THE RECENT RESULTS FROM THE DAWN MISSION SUGGESTED THAT CERES IS AN AQUEOUSLY ALTERED CRYOVOLCANIC WORLD MAYBE AN OCEAN WORLD THAT IS SIMILAR TO SOME OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM ICY SATELLITES IN GEOLOGY GEOPHYSICS GEOCHEMISTRY AND MINERALOGY. THREE GEOLOGICALLY YOUNG FEATURES NAMELY OCCATOR CRATER (AND THE CEREALIA AND VINALIA FACULAE INSIDE IT) AHUNA MONS AND HAULANI CRATER ARE IDENTIFIED TO HAVE HIGH SCIENTIFIC VALUES TO UNDERSTANDING ENDOGENIC PROCESSES SUCH AS CRYOVOLCANISM ON CERES. THEY ALL PRESERVE THE CRYOVOLCANIC AND IMPACT SIGNATURES HOST SEVERAL TYPES OF ICE-RELATED LANDFORMS AND HAVE GOOD DATA COVERAGE AND THE HIGHEST RESOLUTION DAWN IMAGES. THIS PROPOSAL WILL CHARACTERIZE THE SPECTRAL LIGHT-SCATTERING PROPERTIES OF THOSE THREE REGIONS AIMING TO BETTER UNDERSTANDING THE CRYOVOLCANIC CRYOMAGMATIC AND DIAPIRIC PROCESSES ON CERES.

Planetary Science Institute, Tucson AZ

Investigators