Occator (crater)

Further information: Bright spots on Ceres § Spot 5
Occator

Occator imaged by Dawn from LAMO. Fractures are associated with the bright spots and some other areas.
Location Ceres
Coordinates 19°52′N 238°51′E / 19.86°N 238.85°E / 19.86; 238.85[1][2]Coordinates: 19°52′N 238°51′E / 19.86°N 238.85°E / 19.86; 238.85[1][2]
Diameter 92 kilometres (57 mi)
Depth 4 km
Naming After Occator, a helper God of Ceres

Occator /ɒˈkeɪtər/ is an impact crater located on Ceres that contains "Spot 5", the brightest of the bright spots observed by the Dawn spacecraft. It was known as "Region A" in ground-based images taken by the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea.[3]

The crater was named after Occator, the Roman god of the harrow and a helper to Ceres.[1][2]

On 9 December 2015, scientists reported that the bright spots on Ceres, including those in Occator crater, may be related to a type of salt, particularly a form of brine containing magnesium sulfate hexahydrite (MgSO4·6H2O); the spots were also found to be associated with ammonia-rich clays.[4]

Views

"Spot 5" in Occator - close-up (enhanced color; LAMO; February 2016)
Center of Occator - context (enhanced color; LAMO; February 2016)

Animations

Ceres flyover animations
Surface features exaggerated
(simulated; 01:15; 8 June 2015)[5]
Focus on Occator crater
(false colors; 01:12; 9 December 2015)
Flight over dwarf planet Ceres
(color; 03:43; 29 January 2016)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Staff (6 July 2015). "Planetary Names: Crater, craters: Occator on Ceres". USGS. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Staff (13 July 2015). "USGS: Ceres nomenclature" (PDF). USGS. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  3. ↑ Kupper; et al. (22 January 2014). "PIA17831: Water Detection on Ceres". NASA. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  4. ↑ Landau, Elizabeth (9 December 2015). "New Clues to Ceres' Bright Spots and Origins". NASA. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  5. ↑ Landau, Elizabeth; Dyches, Preston (8 June 2015). "Fly Over Ceres in New Video". NASA. Retrieved 9 June 2015.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, March 24, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.