Breaking: New Photos & 3D Map of ‘Bright Spot’ on Ceres

“This image, made using images taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, shows Occator crater on Ceres, home to a collection of intriguing bright spots. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA”

Bright Spot on Ceres Seen in High Resolution For First Time

(NASA JPL)

NASA just released striking new images depicting the Dwarf Planet Ceres’ ‘bright spots’ within the landmark dubbed “Occator Crater” this Wednesday. The super-high-resolution images (three times better than the last ones we received in June) give the world a 450 foot per pixel view of topographical features feeding both mystery and imagination.

NASA’s Dawn Mission reveals that Occator’s rim is ‘almost vertical’ in some areas though we still don’t know the chemical composition of this bright spot on Ceres’ surface. Could it be a salt deposit? Ice? Was this a geyser or volcano?

Check out a 3D Look at the crater’s topography:

Dawn Mission

From the NASA site:
“Dawn’s mission is managed by JPL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate’s Discovery Program, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.”

Learn more about the NASA Dawn mission.

Trivia: Did you know that Occator crater’s namesake was a Roman god of the ‘plough’ and helper to Ceres, goddess of Agriculture?

What do you think of the bright spot on Ceres? Comment, Share on Facebook and Join us in the discussion on Twitter, hashtag, #DMTalk!