Strange lights on dwarf planet Ceres have scientists perplexed

[zorgon]

As I said on Facebook, if you look real close, they look like mounds of phosphorus protruding the crust. But that's just me!

I have never seen "mounds of phosphorus protruding the crust"  Can you show me an example?

Do we have any SCALE on these yet?

I would have thought you would have a 3d animation of the base by now

[ArMaP]

Then how come only the spheres look like circles and the rest of the pixel artifacts at the same resolution are all rectangular?

That's why I was talking about "one pixel" or "four pixels" features, not about rectangular features.

[ArMaP]

Now this is a stretch so don't bash my post....

But what if the moon (Ceres) is hollow?  And the crater impact has damaged the outer crust.  (Thin layer)  Now what we are seeing is an inner sun that is peaking out the hole.

Like a candle in a pumkin at halloween.

I don't think so, it looks nothing like that.

[Pimander]

Then those are very faint lights, as Ceres is very dark.

Can we calculate and show how that would look to the naked eye based on information available about the camera sensitivity?

[space otter]

hey nasa - good guys that they are- have some ideas to share..lol


NASA may have finally figured out what these weird, white spots are


© Provided by Business Insider NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image showing a cluster of mysterious bright spots on dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers), on June 9, 2015.


NASA's Dawn spacecraft has beamed home the best-ever photo of the mysterious bright spots that speckle the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres.

The new image resolves Ceres' strange spots, which are found inside a crater about 55 miles (90 kilometers) wide, into a cluster comprised of several patches, some of which were not visible in previous photos. But it doesn't solve the mystery of the spots' origin and composition.

"At least eight spots can be seen next to the largest bright area, which scientists think is approximately 6 miles (9 km) wide," NASA officials wrote in a statement today (June 22). "A highly reflective material is responsible for these spots — ice and salt are leading possibilities, but scientists are considering other options, too." [More Photos of the Dwarf Planet Ceres]

Dawn captured the photo on June 9 from a distance of 2,700 miles (4,400 km) — the altitude of its second mapping orbit of Ceres. Additional newly released photos taken from this orbit show other intriguing features, including a steep-sided mountain that rises about 3 miles (5 km) into space from the dwarf planet's heavily cratered surface, NASA officials said.

"The surface of Ceres has revealed many interesting and unique features. For example, icy moons in the outer solar system have craters with central pits, but on Ceres central pits in large craters are much more common," Dawn deputy principal investigator Carol Raymond, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in the same statement.

"These and other features will allow us to understand the inner structure of Ceres that we cannot sense directly," she added.


© Provided by Business Insider Ceres gif

The $473 million Dawn mission launched in September 2007 to investigate Ceres and Vesta — at 590 miles (950 km) and 330 miles (530 km) wide, respectively, the two largest objects in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Both Ceres and Vesta are thought to be largely intact protoplanets left over from the solar system's early days (hence the mission's name). Studying them should therefore reveal key details about how rocky planets such as Earth and Mars were put together, NASA officials have said.

Dawn orbited Vesta from July 2011 through September 2012. The probe arrived at Ceres this past March, in the process becoming the first spacecraft ever to orbit a dwarf planet, as well as the first to circle two objects beyond the Earth-moon system.

Dawn will remain in its current orbit until June 30, when it will begin spiraling down to an orbit with an altitude of about 900 miles (1,450 km), NASA officials said. It will get there in early August. (Dawn employs extremely efficient but low-thrust ion engines, so it can take a while for the probe to get around.)

But Dawn will get eventually get even closer to Ceres. Before ending its mission in June 2016, the spacecraft will eye Ceres from an altitude of just 230 miles (375 km).


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/nasa-may-have-finally-figured-out-what-these-weird-white-spots-are/ar-AAbZUrG

[08rubicon]

   Armap;
     I have a question concerning round pixels..In my cameras, all the ccd's
  are measured by length and width, and as diagonal.Such as 1/2 or 1/3.
  All my ccd's have the pixel size listed.My astro cam pixels are 2.2um x 2.2um.
    When enlarged my images show pixialation as squares . How do you get
  round pixels? I am not disagreeing with you .I just do not know.
      rubicon

[zorgon]

NASA may have finally figured out what these weird, white spots are

"A highly reflective material is responsible for these spots — ice and salt are leading possibilities, but scientists are considering other options, too."

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[zorgon]

ArMaP says: "round pixels"     

08rubicon says "My camera has square pixels"

Zorgon says....   Can't wait to see the answer

TV's have round dots... digital cameras as far as I know have square pixels. My monitor has sqaure pixels... most pixel artifacts I have seen are square or rectangual... now we see spheres and we suddenly have "round pixels" ?



This should be good

[ArMaP]

Can we calculate and show how that would look to the naked eye based on information available about the camera sensitivity?

I can't, as the images published do not have the usual camera metadata that shows things like the exposure time.

[ArMaP]

   Armap;
     I have a question concerning round pixels.

Not round pixels, what I meant is that, when an image is resized and resampled (as most people do), the square pixels or groups of pixels are turned into circles by the resampling algorithm to create a smoother look, so a square pixel or group of pixels becomes round.

[zorgon]

Those 'spheres' are not pixel artifacts because you can see them in the original

[ArMaP]

ArMaP says: "round pixels"

No.

TV's have round dots...

No, below you can see the pixels from my old style (CRT) TV in a photo I just took.

digital cameras as far as I know have square pixels. My monitor has sqaure pixels... most pixel artifacts I have seen are square or rectangual... now we see spheres and we suddenly have "round pixels" ?



This should be good

Maybe, if this time you learn something about photography. 

[ArMaP]

Those 'spheres' are not pixel artifacts because you can see them in the original

First of all, how can you see "spheres" on a 2D image?

Second, this is what the original looks like when resized without resampling, so it shows the real shape of the pixels and not the result of what the resampling algorithm "thinks" things should look like.

[space otter]

I hope i'm not repeating another post but had to laugh at the headline for this one




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/22/ceres-bright-spots_n_7637658.html?utm_hp_ref=science



NASA Observes 3-Mile-High 'Pyramid' On Ceres, But Bright Spots Remain A Mystery



The Huffington Post    |  By  Ryan Grenoble   
  Posted:  06/22/2015 1:49 pm EDT    Updated:  06/22/2015 9:59 pm EDT

Twinkle, twinkle little star dwarf planet, how scientists wonder what you are.

The mysteries of Ceres, the largest object in our solar system's asteroid belt, continue to deepen. For over a decade, scientists have been puzzled by a cluster of inexplicable bright white spots on the dwarf planet's surface. The clearest photo yet taken of the spots does little to shed light, so to speak, on the matter.

same pic that is everywhere

The photo, snapped by NASA's Dawn Spacecraft on June 9 from an altitude of 2,700 miles, reveals a grouping of highly reflective spots -- the biggest one is six miles across -- nestled in a large crater on Ceres' surface.

Per a release from NASA, Dawn uses a suite of instruments to analyze the light reflected off Ceres, thereby helping scientists identify the minerals on the dwarf planet's surface. At this point, the bright spots are thought to be ice or salt, though there are other possibilities, too, including geysers or volcanoes of some sort.

Dawn also snapped a photo of a mountain, three miles high and shaped like a pyramid, that protrudes from an otherwise smooth area of Ceres' surface. We've circled the mountain in yellow below:




The spacecraft is scheduled to move much closer to Ceres on June 30, descending from its current altitude of 2,700 miles to just 900 miles above the surface of the dwarf planet. It will reach its new, lower orbit in early August, at which point we should expect still clearer photos of the astronomical anomaly. For now, though, the mystery persists.





I still say space diamonds

[Pimander]

I can't, as the images published do not have the usual camera metadata that shows things like the exposure time.

There is no metadata on the raw NASA released images?