Скачать или смотреть The Bright Heart of Ceres 💫

This incredible image shows the dwarf planet Ceres, captured in remarkable detail by NASA’s Dawn mission — the first spacecraft ever to orbit two separate worlds beyond Earth.

Ceres resides in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and at about 590 miles (940 km) wide, it’s the largest object in that region. But what makes this image so iconic are the mysterious bright spots glowing from within the Occator Crater — areas now known to be rich in sodium carbonate, a type of salt left behind by briny water that once seeped up from beneath the surface.

Dawn’s observations suggest that Ceres might still be geologically active, with pockets of subsurface liquid occasionally resurfacing as bright, reflective salt deposits. In other words, this small, cratered world might not be as dead as it looks.

With its shimmering white heart and icy secrets, Ceres continues to challenge what we know about the boundary between asteroids and planets, and about the possibility of hidden oceans in unlikely places.

Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA

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