Ceres is the biggest body in the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter. So in all fairness, Ceres is not a planet per se but a large asteroid that is honored with the title of a Dwarf planet. It is worth noting that such a body, while an interesting point of focus, is made even more intriguing by the appearance of two bright spots on the Dwarf planet’s surface. The geeks inside us would think that this may be signs of intelligent life, maybe some nuclear testing conducted by a far away species. Or it may just be the eruption of a volcano.
The discovery of Ceres’ peculiar activity was made by NASA‘s Dawn spacecraft which has gotten closer to the asteroid’s orbit. The second bright spot appeared right next to the first one and it was captured by Dawn from a distance of 29.000 miles (46.000 kilometers) . The exact origin of these lights is currently unknown although principal investigator for the Dawn mission Chris Russell guesses that Ceres is experiencing some volcano-like activity. “Ceres’ bright spot can now be seen to have a companion of lesser brightness, but apparently in the same basin. This maybe be pointing to a volcano-like origin of the spots, but we will have to wait for a better resolution before we can make such geologic interpretations”.
NASA’s Dawn is scheduled to enter the orbit of Ceres on March 6 as the spacecraft will surely be able to capture sharper images of the activity. Ceres has an average diameter of 590 miles (950Â kilometers) and is the dominant body in Mars and Jupiter’s asteroid belt when in comes to size. Dawn has also surveyed another large asteroid named Vesta from 2011 to 2012 where it has collected numerous data regarding composition and geological history. Vesta comes second to Ceres size-wise with a diameter of 590 miles (950 kilometers).
If the lights on Ceres are noticeable from such a distance, then we are in for quite a ride until March.Lead investigator for the framing camera team at the Max Planck Insitute Andreas Nathues is puzzled to what the source might be yet he says that it’s to early to pinpoint an exact cause to the Ceres lighting: “The brightest spot continues to be too small to resolve with our camera, but despite its size it is brighter than anything else on Ceres. This is truly unexpected and still a mystery to us”. The Dawn spacecraft will soon put our curiosity to a rest.