Salty source of Ceres’ mysterious bright spots found

Ammonia from farther out in solar system hints at dwarf planet’s origins

Occator crater on Ceres

SALT SPOTS  Occator crater on Ceres displays a variety of compositions in this false color image from the Dawn spacecraft. The bright spots are salt patches from an exposed subsurface briny ice layer.

JPL-Caltech/NASA, UCLA, MPS, DLR, IDA

Bright patches of salt on the dwarf planet Ceres hint at a subsurface layer of briny water ice.