made up of rocks and ice, but the question of the presence of a liquid under its surface remained unanswered until now. Also, we did not know when the dwarf planet could have been geologically active. The probeDawn, who has studied Cérès from 2015 to 2018, made it possible to learn more about these two points. The results appear in a special collection of articles published byNature Astronomy, Nature Geoscience et Nature Communications August 10. “data-reactid =” 12 “> The dwarf planet Ceres, located between Mars and Jupiter, is essentially made up of rocks and ice, but the question of the presence of a liquid under its surface remained unanswered until now. Also, we did not know when the dwarf planet could have been geologically active. The probe Dawn, who has studied Cérès from 2015 to 2018, made it possible to learn more about these two points. The results appear in a special collection of articles published by Nature Astronomy, Nature Geoscience and Nature Communications August 10.
An underground liquid reservoir
incredible resolution photos of Ceres and especially, of its light spots. These bright regions are deposits consisting mainly of sodium carbonate (On2CO3), probably from a liquid that percolated to the surface and evaporated, leaving behind a highly reflective salt crust. However, the origin of this liquid remained a mystery. “Data-reactid =” 14 “> The probe Dawn provided incredible resolution photos of Ceres and especially, of its light spots. These bright regions are deposits consisting mainly of sodium carbonate (On2CO3), probably from a liquid that percolated to the surface and evaporated, leaving behind a highly reflective salt crust. However, the origin of this liquid remained a mystery.
deep brine tank or water enriched with salt. By studying Ceres’ gravity, scientists learned more about its internal structure and were able to determine that the brine reservoir was about 40 kilometers deep and hundreds of kilometers wide. Ceres is therefore an aquatic world, similar to several satellites of giant planets. “data-reactid =” 15 “> By analyzing the data collected towards the end of the mission, Dawn scientists concluded that the liquid came from a deep brine tank or water enriched with salt. By studying Ceres’ gravity, scientists learned more about its internal structure and were able to determine that the brine reservoir was about 40 kilometers deep and hundreds of kilometers wide. Ceres is therefore an aquatic world, similar to several satellites of giant planets.
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The Occator crater and its white spots. © Nasa, JPL-Caltech, Ucla, MPS, DLR, IDA
A body with recent and unusual active geology
Scientists knew that micrometeorites frequently bombarded the surface of Ceres, which, over time, should darken the light spots. Their luminosity therefore indicates that they are probably young, which has been confirmed: some are less than two million years old!
Moreover, it seems that the activity …
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