Holy Clickbait Batman! Changes in the bright spot might be a plume of volatile chemicals, and Ceres was water. Thus, there might be life on Ceres! Where is my Jump to Conclusions mat?
Shame about the title, it's not really about that. The mystery is compelling enough and it's worth a quick read. There's no suggestion that the bright spots are evidence for life. Instead, they may be an indication that Ceres is geologically active and the variation may be due to the presence of volatile compounds. Both of those things together, with Ceres's hypothesized water content, may make it a place where some of the necessary precursors for terrestrial life exist.
Ceres has a lot of interesting features: the hexagonal craters, the big mountain sitting next to a big hole, the smooth and reflective mountain and crater walls... Is Ceres a giant crystal?
I don't know, probably not, unless it somehow managed to cool unusually slowly after it formed. But it seems like every planetary body has some extreme differentiation from the others, so maybe?
More seriously this has been the second coolest space thing in recent times (the first coolest being the Pluto flyby). It is so annoying that we can't just go out there with all the tools we can think of, land there, and have a look around.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 40.8 ms ] threadhttp://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/10/a-planet-made...
Maybe they know when they are being watched?
More seriously this has been the second coolest space thing in recent times (the first coolest being the Pluto flyby). It is so annoying that we can't just go out there with all the tools we can think of, land there, and have a look around.
Can we tell if the light is generated or reflected?