Dawn arrives at Ceres: Exploration of a small, volatile-rich world

C T Russell; C A Raymond; E Ammannito; D L Buczkowski; M C De Sanctis; H Hiesinger; R Jaumann; A S Konopliv; H Y McSween; A Nathues; R S Park; C M Pieters; T H Prettyman; T B McCord; L A McFadden; S Mottola; M T Zuber; S P Joy; C Polanskey; M D Rayman; J C Castillo-Rogez; P J Chi; J P Combe; A Ermakov; R R Fu; M Hoffmann; Y D Jia; S D King; D J Lawrence; J-Y Li; S Marchi; F Preusker; T Roatsch; O Ruesch; P Schenk; M N Villarreal; N Yamashita

doi:10.1126/science.aaf4219

Dawn arrives at Ceres: Exploration of a small, volatile-rich world

Science. 2016 Sep 2;353(6303):1008-1010. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf4219.

Authors

C T Russell¹, C A Raymond², E Ammannito³, D L Buczkowski⁴, M C De Sanctis⁵, H Hiesinger⁶, R Jaumann⁷, A S Konopliv², H Y McSween⁸, A Nathues⁹, R S Park², C M Pieters¹⁰, T H Prettyman¹¹, T B McCord¹², L A McFadden¹³, S Mottola⁷, M T Zuber¹⁴, S P Joy³, C Polanskey², M D Rayman², J C Castillo-Rogez², P J Chi³, J P Combe¹², A Ermakov¹⁴, R R Fu¹⁵, M Hoffmann⁹, Y D Jia³, S D King¹⁶, D J Lawrence⁴, J-Y Li¹¹, S Marchi¹⁷, F Preusker⁷, T Roatsch⁷, O Ruesch¹³, P Schenk¹⁸, M N Villarreal³, N Yamashita¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Earth Planetary and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 603 Charles Young Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567, USA. ctrussell@igpp.ucla.edu.
² Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA.
³ Earth Planetary and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 603 Charles Young Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567, USA.
⁴ Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723-6099, USA.
⁵ Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, 00133 Roma, Italy.
⁶ Institut für Planetologie, 48149 Münster, Germany.
⁷ Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft-und Raumfahrt, Institute of Planetary Research, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
⁸ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1410, USA.
⁹ Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
¹⁰ Brown University, Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
¹¹ Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA.
¹² The Bear Fight Institute, Winthrop, WA 98862, USA.
¹³ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
¹⁴ Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
¹⁵ Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10968, USA.
¹⁶ Virginia Tech, Geosciences, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
¹⁷ Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.
¹⁸ Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX 77058, USA.

PMID: 27701107
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4219

Abstract

On 6 March 2015, Dawn arrived at Ceres to find a dark, desiccated surface punctuated by small, bright areas. Parts of Ceres' surface are heavily cratered, but the largest expected craters are absent. Ceres appears gravitationally relaxed at only the longest wavelengths, implying a mechanically strong lithosphere with a weaker deep interior. Ceres' dry exterior displays hydroxylated silicates, including ammoniated clays of endogenous origin. The possibility of abundant volatiles at depth is supported by geomorphologic features such as flat crater floors with pits, lobate flows of materials, and a singular mountain that appears to be an extrusive cryovolcanic dome. On one occasion, Ceres temporarily interacted with the solar wind, producing a bow shock accelerating electrons to energies of tens of kilovolts.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't