Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
The asteroid Ceres is venting water vapor
From BBC News: Ceres asteroid vents water vapor:
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.
One idea is that surface, or near-surface, ice is being warmed by the Sun, turning it directly to a gas that then escapes to space.
Ceres is due for a visit by the US Dawn space probe in 2015, which should give astronomers much more data about Ceres.
Artist's conception of Ceres, showing water vapor being vented into space.