Spotty Ceres baffles boffins with bright patches

The Dawn spacecraft sent by NASA to investigate the asteroid belt's largest bodies has spotted a second bright spot on the surface of Ceres, sparking speculation that the dwarf planet might be significantly stranger than first thought. Dawn is slowly approaching Ceres using its ion drive to match orbits, and its latest …

[PleebSmash]

Confirmed by NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr.

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[Dave 126]

Re: Confirmed by NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr.

I don't understand your comment.

The only thing that I can find about Bolden's view on extra-terrestrials is:

Bolden said, "J.R, I must admit, everybody that goes into space wants to see an alien or wants to see evidence there is other life in the universe and I am no different. But I am here to report that I saw no evidence. Although deep in my heart I believe there is good potential for other life in our universe."

Sounds reasonable enough.

[ravenviz]

Strange, but true

"stranger than first thought" seems to have applied to many solar system objects so far, maybe we should expect celestial bodies are going to be strange anyway and apply a "strangeness factor" plus or minus from "strange". It could be called the Berman Scale.

[John 98]

A strangeness scale. Excellent idea, but we dedicated Reg. readers need to know what the official Reg. celestial strangeness unit is going to be. The "weirdo" doesn't seem entirely suitable...

[Fortycoats]

Thought "Airplane 2" already covered this 30 years ago...

http://spacesuitsyou.tumblr.com/post/70685979135/somethings-strange-onboard-airplane-ii-the

Oh, that's strange......

[Christoph]

How about the microamanfromMars as the El Reg unit?

[MrDamage]

El Reg unit of measurement

I vote for either the Kirsty, or the Oprah.

Given the widely fluctuating sizes of those 2, and some of the absolute shite that pours out of their mouths, I think they would be ideal for a fluctuating measurement of strangeness.

[Ben Bonsall]

Re: Strange, but true

delphiDeveloper, dD

Obviously, the usually used unit would be micro dD, because there's not a lot of use for the full unit.

[Mark 85]

Perhaps we have it wrong....

It could be that it's the Earth that's strange and everything else is some value of normal.

[John Gamble]

Re: Perhaps we have it wrong....

Yes, this.

I now feel a need to re-read my Hal Clement books.

[Tom 7]

'Pool' of light dust/ice

It looks a bit deeper than other craters, wonder if its just a layer of white icy dust which is nearly flat and the bit on the right is just a reflection of the sun on the crater wall.

[big_D]

Re: 'Pool' of light dust/ice

The surface has been scratched away and the Scrith is showing through.

[Beachrider]

Relative reflectivity...

Most of Ceres is VERY low reflectivity stuff. These two spots are reflecting 40% of incoming light. It looks like SO much more because they are vastly overexposing the dark-stuff to bring up some detail. The reflectivity of these spots is about the same as an iceberg (in Earth terms).

They will go much farther with this unusual contrast photography with New Horizons, in the coming months.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The reflectivity of these spots is about the same as an iceberg

the reflectivity of an iceberg? ie compacted snow?

*sings* ... did you go and build a snowman?

...argh. Sorry. I'll just let it go now...

[tony2heads]

This definitely rates about a 9.0 on my weird-shit-o-meter

[thomas k.]

Disco ball, obviously

We're just a little too far away to hear the thump of the bass.

[Rich 11]

using its ion drive

I can't really describe just how much pleasure these words give me.

[I ain't Spartacus]

That's all very well, until Ceres turns on its own drive, and incinerates our puny craft. Swiftly followed by the launching of the invasion of Earth. If we're lucky. If not, it'll be the death ray for us. I hope you're all wearing clean underwear...

[Anonymous Coward]

And at the same time..

it's converting LPs into mp3s.

[imanidiot]

Darn...

They found my evil mad scientist hideout. I knew I should have gone for the matte finish...

[DropBear]

Re: Darn...

So I guess that's just the targeting laser...

[Paratrooping Parrot]

You do know that this is actually a Death Star? What they have found is the entrance to it. Go in, and you will see all sorts of activity happening in there.

[AbelSoul]

Re: What they have found is the entrance to it. Go in, and you will see

My God!

It's full of st.. st..

... strange, shiny, white stuff.

[hplasm]

Re: What they have found is the entrance to it. Go in, and you will see

An enormous geode!

[Hairless Biker]

As if a billion voices cried out...

Big bright spot is the main aperture, smaller one is the targetting laser.

Don't expect any more communications from Dawn any time soon...

[I ain't Spartacus]

It's obvious innit.

I don't know what all the fuss is about. It's just the reflection from the flash.

The reason the spacecraft sees two is that it's considerably closer than Hubble.

[Montague Wanktrollop]

It's a film set

It's the campfires burning during the filming of Blazing Saddles 2. Couldn't follow it up with another cowboy setting so Space was the answer.

Just wait until the probe gets to audible range.....

[Graham Marsden]

Any...

... rectangular Black Monoliths in the vicinity?

[bazza]

Re: Any...

Yes.

[Little Mouse]

How bright though?

These could be blown highlights, especially if exposure/ISO/aperture are set for extreme low-light conditions, and so may not contain much in the way of useful information.

Presumably photos optimised for the light spots rather then Ceres itself should reveal more about the source. The brightness and colour of the light could be accurately determined, which in turn could give hints as to the origin, size, temperature, etc.

And yes, I'm guessing that the rocket scientists have probably considered this already(!)

[Sarah Balfour]

Clangers.

[Santa from Exeter]

Re: Clangers

Nope, their dustbin lids weren't shiny.

It's the Iron Chicken

[VinceH]

Re: Clangers

"Nope, their dustbin lids weren't shiny."

It's not the dustbin lids reflecting light. The clangers in question have left their doors dustbin lids open and their lights on.

[Beachrider]

I just couldn't help it...

Cleaning woman Clara Clifford discovered

your clean copper clappers

kept in a closet were copped by Claude Cooper

a kleptomaniac from Cleveland. Now is that about it?

[JaffaMan]

please be something supremely interesting!!

My spine is tingling about this. It could be really really exciting!

I'm not quite sure how it could be ice be it CO2 or water. It's doesn't look like a deep well sheltered crater. Surely anything there like that would sublimate very quickly when exposed to the sun?

I hope this is something major, I really do!

All those mega pixels and it's 'scope should sure as heck resolve it though. No more mysteries soon!

[JaffaMan]

Re: please be something supremely interesting!!

its 'scope.

Damn my enthusiastic use of apostrophes.

[Alistair]

Ceres will belch.

and the millenium falcon will suddenly appear.

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearly...

The chap who lives there has noticed the Dawn spacecraft approaching. And he's trying to get a better look at it with his torch.

Happy to clear that up for everyone. Bloke with torch.

[Gartal]

The light is on but nobody is home......

[weegie38]

There seem to be other bright spots in craters in the bottom left of the image: one at around 8 o'clock, and possibly another right on the edge. Not as bright as those at the centre, but still noticeable.

[codger]

Volcanic glass?

Could conditions on solar system's largest asteroid permit spewing of obsidian or volcanic glass?

Although why their temperature should vary on a presumably dead-for-billions-of-years ball of rock, I don't know