Mysterious Bright Spots on Dwarf Planet Ceres are Mapped in Best Images Yet

The mysterious bright spots on the dwarf planet Ceres may soon be explained. NASA's Dawn spacecraft have taken the best resolved images of the planet, taking from a distance of only 8,400 miles away.

In this closest-yet view, the brightest spots within a crater in the northern hemisphere can be seen to be composed of many smaller spots. However, the exact nature of these bright spots still remains uncertain.

"Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice," said Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission, in a news release.

The new images reveal a bit more about the crater shapes in sizes. The current resolution is .8 mile per pixel.

Dawn has now officially finished its first mapping orbit; it completed one 15-day full cycle around the dwarf planet while making new observations with its scientific instruments. Now, Dawn is lowering itself to its second mapping orbit, which it will officially enter on June 6.

In this second orbit, Dawn will circle Ceres about every three days at an altitude of just 2,700 miles, which is three times closer than the previous orbit. During this phase, referred to as Dawn's survey orbit, the spacecraft will map the surface to begin unravelling the dwarf planet's geologic history and assess whether it's still active.

The findings could be huge for better understanding dwarf planets in general. In addition, it will tell researchers quite a bit about Ceres.

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