NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Hints Bright Spots on Dwarf Planet Ceres Likely Made of Salt

In late 2015, images captured by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft showed bright spots on the dwarf planet Ceres. While the planet has been a mystery to scientists for long, Dawn has shed more light on the bright spots, and the planet in general, during its orbit of the dwarf planet. Going by the images, scientists have reported that the bright spots are made up of hydrated magnesium sulfates, more popular as Epsom salt that is used in treating sore and inflamed joints.

The white spots have fascinated scientists since they were discovered, and for a passionate researcher like Experimentor_4u, continued discovery of Ceres’ features have kept him hungry for more information.  


 
Dawn’s mission

The Dawn Project was initiated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Discovery Program as a project to increase the understanding of the conditions of some of the solar systems intriguing bodies, specifically the protoplanet’s Vesta and Ceres. The Dawn spacecraft orbited Vesta in 2011-2012, and from there moved to the dwarf planet Ceres.

So far, the Dawn mission has accomplished many firsts. It is the only spacecraft to successfully orbit two bodies other than Earth, and the only spacecraft to orbit a body located in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. By relaying images in its orbit, Dawn is able to send useful information that scientists can study to learn more about the planet.

Scientists believe that during the early stages of the solar system, the buildup of bodies contributed to the growth of planets. The process is, however, believed to have been interfered with by Jupiter’s gravity, thus denying the development of a planet between it and Mars. The result is a large asteroid belt that is home to Vesta and Ceres, two of the largest asteroids in the belt. Both planets have survived the collisions that are common between asteroids, and possess chemical conditions that might help shed light on the early stages of the solar system.

At a high level, the Dawn mission seeks to find answers on the role of size and water in establishing the growth of planets. Vesta and Ceres are the right candidates to provide answers, as they are planets whose growth was interrupted by Jupiter. While Ceres is wet and primal, Vesta is dry and has advanced. Thus, Dawn has the possibility of providing discoveries that further advance scientists’ knowledge of the solar system.



Ceres’ Bright Spots

On images relayed by Dawn, Ceres has more than 100 bright spots, with a significant number thought to be the linked to impact craters. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany have studied these bright spots and found them to be consistent with magnesium sulfate, a variant of which is used as Epsom salt. The scientists have suggested that these bright spots are salt-rich areas that are a result of water redirection in the past, with asteroid impact likely to have brought the salt onto the surface.

Ceres has a dark surface, much similar to fresh asphalt. The bright spots are brought into focus as a result of sunlight, which also makes it possible to see the craters that dot the planet. One of the craters, called Occator, has been the center of study efforts to figure out the behavior of Ceres’ surface during particular times of the day.

In another study, the team of scientists behind studied the planet using special equipment to identify ammonia-rich soil. Because Ceres is a warm planet, ammonia by itself would evaporate. Scientists figure that the presence of ammonia could be a result of bonding with other minerals on planet’s surface. The presence of ammonia also leads to the possibility that Ceres might have originated outside the main asteroid belt, or that the planet is made up of materials that have coasted from other orbits.



Scientists’ ability to make accurate inferences is a result of Dawn’s instruments, which are a framing camera, a visible and infrared mapping spectrometer to a gamma ray and neutron detector. These instruments have kept the Dawn team busy, as the data collected has helped them understand the elements on Ceres’ surface, along with important details that may help address questions about the planet’s composition and evolution. Since Ceres is the last planet in Dawn’s space exploration itinerary, the spacecraft is expected to remain in the planet’s orbit until the conclusion of its mission in 2016.

Alien Megastructure or Comet Swarm?

This recent series of articles on the Experimentor_4u blog has discussed how Kepler is able to discover alien worlds, and whether it would be able to detect alien civilisations. Recently, a star by the name of KIC8462852 has given up some tantalising data which has set the scientific world abuzz. Has Kepler detected a new kind of “comet swarm”, with rock and ice debris moving around the distant star? Or has it found something much more earth shattering, a discovery which could change humanity's view of the cosmos, that an alien civilisation has finally been found?

Read on, and find out the secrets of KIC8462852 in our latest free PDF.

Can Kepler Discover Alien Civilisations?

Following on from Experimentor_4u’s recent post about Kepler and the puzzling star KIC8462852, let's take a more in depth look at Kepler and its search for life. Scientists have always wondered whether there were other planets out there in the cosmos, beyond the boundaries of our solar system – the Kepler satellite has finally answered this question. Undoubtedly there are alien worlds in abundance throughout our galaxy and beyond, but what if those planets hold more than interesting chemistry and water, what if they contain life itself, could Kepler detect this? And what would it need to detect to prove the existence of an advanced civilisation similar to our own?

How Kepler Detects Exoplanets

The Kepler satellite was launched in 2009, and has since then identified over 1,000 potential exoplanets outside our own star system, circling other stars, some similar to our own. It does this by measuring any flickering coming from a star caused by planets, comets and other astronomical bodies passing between the star and our planet. For a more detailed explanation of why Kepler is important, check out the video below.



 
Tell Tale Signs of an Advanced Alien Civilisation

While the Kepler satellite can detect flickering, it is through complex calculations that scientists are able to assess whether this flickering is caused by planets in another solar system, or something else. One such calculation uses the 3^rd Law of Planetary Motion to ascertain a planet's size and orbit. By knowing a planet's size, we can predict the amount of gravity it will generate. By knowing the orbit, we can tell if it is just in the right sweet spot to allow water and other materials which are associated with life to form. This helps us predict the likelihood of life based on our understanding of how it evolved on earth. But can an advanced alien civilisation be detected? In theory, it is possible that Kepler could detect flickering caused by massive alien constructions orbiting a distant star. This is exactly what some believe the unusual flickering of a star called KIC8462852may be caused by, but others believe there is another explanation. What's certain is that Kepler is opening up our understanding of the universe and just how many life-sustaining planets may be out there, whether someone is staring back at us as we gaze to these strange new worlds, only time will tell.

Have Scientists Found Proof of Alien Life?

The truth may indeed be “out there”. While most accounts of UFOs and little green men have conclusively been shown to be hoaxes, delusions, or the misidentifications of man-made and natural phenomena, astronomers may have found tantalising evidence of an alien civilisation, floating through the vastness of the cosmos. Over this series of articles, the Experimentor_4u blog will examine just how much truth there is to this story.

The Search for E.T.

While most research to find evidence for extra-terrestrial life has focused on Mars and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, there are ongoing efforts to assess the presence of life in the star systems and galaxies outside the boundaries of our own solar system. This has primarily been an effort to find evidence of water via spectral analysis, or by picking up faint radio signals from possible alien civilisations, until now. A study by Jason Wright, an astronomer working out of Penn State University, may indicate that a huge artificial construction is orbiting a distant star.

An Unusual Sun
 
The star, KIC8462852, can be found sitting innocuously between Cygnus and Lyra, two famous constellations. Observed through the Kepler telescope – designed to detect features of star systems including planets – KIC8462852 is a very strange proposition. Kepler has discovered many 'exoplanets', but something startled researchers in this instance; the light from the star behaves in a way unlike any other previously observed. Kepler works by detecting flickering in a star's light which indicates that a planet has moved across its face, momentarily reducing the amount of light which reaches our planet; as the infographic below shows, Kepler can detect all kinds of astronomical data. The flickering of KIC8462852 is different, however; it flickers more often than it should. Some scientists are entertaining the possibility that this is caused by a hypothetical construction called a Dyson Swarm.




Could it Be Evidence of Alien Life?

A Dyson Swarm has been predicted as a way which advanced civilisations could harness the power of a star, by building orbiting structures which collect the rays of the sun much like millions of solar panels. This has been put forward as a serious explanation for the flickering KIC8462852, but there are more grounded explanations such as a planet which has broken up into pieces, or other debris such as comets. Whether it really is an alien construction, only further research will reveal. Stay tuned for the second part of this series about Kepler to discover what experts say would be the true tell-tale signs of the existence of an alien civilisation.

Experimentor_4u Says It’s True, Water is on Mars

The argument of whether or not life could exist on Mars could be coming to an end swiftly, with recent observations made by a new spectral analysis captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. There is no question that Experimentor_4u is alongside every new development. While little green men aren’t the focus of the biological discoveries being made, there is a chance that there could be, at the very least, microbial life occurring somewhere on Mars - many online sites, including Experimentor_4u’s Facebook page, will regularly update their site with the latest news and discoveries concerning Mars and other scientific discoveries. For years now, there have been images that have been received, dating as far back as the 70’s, where there is a clear view of a wide variety of striations and canyon slopes. These formations look identical in nature to the many different geographical responses that have transpired on Earth over a period of centuries. But just because there seemed to be visual evidence that water had once been on Mars, it did not prove that there was water at present, let alone the capacity to support any type of life.



The discoveries piqued the interest of scientists and NASA research teams enough to perpetuate further surveys of the surface of Mars. Over the past ten years, scientists have been able to find more evidence that something was certainly flowing across Mars at one point. But the question remained as to whether or not water was still there. With the pursuit of more documentation firmly underway, more images returned that demonstrated that water was not only once present on Mars, but that it still was. NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor actually returned images that looked just like water breaking through the surface of Mars and flowing across the surface of large boulders and the rocky terrain that we had come to know Mars to be.  

Science Takes Evidence

However, scientists were reluctant to investigate further and make claims about what they were seeing on the black and white images received on Earth. There was still a chance that what they were seeing was merely a projection of their own hopes and expectations of what could possibly be the beginning signs of life on Mars, or at least the potential for it. More data was needed.

Enter a spectrometer aboard the Mars Reconnaissance orbiter. For the first time ever, scientists were able to capture the spectral signature that determines whether or not water was actually present. The process involved determining whether or not there was the presence of certain salts, known as hydrated salts, which are clear indicators that water actually exists. This sort of inspection just wasn’t possible through the images that previous Mars expeditions were able to capture. But now the images have returned to the inquisitive minds at NASA and what they have found is completely revolutionizing the image of Mars that has long been held as a completely dry and rocky terrain.



Not only were scientists able to determine that there actually is water on Mars, they are realising that this water has some interesting characteristics. The biggest one is based on the fact that the surface of Mars is extremely cold, yet the water on the surface begins to flow when temperatures reach around -23 degrees Celsius. This is considerably lower than the temperature on Earth.  

What Does Water On Mars Really Mean?

The presence of the water is simply a foundation set for further discoveries. Scientists have learned that there are still many different possibilities to explore, to determine the full scope of the history and the current state of the ecological life on Mars.

For starters, there is now clear evidence that there were large lakes that once existed on the surface. The spectral analysis returned information identifying where water had been, as well as where it is flowing now. Scientists can now fully hypothesize that Mars at one point had a much richer biosphere that included oceans, mountains, clouds, and the possibility of life.



Because that is not the current state of Mars, it is clear that something happened previously that to take its toll on the atmosphere. Unfortunately, there may not be a way of identifying exactly what caused such a large shift in the planet’s capacity to maintain an ecosystem. Scientists are much more prone to be conservative in expressing their speculations until further evidence is obtained – this is simply the regular process during scientific discovery. First they need the evidence, and then the claims can be made. Even now, scientists are exploring different possibilities with regards to how the water actually got there.

As scientists continue their miraculous discoveries, Experimentor_4u is tuned in and watching fervently. Limitless possibilities are on the path ahead.

What is a Wormhole?

The idea of a wormhole was first proposed by the great Albert Einstein in 1935 along with Nathan Rosen, his then colleague. The duo realised that within the general theory of relativity there was a possibility of there being ‘bridges’ that could connect two different points in space-time and therefore create a ‘shortcut’ from one point in time or space to another, reducing both distance and time taken to travel. As shown in the attached PDF document, while researchers are yet to conclusively prove the existence of wormholes there are valid solutions to equations of the general theory of relativity that do contain wormholes.



As described by Einstein and Rosen, wormholes would consist of two ‘mouths’ connected by a tunnel or ‘throat’. The mouths or openings would most likely be spheroidal in shape, while the tunnel or throat may be straight or may wind around, ultimately taking longer than a conventional as-the-crow-flies route. Within the general theory of relativity Einstein has predicted mathematically the existence of these wormholes, although to date none have ever been found. These wormholes could be observed due to the effect they would have on the passing light caused by the gravity of a negative mass. Some general relativity solutions allow for wormholes to exist where each mouth is actually a black hole, although naturally occurring black holes do not by themselves create wormholes.  

The reality of travelling through a wormhole even if we did happen to discover one is far more complicated than popular science fiction makes out. Firstly, the predicted wormholes as posited by Einstein and Rosen would be incredibly unstable and collapse after only a short period of time. Secondly, size would be a definite issue as primordial wormholes are predicted to be only about ten to the power of minus thirty-three centimetres – microscopic proportions. However, as the universe is expanding it creates the possibility that some wormholes may have stretched along with it. There is also evidence to suggest that wormholes containing ‘exotic’ matter, or matter with large negative pressure and negative energy density, could stay open for much longer. To this point exotic matter has only been observed as part of quantum field theory in the behaviour of certain vacuum states. Theoretically, if a wormhole was large enough and contained enough exotic matter it could be used to send information, objects or even human travellers not only though space but across multiple universes. Certain scientists have also conjectured that time travel would be possible if one mouth of a wormhole were manipulated in a specific manner. However, the possibility would be fraught with risk as there would still be a good chance that the addition of ‘regular matter’ such as a human into the stabilised wormhole could be enough to de-stabilise it once more.  

Even if we could solve all the theoretical issues surrounding the idea of wormholes and even if we did manage to discover one, the technology we have access to today is insufficient to either stabilise or enlarge a wormhole. However, scientists including Experimentor_4u remain fascinated by the concept and many hope that one day the technology will become possible.

Lab Creates Magnetic Field ‘Wormhole’

This new post from the scientist Experimentor_4u reports on a recent new device which has been developed to create a ‘magnetic wormhole’. This wormhole can transmit the magnetic field through a magnetically invisible path from one point in space to another, effectively cloaking the magnetic field so it becomes invisible from the outside. While not an actual space-time wormhole as proposed by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen back in 1935, this is more of an ‘invisibility cloak’, a realisation of something that was initially proposed in the journal ‘Physical Review Letters’ in 2007. The device acts just as a wormhole would, however, as if the magnetic field were actually travelling through an extra dimension.


No-one has as yet observed a naturally occurring wormhole as predicted in the general theory of relativity, however this device can transmit the magnetic field through space on a magnetically invisible path. This acts just like a wormhole in that the electromagnetic waves are hidden from view from the outside. You can read all about what a wormhole actually is and about the device itself in our infographic, or watch the video to see how this device actually works.


Follow up posts will look at the first proposals of the possibility of wormholes, now dating back to almost a century ago.