They still don't know, but they're getting closer

I mentioned in my recent post on Enceladus that we still don't know what the bright white spots on Ceres are.

Well, you didn't expect NASA to give up, did you?

I just checked, and they've just released a new high-resolution picture of Occator Crater, where the white spots are located (the biggest ones, anyway).

And the Dawn probe has just lighted its ion engine to start spiraling down to its low altitude mapping orbit, which it will reach in mid-December.  I'm not sure if we'll see much until then.  Maybe then, finally, we can find out what they're made of, one of the great remaining mysteries of planetary astronomy (obviously there are others, like if there was ever life on Mars).  But we'll probably find out what the white spots are made of long before we find out if there was ever even a chance of life on Mars.

I'm still going with ice, predicted back in April.


Here's the article with the new picture:
Dawn Heads Toward Final Orbit