling of illumination.

I wouldn't be surprised, as:

1) H2O is common throughout much of the Solar System, albeit mostly in frozen or gaseous form.

and

2) Water ice has been found in permanently-shadowed craters on the Moon and even on Mercury.

Article: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov...

At the poles of Ceres, scientists have found craters that are permanently in shadow (indicated by blue markings). Such craters are called "cold traps" if they remain below about minus 240 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 151 degrees Celsius). These shadowed craters may have been collecting ice for billions of years because they are so cold.

Here's a site with all the latest Ceres images, updated almost daily: dawn.jpl.nasa.gov...

I find Ceres' surface fascinating, and never tire looking at those images.