Welcome to Detroit Sports Forum!

By joining our community, you'll be able to connect with fellow fans that live and breathe Detroit sports just like you!

Get Started
  • If you are no longer able to access your account since our recent switch from vBulletin to XenForo, you may need to reset your password via email. If you no longer have access to the email attached to your account, please fill out our contact form and we will assist you ASAP. Thanks for your continued support of DSF.

NASA asks American public to vote

Michchamp

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 4, 2011
Messages
33,983
They still can't figure out what those bright spots on Ceres are. Link.

Idiots.

UFOlogist Nutjobs are probably offended they have to vote "other."

I voted for ice.
 
aww cripes...

I go and make a dumb typo like that in the headline.
 
Would glass count as rock? Like volcanic glass. The spots are in craters; one's in the dead center. I think meteors sometimes create glass where they hit. (Or do they need an atmosphere so they're hot when they hit?)
 
Would glass count as rock? Like volcanic glass. The spots are in craters; one's in the dead center. I think meteors sometimes create glass where they hit. (Or do they need an atmosphere so they're hot when they hit?)

i guess we'll have to wait until the board's resident astro-physicist logs in to answer your question
 
rock?

I read about the possibility it was like a mass of fused lava rock/glass.

Still seemed unlikely across such a wide area to me, but I'm not an astro-geologist. or even a regular geologist.
 
Would glass count as rock? Like volcanic glass. The spots are in craters; one's in the dead center. I think meteors sometimes create glass where they hit. (Or do they need an atmosphere so they're hot when they hit?)

Not saying it's impossible, but volcanic glass is typically black and doesn't reflect the sun with a luminosity level to the extent visible in the image, and also volcanic glass tends to be more jagged and non-uniform which would be more likely to scatter the sun's light. The really odd part to me is the luminosity level, it is so intensely bright. Ice is likely being dismissed by the scientists studying it because of how ice normally scatters the light causing a more dull white whereas this is almost like a large mirror or multiple small mirrors are there and collectively giving similar reflection level as a large mirror.

My guess is it is from a large gemstone, extremely pure and without the ore typically attached to gemstones on earth (could have vaporized off upon impact, leaving the gemstone intact without the additional ore, but that is also a guess). I doubt the object is actually as large as it appears in the photo since the light could still be spreading to some extent, so object could be as small as a square meter, or even smaller. Ceres is believed to have carbon, so maybe it is a diamond or multiple small diamonds. That's the best guess I have going mostly off the degree of intensity for the reflected light. It is such a pure intensity that I am not sure what else it could be. Molten pure metal (aluminum and/or silver) would be another possibility, but I think it would require a high polished type finish to achieve that degree of intensity. Granted in the conditions under which these meteors hit (high heat and rapid cooling) I cannot say it is impossible to have a high polish from such conditions, but I would put that as my 2nd guess behind gemstones (diamond being the most likely).

Since minds more informed and intelligent than mine are currently stumped, please don't hold me to this as something more than a pure guess. The very small level of education applied does not even come close to saying this is a hypothesis because in planetary geology there are just too many unknowns. Hell, it could be one of those yet undiscovered elements in the super heavy island of stability. Honestly, I'd put that down as my #3 ranked guess, as I am more clueless than the scientists actually studying it and this type of wild ass guess is almost as legit as my other two!

1. Gemstone (diamond if I must declare one)
2. Molten metal (aluminum and/or silver)
3. Super heavy element from yet discovered island of stability
 
my vote was for a geyser. As it passes into darkness it still reflects light showing that it is higher that the surface. My guess is a geyser pushing water above the surface and the vapor is reflecting light like clouds do here on earth.
 
my vote was for a geyser. As it passes into darkness it still reflects light showing that it is higher that the surface. My guess is a geyser pushing water above the surface and the vapor is reflecting light like clouds do here on earth.

again, not saying it is wrong...just that typically light is more scattered and far less intense than what is apparently seen on the image. I haven't seen video of it, which would be helpful, because video would indicate whether the light is constant (indicating reflecting off a solid, not moving object) or twinkling (indicating reflection off a moving object, most likely liquid or gas in nature).
 
stuff from dawn mission as probe spirals down.

https://www.facebook.com/dawn.mission

disappointingly, they still haven't posted a close up of the damn light spot.

either they're toying with us, or whoever is directing the probe has their own agenda. If it's the former, I think they're way overestimating public interest in this. Most people will just move on if they don't get to the point soon.
 
disappointingly, they still haven't posted a close up of the damn light spot.

either they're toying with us, or whoever is directing the probe has their own agenda. If it's the former, I think they're way overestimating public interest in this. Most people will just move on if they don't get to the point soon.

If you zoom in enough, it's a lightboard that says "Don't forget to drink your Ovaltine."
 
If you zoom in enough, it's a lightboard that says "Don't forget to drink your Ovaltine."

But there's more to it than that.

I voted "other."

las_vegas.jpg


This is Las Vegas as seen from outer space.

Notice the similarity.
 
Last edited:
But there's more to it than that.

I voted "other."

las_vegas.jpg


This is Las Vegas as seen from outer space.

Notice the similarity.

it is a little bizarre that the intensity of the light doesn't seem to diminish as Ceres rotates.
 
FYI: regarding scale, Ceres is about 580 miles in diameter.

I was using the eyeball measurement off the 950 km approximate diameter. My original point was it appears to be roughly a square km in size using the eyeball measurement; however, as you know, a much smaller object even a square meter in size could reflect light in a way to make it appear to be a much larger source of reflection than it actually is. Of course it could be even larger too, but it would seem more logical that the reflective surface be small and spread the light instead of larger and tightening the light beam.

Video, or even something like 1 photo every 10 min with constant center of focus would provide more clues. Not sure why that is not available.
 
Noteworthy images of Ceres:

http://techgenmag.com/2015/06/20/pyramid-shaped-structure-on-ceres/

The bright spots in this configuration make Ceres unique from anything we’ve seen before in the solar system. The science team is working to understand their source. Reflection from ice is the leading candidate in my mind, but the team continues to consider alternate possibilities, such as salt. With closer views from the new orbit and multiple view angles, we soon will be better able to determine the nature of this enigmatic phenomenon,” said Dawn mission principal investigator Chris Russell.

Dawn has yet to provide the closest and sharpest images of Ceres’ surface, which will hopefully give scientists the evidence they need to solve the mystery on everyone’s minds.
 
New images of Ceres are the clearest ever taken, but NASA's scientists still haven't figured out the enigmatic dwarf planet. The agency's latest photos of Ceres show multiple bright spots — and a "pyramid-shaped peak towering over a relatively flat landscape."

That's according to an update posted by the space agency, saying that Ceres and its bright spots "continue to mystify."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...arf-planet-s-bright-spots-pyramid-shaped-peak
 
Back
Top