Two white spots are seen on this image of the dwarf planet Ceres. Photo courtesy of popsci.com
Three years ago, NASA launched the ‘Dawn’ space probe, which is on its final approach to Ceres, a dwarf planet in the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. As the probe has gotten closer, pictures transmitted back have revealed 2 bright white spots on the surface of the planet. However, the rest of the planet is the same gray color as the moon. “This may be pointing to a volcano like origin of the spots, but we will have to wait for better resolution before we can make such geologic interpretations,” said Chris Russell, director of the Dawn Mission. The image was taken from a distance of 29,000 miles away from the surface.