The shiny mountains of Ceres, still a mystery

At the European Planetary Science Congress in Nantes, France, scientists speculated that the spots could be formed of salts, the BBC reports.

Christopher Russell, Dawn principal investigator at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that their team is surprised after seeing the mountains arising out of a plain of craters. And another map zeroes in on the 56-mile-wide (90 km) Occator crater, whose floor features the most luminescent of the dwarf planet’s enigmatic bright spots. Topographic maps formulated by NASA scientists include names, based on agricultural theme, for a few features on the dwarf planet recently approved by the global Astronomical Union. There’s also a cone-shaped mountain which rises a full four miles over the surface that has researchers wondering.

In addition, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Dawn Deputy Principal Investigator, Carol Raymond notes, “The irregular shapes of craters on Ceres are especially interesting, resembling craters we see on Saturn’s icy moon Rhea”.

The Dawn spacecraft was sent out to the asteroid belt, in 2007, to observe the protoplanets Vesta and Ceres.

The instrument detected three bursts of energetic electrons that may result from the interaction between Ceres and radiation from the Sunday. “We’re taking suggestions like this very seriously”.

There is still hope that we will get to the bottom of this mystery as Dawn continues orbiting Ceres at an altitude of 915 miles. NASA stated that the spacecraft will remain operational “at least through mid-2016”.