Dawn dead in Ceres orbit, ran out of fuel Oct 2018

[mfb]

A great picture of the bright spot.
It looks almost fractal - no matter how good the images get, there are always finer details where you would want to zoom in.

 

[OmCheeto]

A great picture of the bright spot.
It looks almost fractal - no matter how good the images get, there are always finer details where you would want to zoom in.

If you look closely at the bottom of the image, you'll see the top of a couple of people's heads.
So that was a cell phone capture from a presentation.
I would imagine the "official" photo will be a bit clearer.

And this just in:

NASA's Dawn Mission ‏@NASA_Dawn 18 minutes ago

Press briefing about #Ceres will be at 12p CT/1p ET at #LPSC2016. Tune in for new images/materials then. ​

hmmmm... Where do we tune in?
(google, google, google)
Here maybe? http://livestream.com/viewnow/LPSC2016

 

[1oldman2]

Patiently awaiting more imagery.

 

[OmCheeto]

Patiently awaiting more imagery.

Sorry for my delayed response.

Dawn/JPL just released 6 new images!
Here's a screen capture of Occator's central bright spot.

Woo Hoo!

ps. Lot's of interesting chatter going on at #LPSC2016.

 

[1oldman2]

Woo Hoo!

This just keeps getting better! Thanks for sharing this.

 

[OmCheeto]

Also, a new update from Dawn/JPL:

Bright Spots and Color Differences Revealed on Ceres

Good grief! Why did they have to release everything at once. This is going to take me weeks to sift through!

 

[OmCheeto]

These people will just not stop!

Daniel Fischer ‏@cosmos4u 10 minutes ago
The @DLR_de release http://www.dlr.de/dlr/presse/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10172/213_read-17242/year-all/#/gallery/22485… coming with the #LPSC2016 @NASA_Dawn presser has somewhat different images than shared by @NASA.

 

[OmCheeto]

Stephen Clark ‏@StephenClark1 41 minutes ago
Carol Raymond, Dawn: If the spacecraft ’s reaction wheels continue working, mission at Ceres could last till this time next year. #LPSC2016​

Emily Lakdawalla ‏@elakdawalla 1 hour ago
Dawn at Ceres press briefing beginning now. It's not being webcast but is being recorded for later streaming. #LPSC2016​

Thank god. I thought I was losing my touch, and/or mind.

James Tuttle Keane ‏@jtuttlekeane 1 hour ago
Mickey Villarreal- Spurious electrons betray a bow shock at Ceres; either from atmo or conductive layer #LPSC2016

James has some really cool doodles.

 

[1oldman2]

Good grief! Why did they have to release everything at once. This is going to take me weeks to sift through!

I'm officially overwhelmed, but my "links folder" is filled with enough sites and info to keep me busy for a very long time. Good show!
As a young kid I remember looking at "artists impressions" of Ceres and thinking of how cool a place it was, This is in another league altogether.

 

[OmCheeto]

I'm officially overwhelmed, but my "links folder" is filled with enough sites and info to keep me busy for a very long time. Good show!
As a young kid I remember looking at "artists impressions" of Ceres and thinking of how cool a place it was, This is in another league altogether.

I'm still trying to figure out what a "Bouger Anomaly" is.
I was going to make a lame joke, and misspell it as "Booger Anomaly", pointing out that "If it's boogered, of course it's an anomaly...", but I'm sure people are tired of my jokes by now.

ps. I see from your profile, that you're my age. I don't even remember hearing about Ceres when I was a kid. And 40 years ago, Ceres would have just been a point image. hmmmm... (google, google, google)
Holy Cow!
Those are really impressive.

Seeing Ceres: Then and Now
Posted by Paul Gilster
2015/03/06 15:33 UTC

 

[1oldman2]

I'm still trying to figure out what a "Bouger Anomaly" is.
I was going to make a lame joke, and misspell it as "Booger Anomaly", pointing out that "If it's boogered, of course it's an anomaly...", but I'm sure people are tired of my jokes by now.

Naw, the booger joke is a natural. You would have been forgiven. As a young kid I was hooked on Space flight from the days of Mercury etc. Always wondered how those rocket ships could do a controlled vertical landing in the "Twilight Zone" episodes. Then I realized that they can't, So now we have Falcon 9's doing what was impossible, Talk about perspective, eh?

 

[marcus]

I have to bring forward the image in Om's post #880, on preceding page
==quote==

Dawn/JPL just released 6 new images!
Here's a screen capture of Occator's central bright spot.

Woo Hoo!

==endquote==

 

[1oldman2]

That is an amazing image of Occator and the "bright material", have any conclusions been reached as to what the material is?

 

[mfb]

Note that they changed colors and contrast in that image:

Center of Occator Crater (Enhanced Color)
The bright central spots near the center of Occator Crater are shown in enhanced color in this view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft . Such views can be used to highlight subtle color differences on Ceres

I think "something salt-like" won.

 

[marcus]

One commonly mentioned guess is hydrated magnesium sulfate. Somewhat akin to Epsom salts.

BTW one of the new images shows the variation of hydrogen abundance in the N hemisphere regolith (loose surface material in the top 1 meter.)
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-detail.html?id=PIA20353

bluer signifies fewer neutrons and thus more hydrogen---hydrogen presumably in the form of water, in the soil, slows neutrons when they collide with it---fewer escape to be detected by the fast neutron counter in the GRaND instrument (gamma ray and neutron detector)

So what the image shows is not too surprising: more hydrogen (hydrated minerals, water ice,...etc) in the surface layer around the N pole. less hydrogen in lower latitudes closer to the equator.

 

[1oldman2]

Note that they changed colors and contrast in that image:
I think "something salt-like" won.

I hadn't noticed the color/contrast change until you mentioned it, at the present I'm too busy looking at the forest to see the trees. lots of great images, this is going to keep me occupied for a while.
Salt of one type or another is the explanation I have heard, but I'm thinking that Ceres has a lot of surprises in store so I thought I'd ask. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[1oldman2]

BTW one of the new images shows the variation of hydrogen abundance in the N hemisphere regolith (loose surface material in the top 1 meter.)
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-detail.html?id=PIA20353
An incredible variety of elements, I would think "asteroid mining" could become big business at some future point.

Not sure how I ended up with my reply in the quote but I guess it works anyway.

 

[marcus]

An incredible variety of elements, I would think "asteroid mining" could become big business at some future point.

I agree with your comment. Ceres is apt to be central to any attempt to use asteroid material for human purposes. For one thing, because in one form or another it has water (so we think) it has the makings for fuel.

It might become the center of a chemicals industry, and or a construction materials industry, probably located below the surface. Manufacturing in low gravity has advantages.

 

[OmCheeto]

They did eventually get the video online from the meeting this morning:

Press Briefing: Ceres: Dispatches from a Dwarf Planet

For some reason, the sound doesn't work if I play it at the lowest resolution: 272p.
But it does work at the other resolutions: 432p, 480p, & 720p.

 

[1oldman2]

They did eventually get the video online from the meeting this morning:

Press Briefing: Ceres: Dispatches from a Dwarf Planet

For some reason, the sound doesn't work if I play it at the lowest resolution: 272p.
But it does work at the other resolutions: 432p, 480p, & 720p.

Appreciate the link and info, can't wait to see what they have to say. (I see it's keeping you up late also)

 

[1oldman2]

Interesting reading in this take on things.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31754585

 

[marcus]

They did eventually get the video online from the meeting this morning:

Press Briefing: Ceres: Dispatches from a Dwarf Planet

For some reason, the sound doesn't work if I play it at the lowest resolution: 272p.
But it does work at the other resolutions: 432p, 480p, & 720p.

Definitely worth watching! The GRaND segment starts around minute 19:28. The questions from press start around minute 30:00 and they are good--they elicit interesting answers which are often more speculative and more deeply informative than the initial presentations. I wouldn't skip the Q&A.

Interesting reading in this take on things.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31754585

That BBC article from Dec 2015 is also informative. Different albedo figures for different parts of the Occator bright spots, and so on. Thanks for posting it!

Here's something more recent about that:
http://news.discovery.com/space/is-ceres-mysterious-bright-dome-an-ice-volcano-160323.htm
It derives from yesterday's (Tuesday's) press conference that we can watch in full via Om's link.

 

[marcus]

==Rayman==

March 22 - Dawn Revealing New Sights

Dawn is healthy and continuing its observations of Ceres. After transmitting data to Earth on March 18 and 19, the spacecraft began a new set of measurements. Now, instead of looking straight down, it is pointing its sensors a little bit to the left as it circles Ceres. This provides a slightly different perspective on the alien landscape and may reduce the rate at which the probe consumes its dwindling hydrazine propellant. (Hydrazine is essential for Dawn's operation.)

A new view of the famous bright area in Occator crater, photographed by Dawn from the closest it will ever come to the intriguing geological feature, is now available here.You can see other new Ceres images based on Dawn's measurements at the Ceres image gallery
==endquote==

The brighter (parts) of the bright spots could be water ice and newer. the not so bright spots could be older---salt residue after the water ice sublimes

 

[marcus]

Here's an article that features that same (colored) image that Om posted:
http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/23/ceres-mysterious-bright-spots-revealed-in-unprecedented-detail/
It was processed some (the color data came from an earlier orbit and was superimposed). Mfb referred to this. So I thought it would be good to have the straight black and white version as well.

 

[1oldman2]

Here's an article that features that same (colored) image that Om posted:
http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/23/ceres-mysterious-bright-spots-revealed-in-unprecedented-detail/
It was processed some (the color data came from an earlier orbit and was superimposed). Mfb referred to this. So I thought it would be good to have the straight black and white version as well.

Interesting article, thank you for linking that. I've been busy sorting through all the image downloads that have come up lately here, lots to look at. Some of the imaging when zoomed in on is still amazingly detailed and my curiosity is killing me on certain features, can't wait to hear explanations for some of what we are seeing.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

My first impression of the bright area was that someone had thrown a huge dirty snowball at Ceres and that's all that's left of it after much of it has sublimed away. The more detailed pictures still give that impression! But I gather they think the water ice came from under the surface?

 

[1oldman2]

My first impression of the bright area was that someone had thrown a huge dirty snowball at Ceres and that's all that's left of it after much of it has sublimed away. The more detailed pictures still give that impression! But I gather they think the water ice came from under the surface?

It seems they believe there is an aquifer of frozen salt water of some sort. The white spot always reminds me of a dropped ice cream cone no matter how much I enlarge it. We definitely have gotten our moneys worth out of Dawn (and Pathfinder for that matter).

 

[marcus]

Since we turned a page, I'll bring that image from Om's post#880 forward.
==quote Om==
...
Dawn/JPL just released 6 new images!
Here's a screen capture of Occator's central bright spot.

Woo Hoo!
==endquote==

 

[Jonathan Scott]

... The white spot always reminds me of a dropped ice cream cone no matter how much I enlarge it. ...

Yes, that's a good way of describing it!

 

[marcus]

Tuesday's press briefing from the Lunar and Planetary Science conference is worth watching. First 30 minutes is presentations by several experts, detailed explanations of how they suspect some of the interesting features came about.

They did eventually get the video online from the meeting this morning:
Press Briefing: Ceres: Dispatches from a Dwarf Planet
...

The un-colorized Occator shot---with a single contrast setting---is good for comparison. The background is very dark because they wanted to set the contrast range to pick up the difference in brightness among the spots---the old spots have lost ice and aren't as bright. You get to see the associated cracks. It has more of a plain, unvarnished, objective feel. I'll bring it forward to have handy.

 

[1oldman2]

The un-colorized Occator shot---with a single contrast setting---is good for comparison. The background is very dark because they wanted to set the contrast range to pick up the difference in brightness among the spots---the old spots have lost ice and aren't as bright. You get to see the associated cracks. It has more of a plain, unvarnished, objective feel. I'll bring it forward to have handy.

I like that you can sense more of the topography in this image, especially in the immediate area of the "snowball"

 

[OmCheeto]

Good grief! Someone made a mistake, many, many years ago, when they said I didn't belong on the short bus...

47TH LUNAR AND PLANETARY SCIENCE CONFERENCE:
AUTHOR INDEX TO PROGRAM​

64 abstracts...
Where does one begin...

LPSC Program

Monday Morning, March 21, 8:30 a.m.
Waterway Ballroom 4 M102 SPECIAL SESSION: Ceres Unveiled: Dawn Explores a New World
13 x 15 minute presentations

Tuesday Morning, March 22, 8:30 a.m.
Waterway Ballroom 4 T202 SPECIAL SESSION: Ceres Unveiled: The Next Layer
13 x 15 minute presentations

Tuesday Evening, March 22, 6:00 p.m.
Town Center Exhibit Area POSTER SESSION I
T302 Ceres Unveiled: Completely Naked
35 presentations

Wednesday Morning, March 23, 8:30 a.m.
Waterway Ballroom 4 W403 SPECIAL SESSION: Dwarf-Age Daydream: Surface Ice Dynamics on Dwarf Planets / Ceres and Pluto
13 x 15 minute presentations

Print Only
801 Ceres Unveiled
3 x pdfs​

I think it's time for my nap.

 

[1oldman2]

Good grief! Someone made a mistake, many, many years ago, when they said I didn't belong on the short bus...

All I can say is

 

[marcus]

Samples:
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2016/pdf/2228.pdf
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2016/pdf/1607.pdf
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2016/pdf/sess801.pdf

 

[OmCheeto]

Samples:
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2016/pdf/2228.pdf
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2016/pdf/1607.pdf
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2016/pdf/sess801.pdf

One would think, that with only 64 abstracts, at 2 pages each, that "Om" could get through them all in a couple of hours.
But being that he has such a tiny brain, with no knowledge of 98% of the things they describe, it takes him 4 hours to get through each one...

"...likely delivered by carbonaceous chondrite..."

Om; "What the hell is a 'carbonaceous chondrite'"?

4 hours later, I now know what "chondrites" and "chondrules" are, along with extensive/excessive knowledge of the "Willamette" and "Hoba" meteorites...

To all the people without ADD, Om salutes you.