Ceres: An ‘Ocean World’ in the Asteroid belt between Mars, Jupiter

As per the latest findings, scientists have announced that Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars is an ‘Ocean World’ which has a big reservoir of salty water under its frigid surface.

The new discovery has raised interest in the dwarf planet where there can be a possible outpost of life. Findings have also confirmed the subsurface of the brine reservoir, which is a salt enriched water, remains of a subsurface ocean. It has also been freezing gradually.

Research which was published on August 10, which is based on the data obtained by NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft, has provided a new understanding of Ceres. It also includes evidence which indicates that it remains geologically active with cryovolcanism- volcanoes oozing icy material.

Finding of Ceres as an ‘Ocean World’:

As per the Planetary Scientists and Dawn Principal Investigator, Carol Raymond, the new finding elevates Ceres to ‘ocean world’ status, while also noting that this category does not require the ocean to be global.

Raymond further adds that in the case of Ceres, it is known that the liquid reservoir is a regional scale but it is not sure whether it is global. However, what matters the most is that there is liquid on a large scale.

Julie Castillo, Planetary Scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory also commented on the new discovery and added that there is a major interest at this stage, in quantifying the habitability potential of the deep brine reservoir, especially considering that it is cold and is also getting quite rich in salts.

Details of ‘Ocean World’ on Ceres:

The latest research which was published in the Journals Nature Astronomy, Nature Geoscience and Nature Communications, explains that the liquid which has been concluded by the scientists, originated in a brine reservoir hundreds of miles (Km) wide lurking about 25 miles below the surface, with the impact which created fractures allowing the salty water to escape.

Other Solar system bodies beyond Earth where subsurface oceans have been known or have appeared to exist include Saturn’s moon Enceladus, Jupiter’s moon Europa, dwarf planet Pluto and Neptune’s moon Triton. As water is considered a key ingredient of life, scientists also aim at assessing whether Ceres was ever habitable by the microbial life.

The research was obtained by NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft which has flown as close as 22 miles (35 km) from the surface of Ceres in 2018.

About Ceres:

Ceres has a diameter of about 590 miles (950 km) and for the research, scientists focused on the 57- mile- wide (92 km wide) Occator Crater which was formed by an impact about 22 million years ago in Ceres’s Northern Hemisphere.

Ceres also has two bright areas- salt crusts which were left by liquid that percolated up to the surface and evaporated.