Scientists are mystified with the dwarf planet’s Ceres bright spots and NASA confirms some smaller bright spots surrounding the two large bright spots.
NASA has been speculating about the mysteries bright spots over the past several months.
The latest image was captured by the NASA’s Dwarf spacecraft on June 6, Saturday. The other smaller bright spots surrounding the two larger spots are clearly visible in the image.
The mission to explore the protoplanets in the solar system, namely the dwarf planet Ceres and Vesta which are the two largest bodies found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn is also the first probe to explore a dwarf planet.
The latest image sent by Dawn was taken from a distance of 2,700 miles above Ceres. This is also one of the first series of photos that was beamed back from the second mapping of the mission.
The largest bright spots measure 55 miles across, the mission control team and the program managers are confused as how these bizarre, highly reflective features formed on the surface of Ceres.
Chris Russell from the University of California, Los Angeles and the principle investigator said that the configuration of bright spots makes Ceres unique in the solar system where the team of scientists is trying to decipher the source of these lights. However, scientists believe that these could be ice or salt reflecting from the surface.
40 percent of the respondents from the survey answered that the bright spots are made from other materials. Most also answered ice from three out of ten votes making rocks the least popular choice that is selected by only six percent of the respondents.
Dawn spacecraft will begin to travel into lower orbits of Ceres, by the end of June. And in early August 2015, Dawn will be 900 miles over the surface.