back to article Dwarf planet Ceres has TEN bright spots, astroboffins say

Dwarf planet Ceres has ten bright spots, not just the two that the Dawn spacecraft saw as it approached the worldlet in February. The two bright patches sparked all manner of speculation about their origins. Some suggested they could be volcanoes or a frozen lake reflecting the Sun. As news, and new images, of the bright spots …

  1. adnim
    Joke

    First predicted by Zappa

    Ceres of tiny lites.

  2. A Non e-mouse Silver badge
    Happy

    The chances of anything being on Ceres are a million to one they said.

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Which means it had to happen !

    2. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      "The chances of anything being on Ceres are a million to one they said."

      That makes no sense whatsoever, as Ceres would obviously have some rocks and dust strewn about.

      1. herman

        'Whoosh...' Clue: That line is from a song.

      2. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

        @Wzrd1

        Go somewhere with a *really* good sound system. Hook up a computer, turn up the volume, close your eyes and hit play on this:

        The Eve of the War

    3. Sarah Balfour

      ODWR

      …and million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The 10 Dwarf Planet Ceres

    Nah, it doesn't have the same ring.

    Hi ho, hi ho, it's into orbit I go...

    [anon, of course]

  4. x 7

    They're mirrors made of pools of cerium metal. What else could they be on Ceres?

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      They're the Clanger's dustbin lids of course. Much shinier than the rock around them. When Dawn gets in closer, the microphones will be able to pick up the talking and echoing noises.

      1. DJV Silver badge
        Alien

        Clangers

        And when the new series of the Clangers starts in a few months time they will reveal that it's never actually been a kids programme but is, in fact, a documentary filmed on location.

        1. Sarah Balfour
          Unhappy

          Re: Clangers

          New Clangers - how very fucking DARE they…?! It's rumoured they SPEAK now, too because, obviously, today's kids have zero imagination and can't put their own words to whistles. I'm DREADING what they've done to poor Bagpuss, too!

          1. DJV Silver badge
            Happy

            Re: Clangers

            The Clangers have ALWAYS talked! See:

            www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/2010/03/08/clangers/

  5. Anonymous Blowhard
    Alien

    Bollocks!

    I forgot to turn the lights off!

  6. hammarbtyp

    My theory

    The Sentinal

    Here's hoping...

  7. Kristaps
    Coat

    So it IS fully operational...

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They're all ports to the inner part of the spaceship.

  9. John 110

    mandatory

    That's no moon.....

  10. DJV Silver badge
    Joke

    10

    "Dwarf planet Ceres has TEN bright spots, astroboffins say"

    That's 11 more than most politicians...

  11. The last doughnut

    Fabulous! New observations may enable us to throw out some old theories about solar system formation. My guess? The asteroid belt is the remains of a rocky planet that was smashed up early in the story.

    1. The lone lurker

      The orbital resonances between Mars and Jupiter pretty much preclude a planet of any significant size having in the region of the asteroid belt.

      It becomes even more unlikely when you consider the energies required coupled with the low combined mass of the Asteroid belt - somewhat less than 5% of the Moon's.

      The radically different compositions of the various Asteroid Families are also difficult (though not impossible) to explain if they were to have originated from the same planet.

      1. Robert Helpmann??
        Childcatcher

        Orbital Resonances

        One theory is that there were rocky planets in the inner solar system that got eaten or knocked around when Jupiter started migrating inward. When Saturn pulled Jupiter outward, what was left coalesced into the inner planets we have now. There is a much better description here, for example, but it seems to be a coherent explanation, at least in part, of how our solar system came to be as it is in terms of composition and placement of the various planets.

      2. Wzrd1 Silver badge

        "The radically different compositions of the various Asteroid Families are also difficult (though not impossible) to explain if they were to have originated from the same planet."

        Not really, of Jovian migration occurred, a modest planet could have begun forming, differentiation begun, leaving metals migrating down, only to be sundered by the distant passing of Jupiter.

        But, that's extremely dicey, I'll admit. It ignores the wide distribution of asteroids, it ignores needing passing within the Roche limit of Jupiter and well, physics in general, considering the previous issues.

        What isn't explained is why we have chondrite or metallic and very little in the middle mixture. *Something* caused metallics to form in significant quantities in preference to a more random mixture.

    2. Beachrider

      Dawn has already been to Vesta...

      Most Solar System formation theories posit that the planets have 'moved' since their formation. In this case, Ceres and Vesta are surprisingly different given the expected homogenous origins of the Asteroid belt.

      Dawn measured Vesta at 3.5 gm/cc3 (9% of the Asteroid belt mass). Ceres is about 2.1 gm/cc3 (31% of the Asteroid belt mass). Pallas is 2.8 gm/cc3 (7%).

      That is 47% of the Asteroid belt mass with each chunk have very substantial differences. If you are looking for breakup of a single item, these disparities argue against it.

  12. Stevie

    Ceres has ten bright spots

    Hmm, exactly ten more than my usual working day.

    1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: Ceres has ten bright spots

      "Hmm, exactly ten more than my usual working day."

      Well, that's usually nine more than my usual working day, although exceptional days have occurred and eight occurred.

      It all depended on *who* was trying to breach our network.

  13. Hubert Thrunge Jr.
    Coat

    Two bright spots you say?

    THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS.......

  14. Mussie (Ed)

    Bring on the conspiracy nuts

    Insert obligatory aliens jpg here

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