When
3:45 p.m., Sept. 30, 2014
Where
Kuiper Space Sciences 312
Dr. Mark Sykes
CEO & Director
Planetary Science Institute
Dawn at Vesta and Predictions for Ceres
Abstract:
The Dawn mission was proposed to study two "protoplanetary bodies" that formed under "dry" and "wet" conditions - Vesta and Ceres. Vesta was well known for being the source of HED meteorites (about 6% of the meteorites falling on the Earth today) and for its preserved basaltic crust. We expected to find evidence of ancient volcanic processes once we arrived and a surface nearly as old as the age of the solar system. Ceres was well-known as the first discovered asteroid - considered a planet at the time - now considered a planet again, albeit a dwarf planet. Its dark carbonaceous surface suggested a primitive composition, still water-rich. Hubble observations after the selection of the Dawn mission, revealed its hydrostatic equilibrium shape and evidence of its being differentiated into a rocky core and ice-rich mantle. Models were published suggesting Ceres could have a liquid water reservoirs beneath its surface today, with important astrobiological implications. Recent observations of episodic water vapor by Herschel raises the question of its source and whether it is linked to any subsurface reservoirs. I will review some of the surprising discoveries made by Dawn at Vesta and what may lie in wait for Dawn at Ceres.
Host: Rick Greenberg
CEO & Director
Planetary Science Institute
Dawn at Vesta and Predictions for Ceres
Abstract:
The Dawn mission was proposed to study two "protoplanetary bodies" that formed under "dry" and "wet" conditions - Vesta and Ceres. Vesta was well known for being the source of HED meteorites (about 6% of the meteorites falling on the Earth today) and for its preserved basaltic crust. We expected to find evidence of ancient volcanic processes once we arrived and a surface nearly as old as the age of the solar system. Ceres was well-known as the first discovered asteroid - considered a planet at the time - now considered a planet again, albeit a dwarf planet. Its dark carbonaceous surface suggested a primitive composition, still water-rich. Hubble observations after the selection of the Dawn mission, revealed its hydrostatic equilibrium shape and evidence of its being differentiated into a rocky core and ice-rich mantle. Models were published suggesting Ceres could have a liquid water reservoirs beneath its surface today, with important astrobiological implications. Recent observations of episodic water vapor by Herschel raises the question of its source and whether it is linked to any subsurface reservoirs. I will review some of the surprising discoveries made by Dawn at Vesta and what may lie in wait for Dawn at Ceres.
Host: Rick Greenberg
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