Mysterious Light at the Dwarf Planet between Mars and Jupiter

MASSAPEDIA NEWS - The dwarf planet Ceres, which is between Mars and Jupiter continues to invite the attention of researchers at the US space agency, NASA. Dawn spacecraft sent to study Ceres since 2007, managed to record a mysterious bright spot of some parts of the planet.

Dawn spacecraft took pictures Ceres from a distance of 46,000 kilometers. According to the Dawn mission's principal investigator, Chris Russell of the University of California, Los Angeles, mysterious bright spot that could be a volcano.

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But Russell insists he and Dawn mission team did not want to rush to justify it was the volcano, because in the near future spacecraft Dawn is getting closer to the planet Ceres.

"This may refer to a place like a volcano, but we have to wait for a better resolution before we can make such a geological interpretations," said Russell was quoted as saying on the official web site of NASA.

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Dawn is scheduled to enter orbit Ceres on March 6. Over the past 16 months, NASA researchers hope to gain a greater understanding of Ceres at the same time studying the origins of the formation of the solar system.

Ceres was found in 1801, or 129 years before Pluto. He initially called a planet, asteroid then, and is now called a dwarf planet.

Ceres is a dwarf planet one of the five recognized NASA and the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Four other dwarf planets are Eris, Pluto, Makemake, and Haumea.

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It is probable that the planet is filled by rocks and ice. But it might save a lot of liquid water beneath the surface.

The bright spot that was captured by Dawn will be the focus of deeper for researchers. "This is really unexpected and remains a mystery to us," said Andreas Nathues, lead investigator for the framing camera team at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen, Germany.

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Dawn mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Several international partners support the Dawn mission, among others, the German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute.