Closest view yet of Ceres! ..... holy shit, it IS an alien mining operation

[Baclava]

Ceres Bright Spots Sharpen But Questions Remain

http://www.universetoday.com/120428/ceres-bright-spots-sharpen-but-questions-remain/

---------------

I knew it

[petronius]

1. We'd better bomb the moon again, just to send a message

[neverforget]

3. No kidding. Up there in the sky, looking down it's nose at us, just asking

for it.....

[hfojvt]

2. are you ceres?

[Baclava]

4. Heavens no - Ceres, is the goddess of agriculture and fertility

I wouldn't want to step on her toes

[hfojvt]

5. I see you are the walrus

been around a little bit longer than me too.

One of our old lounge jokes was to make fun of some freeper types who said "I'm series!!1!" or some such.

Although, myself, being astronomically minded always went with sirius.

But depending on pronounciation (or spelling) "ceres" might do in a pinch.

[Baclava]

6. ha ha - yeah I knew you were doing something like that

I'm cereal

[Laffy Kat]

7. Goddess of the harvest.

Fun fact: That is where we get the word "cereal."

[pinboy3niner]

8. Be careful what you say about the bright spots

I heard on the news that authorities are beginning to treat internet bullying of a miner pretty seriously.

[Wilms]

9. It's now a major infraction, as I understand it.

Perhaps, there is a silver lining to this story.

[kentauros]

15. Yeah, they can't be more then 3 or 4 years old.

Miners, not minors!

I'm not following you.

[NuclearDem]

25. By Grabthar's Hammer, what a reference.

[kentauros]

49. Maybe it's shiny because

"The floors are so clean!"

[Eleanors38]

43. You're shining me!

[Peace Patriot]

10. They're fracking on Ceres?

It looks like a damned mess to me--colossal, ragged-edged wounds in the, um, earth, like something our frackin frackers would do here.

Scientists are very puzzled. These big bright spots are apparently NOT the same as the fuzzier ones that Hubble caught. i gather that those have "disappeared" and something new has happened. But what? Ice? Yeah, but THAT bright? Ice thrown up from below a dusty surface by a meteor impact or other disturbance? That's a guess. Nobody knows.

Strange. Intriguing.

I've been following the exploration of our Solar System since humans walked on the Moon. What strikes me is the awesome variety of objects and terrains, and the discovery of water almost everywhere--and especially the discoveries of the last couple of decades, so much variety, different kinds of moons everywhere, different kinds of rings. I'm also really blown away by the number of exoplanets in our galaxy--over a thousand detected, and billions estimated! I am so proud that the Nixons and Reagans and Bushes of this world--the visionless, vicious tools of the 0.01%--have been defeated on at least this one matter, space exploration--defeated by the cleverness and determination of NASA and other scientists, and by the heartfelt curiosity of most humans. These retro-fascists hated the space program, and turned all of our resources toward war and greed. Somehow, NASA survived them. Somehow, we are looking at the most incredible era of astronomical discoveries that has ever occurred.

Now we are looking at Ceres, and are once again baffled by what we see--something unexpected, mysterious, exciting, as with each of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn (staggeringly unexpected and improbable objects). Thank you, NASA and NASA supporters!

[LongTomH]

22. +1000 Thanks for your insights and I'm glad you're still posting here.

Space is one of the few areas where I do find hope for humanity. Our curiosity, our willingness to learn may be our salvation.

[JaneyVee]

11. What if it's a city?

[Baclava]

26. Then we attack! pew pew pew!

[roamer65]

12. This ought to get the Internet a buzzin'

Probably just ice volcanoes as this small planetoid is quite often close enough to Jupiter's gravitational field to be a bit similar to its moons. Theory has it the asteroid belt did not form into a planet because of Jupiter's immense gravity.
But if it were an alien mining operation that would really be fun. Woo-hoo. A Wild West city in space.

[Baclava]

32. gotta love this headline - "NASA Releases Best Images Ever of "Alien Lights" on Ceres"

http://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/6578/20150522/nasa-releases-best-images-alien-lights-ceres.htm

[BlueJazz]

13. I was thinking perhaps a comet.

[WillyT]

14. NSA Listening Outpost...

[roamer65]

16. It could be the exhaust shaft.

Ceres could be a Death Star. For God's sake, don't disturb it. It may think Earth is Alderaan.

[kentauros]

52. The Death Star has problems, though, per their engineers:

[Sancho]

17. If there's a monolith in that crater, we should leave it alone....

[Baclava]

24. If NASA calls it swamp gas, we're really in trouble

Dwarf planet Ceres' bright spots shrink but stay strange on approach

Ceres appears to have a pair of cosmic headlights reflecting the sun. As NASA's Dawn spacecraft approaches, they're looking smaller, but no less mysterious.

It's a cosmic mystery unfolding in agonizing slow motion. As NASA's Dawn spacecraft approaches Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, a series of weird, reflective bright spots have started to shrink as they resolve into clearer focus, but they haven't become any less odd and inexplicable.

http://www.cnet.com/news/dwarf-planet-ceres-bright-spots-shrink-but-stay-strange-on-approach/

[roamer65]

18. ...or an alien "Motel 6".

They're leaving the light on for us.

[Binkie The Clown]

19. It's either a glitter bomb, or

a vast, untapped vein of talcum powder.

[shenmue]

20. I say hair salon

[Codeine]

21. Not much smaller than a womp-rat.

Bullseye those all the time from my T16.

[KatyMan]

42. Win! :) n/t

n/t

[A HERETIC I AM]

23. Just a little mining operation.

No worries. Sean Connery is there to sort it out



These green houses are what is making the reflection

[Rex]

27. Shoddy cloaking device, probably made in sweatshops on the Sun.

That's what you get when you buy parts from Andromeda.

[Baclava]

48. yeah, well they better stop messing around with our stuff

these worlds are ours!

[joshcryer]

28. They found my secret base.

[Baclava]

33. you can run, but you can't hide!

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/main/index.html

[Sheepshank]

38. OH my, that is totally cool n/t

[Baclava]

50. Even cooler - We're going to Europa!

NASA Mission to Europa Will Seek Conditions for Life



NASA's Europa spacecraft will use nine scientific instruments to assess the icy, ocean-harboring Jupiter moon's ability to support life, space agency officials announced today (May 26).

The Europa probe — which is scheduled to launch in the early to mid-2020s — will carry supersharp cameras, a heat detector, ice-penetrating radar and a variety of other gear that will shed light on the satellite's surface composition and the nature of its salty subsurface sea, among other things, NASA officials said.

http://www.space.com/29487-nasa-europa-mission-science.html

------------------------

So, we will attempt no landings?

[Eleanors38]

44. It seems there are several areas with a "brightness." The kicked-up theory seems

plausible, and would suggest there is a kind of half life to these phenomena; the brightest being the latest. It's possible there are elements or ice in asteroids striking this body which reflect or in someway glow, but then that stuff would show up on other celestial bodies. In either instance, the age of Ceres would seem critical. Maybe there is material in the body that has become old enough to do the equivalent of a local supernova.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

29. Elvis concert?

[Warren DeMontague]

30. Space Kittehs

[longship]

31. Hotblack Desiato and Disaster Area are holding a concert.

For those not clued in:
Hotblack Desiato

I recommend that we keep that space probe away from the nuclear weapon powered speaker systems. However, I understand the heavy metal rock fans on the Mars and Jupiter are all cheering.

[Exilednight]

34. Freepers are claiming that Obama made NASA build a safe to hide his birth certificate.

[randome]

35. It's an emblem of quality!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[rusty fender]

36. It's a Starbucks next to a Starbucks

[randome]

37. Ceres: destination of choice for Alzheimer patients.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Manifestor_of_Light]

40. The corner of West Gray and Shepherd in Houston!

The NE corner of West Gray and Shepherd in Houston has a Starbucks.
The SE corner of West Gray and Shepherd in Houston has a Starbucks.

They are both part of the River Oaks Shopping Center which is the oldest strip center with parking in the United States. It's Art Deco.
That makes it worthy of protection by the historical society, in Houston.

[FrodosPet]

51. It's the end of the Universe!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

53. The first one is in New York City.

I recognized the cube sculpture. Don't remember the name of the corner but I remember it.

[NuclearDem]

39. Shit, the Terrans are about to get cheesed hard.

What, not the right crowd for Starcraft multiplayer references?

[pinboy3niner]

41. Sorry, I'm only familiar with Multipass

A necessity for travel to Ceres.

[Baclava]

47. ha - I threw in a Mass Effect 3 endgame screen pic up above and nobody cared

and there's like, a dozen alien species there

[olddots]

45. Sheldon's new casino

[In_The_Wind]

46. Darn. Moonlight will never be the same again.