¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2020 September 1 IFRAME: [2]https://www.youtube.com/embed/ALaOGmu1S0I?rel=0 Salt Water Remnants on Ceres Video Credit: [3]Dawn Mission, [4]NASA, [5]JPL-Caltech, [6]UCLA, MPS/DLR/IDA Explanation: Does Ceres have underground pockets of water? [7]Ceres, the largest asteroid in the [8]asteroid belt, was thought to be composed of rock and ice. At the same time, [9]Ceres was known to have unusual bright spots on its surface. These [10]bright spots were clearly imaged during Dawn's [11]exciting approach in 2015. Analyses of Dawn images and spectra indicated that the bright spots arise from the residue of highly-reflective salt water that used to exist on [12]Ceres' surface but evaporated. [13]Recent analysis indicates that some of this water may have originated from deep inside Ceres, indicating Ceres to be a kindred spirit with several [14]Solar System moons, also thought to harbor deep water pockets. The [15]featured video shows in false-color pink the bright evaporated brine named [16]Cerealia Facula in [17]Occator Crater. In 2018, the [18]mission-successful but [19]fuel-depleted Dawn [20]spacecraft was placed in a distant parking orbit, keeping it away from the Ceres' surface for at least 20 years to avoid interfering with any [21]life that might there exist. Experts Debate: [22]How will humanity first discover extraterrestrial life? Tomorrow's picture: bonus moons __________________________________________________________________ [23]< | [24]Archive | [25]Submissions | [26]Index | [27]Search | [28]Calendar | [29]RSS | [30]Education | [31]About APOD | [32]Discuss | [33]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [34]Robert Nemiroff ([35]MTU) & [36]Jerry Bonnell ([37]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [38]Specific rights apply. [39]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [40]ASD at [41]NASA / [42]GSFC & [43]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://www.youtube.com/embed/ALaOGmu1S0I?rel=0 3. https://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.nasa.gov/ 5. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ 6. http://dawndata.igpp.ucla.edu/ 7. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/ceres/overview/ 8. https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level1/asteroids.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190616.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150916.html 11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrafypeEhTM 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(dwarf_planet)#Observations_by_Dawn 13. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020NatAs...4..786D/abstract 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180701.html 15. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2020-155 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180719.html 17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occator_(crater) 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_(spacecraft) 19. https://media1.tenor.com/images/fa0263f9f3ff39f44a58ccb3aae12439/tenor.gif 20. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/the-legacy-of-nasa-s-dawn-near-end-of-mission 21. https://earthsky.org/space/ceres-subsurface-salty-meltwater-deposits 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/debate/debate100th.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200831.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 32. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200901 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200902.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 37. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 39. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 40. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 43. http://www.mtu.edu/