Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2020 September 1

                        Salt Water Remnants on Ceres
      Video Credit: Dawn Mission, NASA, JPL-Caltech, UCLA, MPS/DLR/IDA

   Explanation: Does Ceres have underground pockets of water? Ceres, the
   largest asteroid in the asteroid belt, was thought to be composed of
   rock and ice. At the same time, Ceres was known to have unusual bright
   spots on its surface. These bright spots were clearly imaged during
   Dawn's exciting approach in 2015. Analyses of Dawn images and spectra
   indicated that the bright spots arise from the residue of
   highly-reflective salt water that used to exist on Ceres' surface but
   evaporated. Recent analysis indicates that some of this water may have
   originated from deep inside Ceres, indicating Ceres to be a kindred
   spirit with several Solar System moons, also thought to harbor deep
   water pockets. The featured video shows in false-color pink the bright
   evaporated brine named Cerealia Facula in Occator Crater. In 2018, the
   mission-successful but fuel-depleted Dawn spacecraft was placed in a
   distant parking orbit, keeping it away from the Ceres' surface for at
   least 20 years to avoid interfering with any life that might there
   exist.

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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.


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