The first NASA photo in which scientists found a giant pyramid-shaped object, presumed to be a 3-mile-high mountain, rising above the surface of dwarf planet Ceres set anticipation levels for the rest of the Dawn mission about as high as they can go. A new NASA photo, where the image of the "pyramid" is shown against the black backdrop of space, likely caused many at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to seriously rethink leaving the Dawn spacecraft in its current orbit and perhaps pre-emptively heading to the next orbital level of the mission -- which is quite a bit closer to Ceres.
CNN reported June 23 that a new NASA photo taken on June 14, along with the excitement-producing June 6 photo, has the space agency highly anticipating a closer look at the dwarf planet and getting to the bottom of the new mystery. Although the object seems to be a towering mountain with unusually graded "sides" (like a pyramid), NASA itself would not speculate that the object was an artificial construct. Scientists described the object as a "mountain with steep slopes protruding from a relatively smooth area" and posted the "intriguing" (caption) photo on its website.
Intriguing, indeed. It has the Internet abuzz. CNN noted that besides the strange "bright spots" (which scientists believe are either ice or salt deposits reflecting sunlight), amateur astronomy sleuths and UFO hunters have found all sorts of things on Ceres. People have claimed to have spotted hovering giant alien motherships above the dwarf planet and bat-winged spaceships resting on its surface. There's also speculation about alien cities (the "bright lights" have to be generated by something, they claim).
Some "experts" have said that this mountain is a "cryovolcano." To read more and view the video, click here.