Dwarf planet Ceres has more than 130 bright areas, and most of them are associated with impact craters. Now, Ceres has revealed some of its well-kept secrets in two new studies in the journal Nature, thanks to data from our Dawn spacecraft.
Two studies have been looking into the mystery behind these bright areas. One study identifies this bright material as a kind of salt, while the other study suggests the detection of ammonia-rich clays.
Study authors write that the bright material is consistent with a type of magnesium sulfate called hexahydrite. A different type of magnesium sulfate is familiar on Earth as Epsom salt.
Researchers, using images from Dawn’s framing camera, suggest that these salt-rich areas were left behind when water-ice sublimated in the past. Impacts from asteroids would have unearthed the mixture of ice and salt.
An image of Occator Crater (below) shows the brightest material on Ceres. Occator itself is 60 miles in diameter, and its central pit, covered by this bright material, measures about 6 miles wide. With its sharp rim and walls, it appears to be among the youngest features on the dwarf planet.
In the second nature study, members of the Dawn science team examined the composition of Ceres and found evidence for ammonia-rich clays. Why is this important?
Well, ammonia ice by itself would evaporate on Ceres today, because it is too warm. However, ammonia molecules could be stable if present in combination with other minerals. This raises the possibility that Ceres did not originate in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, where it currently resides. But instead, might have formed in the outer solar system! Another idea is that Ceres formed close to its present position, incorporating materials that drifted in from the outer solar system, near the orbit of Neptune, where nitrogen ices are thermally stable.
As of this week, our Dawn spacecraft has reached its final orbital altitude at Ceres (about 240 miles from the surface). In mid-December, it will begin taking observations from this orbit, so be sure to check back for details!
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I didn't touch Kantai until I got that drawing done and I got a battlesnail
I honestly hate how art and media have kind of romanticized the idea of like “going off your meds and being your true self again” because like I started taking antidepressants and like immediately got a new job, found a place to live, improved my relationships with people in my life and completely reconciled with my sort of estranged ex-girlfriend?? Medication can be rad and while I realize that it’s not for everybody I don’t think anything should be trying to convince anyone that being on medication inherently makes you less of who you are
This is the power of my Stand, 「Bauxite Queen」!
Man, I want to talk about my characters now but don’t know where to start.
My mom often corrects me and my sister when we call each other dude, which really shouldn’t matter, but she’s making a big deal out of it anyways. And as someone who often doesn’t conform to what the defined box of what a girl is, it kinda hurts to be shoved back into place by one of the people who is supposed to accept me. So she told me to construct a survey and here’s part of it. Reblog if you’ve used dude (or other things like bro or man)as a non gender specific term before.
I drew another Aeshnir
They’re gonna be one of the smarter Aveon races, at least in the upper parts of the caste hierarchy. Not quite sure what Aeshnir made technology would look like yet.
I still need a name for the dragon-y people on Kokoro’s planet.
I took the quest of sending a Torpedo Squadron to 2-2 and getting an S rank on the boss. When I saw what I had to make up a torpedo squad I was less than enthused. "They're all going to die" I said, so I sent them to 1-3 to level up and they got their shit kicked in. Scratch damage and misses everywhere. Tenryuu had to kill the last enemies in the torpedo barrage and then the night battle.Tenryuu instead took them to 1-5 to farm submarines in safety. There they were able to level unhindered. Even when half the fleet was horribly demoralized, Fubuki was still sparkling. Even after I got her Kai'd and switched Shimakaze to flagship, she still kept sparkling. Soon everyone was Kai'd and fitted with 10cm guns and quad torpedoes and thrown into 2-2. Samidare took moderate damage, Fubuki and Shirayuki took minor, even against a pair of Elite Wo-class. Tenryuu and Fubuki sunk the Wo in the night battle with 462 and 311 crits. Higher damage than I've seen even from Battleships
I got back on and the Lv120 PVP target was a fleet of 5 submarines. 5 kills, 0 damage, 711XP and Tenryuu got 2132
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I was thinking this morning and thought hard to myself. I know there’s a lot o people I know that don’t have the opportunity to buy this stuff themselves, so I just wanted to make someone happy.
You could win:
Any anime figure, nendoroid or figma of your choice under $150. The item you want can also be a pre-order.
Rules:
Don’t have to be following me. If you want to follow, then follow. I post anime only here. Don’t follow then unfollow after the giveaway is over, please.
Only reblogs count but you are still free to like this post.
I will ship internationally.
A number generator will be used to decide the winner, this way it’s not unfair or biased.
Any questions, please leave them in my ask box.
End date: September 24th, 2015. 12 PM, EST.
Good luck and have fun participating!