Monday, May 11, 2015

Ceres the Asteroid.

JPL has a spacecraft orbiting Ceres the asteroid.

Credit JPL, Dawn Mission

Obvious questions start. Are we viewing a pole n/s? We see all of those very large nearly circular craters.

Then there are the high reflectivity gouges. Those are impact craters. They are not circular. Like the moon they are elliptical. The only way a impact crater could have circular edges is if it hits at a near direct impact. Theta has got to be close to 0 else you get an elliptical gouge like the moon in the equatorial region. On the Moon impact craters are white and elliptical.

The round craters with pillars are electrical impacts. Like the moon the show they show the same features. Large round craters with a central pillar.

Credit Tom Ruen

 Moon

Credit Clementine


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