Vote now! What do YOU think the bright spots on Ceres are?

Monday, April 27, 2015, 5:14 PM - There's a mystery on the dwarf planet Ceres - several bright spots, including two of exceptional brightness, dot the surface. What could these bright spots be?

Ice? Water geysers? Cryovolcanoes? Alien bases? 

When NASA's Dawn spacecraft approached the dwarf planet Ceres earlier this year, images revealed two exceptionally bright spots on its surface, nestled in a large impact crater.

Credit: NASA/JPL

In the mean time, as Dawn pulled a U-turn in space, swinging around the dark side of Ceres towards the first of a series of close orbits, it's been nearly two months of waiting. However, the most we have so far is just the fact that there are more (though dimmer) bright spots, scattered around the surface of the dwarf planet, and another tantalizing glimpse at these spots from afar.

There's still no clear front-runner idea for what these could be, though.

We're apparently going to be waiting until at least the 1st of May before the results from Dawn's first science orbits are released. The closer look we get, from just 13,500 km above the surface, will certainly give us a better idea, at the very least.

Until then, though, the mission team is interested in hearing what we have to say on the subject.

What do you think? Are they geysers, like on Europa and Enceladus (and what would that imply about a sub-surface ocean)? Are they ice deposits, perhaps exposed by an impact? Are they volcanoes, rocks or salt deposits? Or are they something completely different (aliens)?

Click or tap the image below to visit NASA's Dawn mission website and cast your vote. Please be advised that the NASA JPL website has been having issues today. If it's down, keep trying!

Source: NASA/JPL