Caltech Astronomy Public Lecture Series - Ceres, An Unexpectedly Active Dwarf Planet - Bethany Ehlmann - 10/12/2018

Ceres, the largest asteroid in our solar system, appears to be primarily composed of ice and salt, but why? Lecture: 03:23; Lecture Q&A: 35:40; Panel Q&A: 45:08 Date: October 12, 2018 Lecturer: Dr. Bethany Ehlmann Title: Ceres, An Unexpectedly Active Dwarf Planet: Findings from the Dawn Mission Abstract: The Dawn mission to explore the largest asteroids Vesta and Ceres has uncovered unexpected findings from Ceres, the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt. Believed to be comprised of ice and rock, new Dawn mission data have confirmed these inferences from telescopic data and have also shown evidence for brines in the Ceres subsurface extruding to the surface, as recently as a few tens to hundreds of millions of years ago. Here I will describe a selection of the findings from the Dawn mission that point to the unusual aqueous activity on this body and its modern geological activity. Event Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143414768@N07/albums/72157699264698942 Echo360 Two-Pane Video Stream: https://echo360.org/section/df8345ec-7d0c-4dc3-b450-65a423c24650/public Thumbnail Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA