Is somebody on dwarf planet Ceres sending us signals?
Well... no. But something interesting is going on.
NASA'S Dawn spacecraft, approaching the largest object in the asteroid belt, has detected a second bright light or reflection on its surface.
Dawn will enter orbit around Ceres on March 6. Scientists speculate that the lights may be volcanic in origin.
Ceres was the first asteroid to be discovered, and the largest- large enough to have been formed by gravity into a sphere. Discovered in 1881, it was briefly considered a classical planet before astronomers realized that it was the largest of an entirely new classification of celestial objects between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Although its tenure as a planet was briefer than Pluto's the story of its demotion has similarities.
HT: Drudge
NASA'S Dawn spacecraft, approaching the largest object in the asteroid belt, has detected a second bright light or reflection on its surface.
Dawn will enter orbit around Ceres on March 6. Scientists speculate that the lights may be volcanic in origin.
Ceres was the first asteroid to be discovered, and the largest- large enough to have been formed by gravity into a sphere. Discovered in 1881, it was briefly considered a classical planet before astronomers realized that it was the largest of an entirely new classification of celestial objects between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Although its tenure as a planet was briefer than Pluto's the story of its demotion has similarities.
HT: Drudge
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