QR Codes on Ceres?
New Images of Ceres
“New images of dwarf planet Ceres, taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, show the cratered surface of this mysterious world in sharper detail than ever before. These are among the first snapshots from Dawn’s second mapping orbit, which is 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) above Ceres.”
Keith’s note: Looks like someone at NASA PAO used Dawn’s ion drive to paint QR code graffiti on Ceres. Just sayin’.
Ha ha. I see what you did there.
One of the interesting early images, was the bright spot as it passed into the shadow of the night-side. But I haven’t seen an equivalent image since Dawn got closer. (And NASA’s websites seem to get worse to navigate each year.)
One animated gif shows the bright spot as the viewing angle changes and the orbiter circles… and it stays bright despite the changing angles.
It is one seriously weird and cool feature.
We will see an erudite explanation soon I imagine from a certain Mr. Hoagland…
You made my day, QR code graffiti…
But much more serious: Whatever it is, it’s not that bright as it appears on the photos. Ceres has an albedo of 0.09, which means it’s really dark and the photos show much more than a naked eye would see. This photo enhancements cause that the white parts are overexposed. So I’m hoping the instruments can be adjusted when dawn reaches a closer orbit.
An idea: The Dawn mission will end at Ceres next year. An impact beneath that region would give us the best view ever.
Not only does it stay bright at all angles of solar incidence, it seems to be geometrically flat — I see no sign of shadowing near the edges, so it cannot be much elevated or depressed relative to the surrounding terrain. And it must be pretty smooth or there would be some self-shadowing within it.
I’m wondering what these spots look like when they are not illuminated by the Sun. If they shine at night, that would be something else again – big time!
Photos have already shown that the spots are dark when they pass through the dark.
Ceres is telling us how to land there: