Scientists have long investigated the question of whether the dwarf planet “Ceres” was born in the main asteroid belt or migrated there from outside the solar system. They have now arrived at the answer.
According to RCO News Agency, Scientists have used data from NASA’s long-retired Dawn spacecraft to solve the mystery of the origin of the strange dwarf planet Ceres.
According to Spacey, Ceres is currently in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and most theories of its creation suggest that it was born there. However, this dwarf planet has some strange features that set it apart from other main asteroid belt objects. This has led some scientists to think that this dwarf planet with a width of 960 km may have come from the outer edge of the solar system and migrated towards the interior and its current home.
Not only is Ceres the largest object in the main asteroid belt, it also appears to have a more complex geology than its peers. One particular mystery is the presence of frozen ammonia in Ceres, which the Dawn spacecraft found when it surveyed the dwarf planet between 2015 and 2018.
Ammonia is thought to be stable only in the outer solar system, away from the Sun and the radiation that causes it to evaporate. Therefore, the presence of this material suggested that Ceres may have formed far from its current home.
Now, data collected from one of Ceres’ oldest impact craters—the 64 km long Consus crater—could dispel the migration theory and show that the dwarf planet did indeed form in the main asteroid belt.
Max-Planck Institute researcher Ranjan Sarkar said: The 450 million-year-old Kansas Crater is not old by geological standards, but it is one of the oldest remaining structures in Ceres. Because of its depth, this crater gives us access to processes that have occurred in Ceres over billions of years and could provide a window into the dwarf planet’s past.
The study of Consus Crater, one of the smaller impact craters of Ceres and located in the southern hemisphere of the dwarf planet, revealed the remains of salty water that came to its surface from the interior of the planet, especially a layer of liquid between the mantle and the crust, more than billions of years ago. .
While most of the sediments found in the scattered impact craters of Ceres contain bright white salt deposits, the material found in isolated spots of the Consus crater is more yellow in color. It appears to be rich in ammonium, which is a form of ammonia with an excess of hydrogen ions.
“Andreas Nathues” (Andreas Nathues), head of the research group and former researcher of the Dawn spacecraft camera group, said: Minerals in Ceres’ crust have probably absorbed ammonium like a kind of sponge over billions of years.
Then due to the impact of other asteroids in the main asteroid belt with Ceres, these minerals are exposed.
This research was published in “Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets”.
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