Ceres asteroid vents water vapor

[LongTomH]

Source: BBC News

Observations of the Solar System's biggest asteroid suggest it is spewing plumes of water vapour into space.

Ceres has long been thought to contain substantial quantities of ice within its body, but this is the first time such releases have been detected.

The discovery was made by Europe's infrared Herschel space telescope, and is reported in the journal Nature.

Scientists believe the vapour is coming from dark coloured regions on Ceres' surface, but are not sure of the cause.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25849871

---

Ceres is due for a visit from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, which will go into orbit around the dwarf planet in 2015.

[ck4829]

1. It's a giant steam engine!

[Jerry442]

2. Maneuvering thrusters? Nahhh...couldn't be. nt

[RC]

3. Silicon based life form?

You could be correct.

[roguevalley]

4. awesome. thank you for this. I love science news.

[lordsummerisle]

5. how do they know

it isnt a former comet?

[NaturalHigh]

7. Interesting question.

That's something that I've never considered, but I'm certainly no expert on these objects.

[freshwest]

6. Ah, climate change deniers will love this. They say the entire solar system is heating up, sooo...

Frozen water inside Ceres has melted and that's why it's venting. See how that works?

Humans still have nothing to do with climate changes despite CO2 levels, man-made desertification in the historical, not fossil record.

NOT OUR FAULT! they'll say and vote to keep on polluting Earth.

Damn, the Idicracy is going to kill us.

[bananas]

8. Hey Tom, listen to this!

If you only have a minute, listen to 51:00 through 52:00, the host says that even though he's a conservative, he wants environmental protection for asteroids, including the ones we can't see!

If you have the time, listen to the whole thing, it's extremely interesting, I think you'll enjoy it.

http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/dr-alice-gorman-tuesday-1-7-14/

Dr. Alice Gorman, Tuesday, 1-7-14

http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/2160-BWB-2014-01-07.mp3

Guest: Dr. Alice Gorman. Topics: Space archaeology.

<snip>

We welcomed Dr. Alice Gorman to the show for this 1 hour 38 minute fascinating space archaeology discussion. During our first segment, Dr. Gorman explained space archaeology, talked about space debris, cultural preservation, and much more.

<snip>

Several questions came in regarding growth in the private, commercial, & entrepreneurial segments of the space community and how cultural and heritage protection might work with these nongovernment entities. This led to an interesting discussion about company behavior, culture, early planning, awareness, and even benefit sharing. We had a fun discussion about advertising in space for the ad to be seen back on Earth and we talked about how many of us hold the night sky sacred and do not want it spoiled.

<snip>

[LongTomH]

9. Thanks, I'll need to listen to this later.

It's impossible to keep up with everything about space these days; I have to be selective about the things that I'm especially interested in.