July 1, 2016

Occator Crater seen from above and in a perspective view that shows the highest amount of carbonates in red (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/ASI/INAF)

An article published in the journal “Nature” describes a new research on the famous white spots in the dwarf planet Ceres’ Occator Crater. According to a team led by Maria Cristina De Sanctis, INAF – IAPS, the most abundant mineral is sodium carbonate. It’s a surprising result because that’s a salt that on Earth is abundant in hydrothermal sources and this raises the possibility of the presence of liquid water in Ceres underground.