Ceres, The Closest Dwarf Planet In Our Solar System To The Sun, May Have Originated Right In The Asteroid Belt
There are five known dwarf planets in our solar system. One of them is named Ceres, after the Roman goddess of corn, agriculture, and harvests. Ceres is the closest dwarf planet to the sun. It has a diameter of over 620 miles and is located in the asteroid belt.
For a long time, it has been unclear whether Ceres formed in the asteroid belt or traveled inward from the edge of the solar system. Now, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen, Germany, has found ammonium-rich deposits in the Consus crater.
The data was collected by NASA’s Dawn space probe several years ago. The findings have revealed a lot about Ceres’ origin. The dwarf planet stands out from all the others in the asteroid belt.
It is the largest planetary body between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It also has complex geographical features, such as those ammonium deposits that are widespread across its surface.
Some researchers think that frozen ammonium contributed to the formation of Ceres. But ammonium is only stable in the outer solar system, indicating that it originated far away from the asteroid belt. However, new discoveries from the Consus crater do not support this idea.
Between 2015 and 2018, NASA’s Dawn space probe studied Ceres up close. In multiple impact craters, whitish salt deposits were found. Deposits in the Consus crater suggested that ammonium-rich material rose up from the depths of Ceres to the dwarf planet’s surface due to volcanism.
More specifically, the researchers believe the deposits are leftover traces of a brine that made its way to the surface from a liquid layer between the mantle and crust.
The process would’ve taken billions of years. After analyzing the data from the Consus crater more thoroughly, the research team saw that the material was actually more yellowish in color.
Consus crater is located in Ceres’ southern hemisphere and has a diameter of almost 40 miles. It is not one of the largest impact craters on the dwarf planet. Images from Dawn’s camera system show that a crater wall rises above the crater floor.
Paopano – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
The crater wall has partially eroded inward and surrounds a smaller crater that takes up an area of about nine miles by seven miles.
It covers the eastern half of the Consus crater’s floor. The yellowish material is found on the edge of the smaller crater and slightly east of it. The yellowish material is rich in ammonium.
In the past, scientists thought that ammonium-rich minerals could only form through contact with ammonium ice at the solar system’s outer edge.
It evaporates quickly close to the sun. Therefore, Ceres must’ve formed at the edge of the solar system and moved to the asteroid belt.
However, the current study shows a connection between ammonium and salty deposits. The components of ammonium were likely already in the foundation of Ceres.
Gradually, it built up into a thick layer of brine that extended from the dwarf planet’s mantle to the crust.
Then, cryovolcanic activity caused the brine to rise. Over time, it seeped into Ceres’ crust, which absorbed the ammonium.
So, it is possible that Ceres originated right in the asteroid belt rather than at the outer edge of the solar system.
The study was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.
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