Telescope Spies Water Plumes Gushing on Dwarf Planet Ceres, Spacecraft Dawn Nears Target

[Fred Sanders]

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/telescope-spies-water-plumes-dwarf-planet-ceres-21624240



Ceres (illustration pictured) is a perfectly round 'dwarf planet' and also the largest asteroid in the solar system. Scientists found that it is releasing water vapour from its surface at a rate of 6 kilograms per second


The latest finding puts Ceres in a special class of solar system objects with active plumes of water, a key ingredient for life. The company includes Jupiter's moon Europa — where an underground ocean is believed to exist — and the Saturn moon Enceladus, where jets have been seen venting from the surface.


NASA spacecraft Dawn (illustration approaching Ceres)

The observations, published in Thursday's issue of Nature, come as NASA's Dawn spacecraft is set to arrive at the Texas-sized dwarf planet next year.

The source of the water plumes is still unclear. Scientists think there may be a layer of ice just below the surface that gets heated by the sun or the plumes could be spewed by ice volcanoes.

Dawn, the NASA comet mission launched in 2007 and powered by ion propulsion. It is the first spacecraft to orbit two space rocks.
The spacecraft won't be in the best position to witness any water activity since it'll arrive at a time when Ceres is far from the sun. But the spacecraft carries instruments that can detect water and it will map the dwarf planet in detail, said Dawn deputy project scientist Carol Raymond, who had no role in the research.


Ceres (illustrated, far left) is here compared to other minor planets by size. Pluto (pictured, centre) is not that much larger than the spherical asteroid. Eris (far right) is larger than Pluto and found further out, beyond Pluto, in the solar system

Ceres is the closest dwarf planet to the sun and is located in the solar system's asteroid belt, making it the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system. Ceres is the smallest of the bodies current classified as a 'dwarf planet'.



Ceres is the closest dwarf planet to the sun and is located in the solar system's asteroid belt, making it the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system. Ceres is the smallest of the bodies current classified as a 'dwarf planet'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2543973/Ceres-gushing-WATER-Liquid-spouting-planets-surface-reveal-life-began-Earth.html


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Take note that the article appears in the "Sports" section of ABC News.....because apparently they have no "Science" section and jammed it in there.

[jakeXT]

1. They have a tech section where they usually put their planetary science in

http://abcnews.go.com/technology