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Worlds Without End Blog

A Water Planet in Our Solar System? Posted at 9:33 PM by Rico Simpkins

icowrich

Ceres 2:4

Okay, Ceres isn’t actually a planet, but a dwarf planet.  Still, that’s nothing to sneeze at.  Pluto is a dwarf planet, and we still know about it.  So why did we not learn about Ceres?  Oh, sure, you may argue that Pluto is 14 times more massive than Ceres (and you’d be right), but there is one reason to believe the solar system’s smallest dwarf planet might be the most exciting one:

It’s a water planet.

Last year, the Herschel Space Observatory announced that it had detected water vapor on Ceres.  In case that isn’t impressive enough, I should add that it’s a whole LOT of water:

Scientists believe Ceres contains rock in its interior with a thick mantle of ice that, if melted, would amount to more fresh water than is present on all of Earth. The materials making up Ceres likely date from the first few million years of our solar system’s existence and accumulated before the planets formed.

More fresh water than is present on all of Earth?  No wonder Ceres becomes the “Seat of the Empire” in Frank Herbert‘s Dune series.  Take that, Arrakis.

Not only that, but geysers on Ceres appear to be erupting water into space, where the liquid sublimates into ice, possibly resulting in snow (which explains the white spots in the above image).  Yes, that’s right, we may have our own mini-Hoth in the sol system.  All we need now is to genetically engineer some tauntauns, and we’re ready for colonization.

Anyway, I mention all of this because Dawn, NASA’s mission to the asteroid belt, is on its way to Ceres right now, and the images it is getting from this veritable water fountain are getting better by the week.  As chief engineer Marc Rayman put it (on his must-read blog):

The probe is much closer to Ceres than the moon is to Earth.

And now it is even closer…

And now it is closer still!

I can’t stand it.

Last week’s images were the first ones with a resolution that beat the Hubble’s own observation.  This week’s doubled that resolution, and we can expect the next one to have 7 times the resolution of Hubble’s best shot.  If you want to see a schedule of expected observations as Dawn approaches Ceres (and why would you not?), then feast your eyes on this:

Screenshot 2015-02-06 21.16.00

From what I can tell, February is going to be a fun month.  The view is best on February 25, after which the resolution appears to drop.  I’m guessing this is because Dawn will be establishing an elongated orbit, plus the illuminated surface will be waning at that point.  It’ll be a slow March, then, but a spectacular April, as Dawn will have arrived, and will begin mapping.

See you all on February 12!*

*Actually, it takes a few days to process and release the images, so, more likely around the 14th.  Valentine’s Day.**

**…which is appropriate, since Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, was also a love goddess who presided over marriage.

UPDATE:  NASA has released the Feb 12 image (3.8x the resolution of Hubble), and it’s a beaut:

Ceres 2:12

 

UPDATE 2:  The Feb 19 image is super clear, and shows the craters in great detail:

Ceres 2:19

3 Comments

Emil   |   07 Feb 2015 @ 03:28

I was born and bred in Ceres, RSA 🙂

Michelle R. Wood   |   09 Feb 2015 @ 11:25

What exciting news: glad to find out I haven’t missed seeing the high-res pics. Great Valentines present.

Richard Simkins   |   12 Feb 2015 @ 10:59

Yep. The highest res pics (so far) are being taken today (probably to be released over the weekend). I’ll update here when it arrives. Ceres will be at 98% illumination at that point, which is as good it gets. Maybe we can finally figure out what those white spots are (I’m rooting for snow).

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