New Horizons wake up - On Pluto's Doorstep

[Baclava]

9. "Ceres, yes!....... "more fresh water than on earth"

That would be my ideal asteroid destination for setting up a colony.


The Dawn Spacecraft Is Closing in on Dwarf Planet Ceres

Dawn will be captured into Ceres' orbit in March, marking the first visit to a dwarf planet by a spacecraft.


Dwarf planet Ceres may have more fresh water than Earth

Astronomers using the Herschel Space Observatory have made the first definitive detection of a thin water-vapour atmosphere surrounding Ceres, and if their estimations are correct, the dwarf planet may have more fresh water than we have on Earth.



For the past few years, scientists have been taking a careful look at Ceres, which orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter in our solar system's asteroid belt. Given its size and shape — nearly 500 kilometres across and the roundest object in the asteroid belt — there's been speculation that Ceres may be similar to other bodies, like Jupiter's Europa and Saturn's Enceladus, with a rocky core surrounded by a thick mantle of ice.

Now, by using Herschel's infrared cameras, astronomers have spotted plumes of water vapour from the surface of Ceres, confirming the speculations about the dwarf planet's composition.

"This is the first time water vapor has been unequivocally detected on Ceres or any other object in the asteroid belt and provides proof that Ceres has an icy surface and an atmosphere," said Michael Küppers, the study lead author, according to NASA.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekquinox/dwarf-planet-ceres-may-more-fresh-water-earth-185607028.html



Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice

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http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2005/27/image/a/

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/feature_stories/Dawn_snaps_image_Ceres.asp