https://phys.org/news/2025-01-dwarf-planet-ceres-material-space.html
JANUARY 27, 2025
The organic material found in a few areas on
the surface of dwarf planet Ceres is probably
of exogenic origin. Impacting asteroids from
the outer asteroid belt may have brought it
with them.
In the journal AGU Advances, a group of
researchers led by the Max Planck Institute
for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany
presents the most comprehensive analysis to
date of this mysterious material and its
geological context. To this end, the team
has, for the first time, used artificial
intelligence to analyze observational data
from NASA's Dawn spacecraft.
According to the study, the dwarf planet's
unique cryovolcanism, in which salty brine
rises from the body's interior to the
surface, is not responsible for the organic
deposits discovered so far. These new
findings help to understand where and how
habitable conditions could have arisen in
the solar system.
...In recent years, researchers have found
such molecules at great distances from the
sun: on trans-Neptunian objects, comets,
and far-away asteroids.
...
Unfortunately, remote data is not sufficient
to identify individual types of molecules
beyond doubt. However, it is certain that
the discovered deposits consist of organic
compounds that have a chain-like structure.
Researchers refer to such molecules as
aliphatic hydrocarbons.
...
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