New imagery from NASA's Dawn mission spacecraft reveals the ever increasing mystique of the dwarf planet Ceres and its gleaming white spots, as the small instrumented probe continues a spiraling stair step descent toward a final lengthy close-up look at the 600 mile wide asteroid with a rocky surface, ice and perhaps subterranean liquid water and the chemistry required for biological activity.
Past telescopic surveys hint at the latter.
"Soon, the scientific analysis will reveal the geological and chemical nature of this mysterious and mesmerizing extraterrestrial scenery," Marc Rayman, chief engineer and mission director for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory led mission, noted in a Sept. 9 mission update.
One of the impressive images collected by Dawn from its current 910 mile high orbital vantage point features scattered bright white stains in the midst of Ceres' Occator crater, anchored by a concentrated splotch in the middle of the depression. In some places, the crater wall rises vertically for a mile.
To read more, click here.