NASA releases first-ever color map of Ceres

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

NASA has released the first color map of Ceres, and while the data is still said to have come from early observational stages, it nonetheless indicates that the dwarf planet was shaped by a series of diverse processes since its formation some 4.5 billion years ago.

According to BBC News, the map (the colors of which were exaggerated to illustrate the subtle differences in its surface materials) was unveiled on Monday at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna and is the result of the US space agency’s Dawn mission.

Dawn instruments capture subtle surface differences

Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter, is depicted as having been formed by a series of diverse processes which indicate that the dwarf planet has been very active throughout its lifetime, the British media outlet explained.

Martin Hoffmann, who works on Dawn’s Framing Camera instrument, told BBC News that the color differences depicted in the image were primarily due “to compositional differences at the surface,” with “the way light is reflected off the different grain sizes” also playing a role.

To the naked eye, Ceres would appear to be a dark entity with little color differences, the NASA team explained, but thanks to the sensitivity of the Framing Camera, they have been able to find and magnify even the most subtlest of differences in different areas of the dwarf planet. This data has helped them begin to understand what processes helped form its surface.

Still no explanation for those unusual bright spots

Dawn arrived at Ceres back on March 6, and is currently moving itself into position for its first complete science orbit around the dwarf planet. In the near future, the spacecraft will once again be in position to get a glimpse at one of the object’s most intriguing features: the bright spots of mysterious origin that have had astronomers talking since they were first spotted.

While the Dawn science team is trying not to discuss possible explanations behind the formation of those features until they have access to higher-resolution data, BBC News noted that they are obviously comprised of some type of highly-reflective material, and that since it is not likely that ice would be stable on its surface without air, salts appear to be the most likely culprit.

However, Nature noted that infrared images of one area of the planet (identified as Spot 1) seem to indicate that it is, in fact, made of ice. The website added that the pair of bright gleams (known as Spot 5) are invisible in the infrared images – perhaps due to the low resolution, Dawn scientist Federico Tosi from the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology explained.

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