5 ms·
It's fantastic to see the continuing discovery of more than "dead cold rocks" out in the solar system. I'm still feeling stunned about Pluto a year later. Ceres
by Latteland 8y ago
It's fantastic to see the continuing discovery of more than "dead cold rocks" out in the solar system. I'm still feeling stunned about Pluto a year later. Ceres looks interesting (shiny sodium carbonate, and it's apparently not aliens :-)), and it still feels like an ion drive is a sci fi idea, instead it is real.
As someone with not much planetary science exposure, what is the explanation why these other smaller bodies in the solar system like Ceres seem to have more interesting variation and more carbon, possible volatiles, than the moon?
- Reactionary_ 8y agoIf I had to guess, it's because the moon was formed from a molten ball of Earth material while other moons in the solar system were formed from the same accretive processes that formed the planets.
- Latteland 8y agoThe Earth has a lot of water which is postulated to have come from comets, I believe. The moon must have been struck by some of the same comets and didn't have a enough gravity to maybe hold onto the water and I don't think it had a magnetic field so solarwinds strip the water away but still, Ceres has water or at least organic materials, ie carbon.
- _verandaguy 8y ago>I'm still feeling stunned about Pluto a year later Unless there's been some new developments, New Horizons had its Pluto flyby three years ago :)
- Latteland 8y agoHa, time passes fast.
- BurningFrog 8y agoStill less than a Pluto year.
- perl4ever 8y agoHowever long it's been, I can't wait for the Ultima Thule flyby.
- greglindahl 8y agoCeres is -73C during the daytime. Our moon is +100C during the daytime.
- Groxx 8y agoI'll guess at least some of it is that smaller bodies will have less dust blanketing the surface (just because there's less gravity to cause it to accumulate / impacts eject much more).
- sandworm101 8y ago>> Ceres seem to have more interesting variation and more carbon, possible volatiles, than the moon? Current theory is that the moon was the result of a collision with earth. It is similar to earth because it was once part of earth. It formed under similar conditions to earth, its differences largely do to the reduced gravity and lack of plate tectonics. Planets far away form under different conditions and are therefore more different than the moon.
- HeadsUpHigh 8y ago>and it still feels like an ion drive is a sci fi idea, instead it is real. It's real but it's slooooow. I mean yea, they do get much higher velocities but it takes a very long time( and thus are incapable of launching from a gravity well).