# A closer look at Ceres **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 20, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388 "2015-01-20T16:03:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/1 "2015-01-20T16:03:17Z")
Pretty cool: [http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/20/living/dawn-ceres-new-images-feat/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/20/living/dawn-ceres-new-images-feat/index.html) Wow, the Wiki article on Ceres is already updated with the image!: [Ceres (dwarf planet) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(dwarf_planet)) And here’s more on the probe, Dawn (which, I’m told, Tony Orlando had nothing to do with): [Dawn (spacecraft) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_(spacecraft)) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/2 "2015-01-20T18:05:40Z")
Shouldn’t they have waited for October? That’s the traditional time for news stories about the world Ceres. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/3 "2015-01-21T01:06:24Z")
Out the airlock with you! ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/4 "2015-01-21T01:52:58Z")
I thought this was going to be about [Ceres, CA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres,_California). Ceres-ously - cool photo/story. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/5 "2015-01-21T02:11:17Z")
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day for today [APOD: 2015 January 20 - Approaching Asteroid Ceres](http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150120.html) is a movie of the approach. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/6 "2015-01-21T17:26:31Z")
Have they figured out what they white spot is yet? ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/7 "2015-01-21T17:29:52Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Have they figured out what they white spot is yet? [XKCD](http://xkcd.com/1476/) has it covered … ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/8 "2015-01-21T17:38:30Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Have they figured out what they white spot is yet? In **LSLGuy** ’s link, it sure looks like a crater. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/9 "2015-01-21T17:50:58Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Have they figured out what they white spot is yet? Oh, good grief! Has everybody already forgotten about the [monolith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey)? 😉 * * * I’m glad to see this thread. I’ve been looking almost everyday for a clearer image of Ceres. January 26th is supposed to be the key date of the flyby, right? Of course, a clearer image of Pluto is what I really long for. I gather we will have to wait until May for this one. We already have been gaining new general knowledge about the surface \* it seems, but when I checked out what I thought was an accurate image it was actually an artist’s impression. * * * - Methane sludge deposits? IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/10 "2015-01-21T17:59:59Z")
Hmm. Wiki says it has 0.029 surface gravity. Could you jump off it? ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/11 "2015-01-21T18:32:34Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Hmm. Wiki says it has 0.029 surface gravity. Could you jump off it? [Stack Exchange](http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/2741/could-a-human-reach-escape-velocity-by-jumping-from-the-surface-of-ceres-a-dwar) has this one. Escape velocity is 510 m/s, so nope. Going back to [XKCD](http://xkcd.com/681_large/), “you could escape Diemos with a bike and a ramp”. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/12 "2015-01-21T19:07:17Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Shouldn’t they have waited for October? > > That’s the traditional time for news stories about the world Ceres. Oh, the pain. The cereing, cereing pain. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/13 "2015-01-21T19:46:29Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > [Stack Exchange](http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/2741/could-a-human-reach-escape-velocity-by-jumping-from-the-surface-of-ceres-a-dwar) has this one. Escape velocity is 510 m/s, so nope. > > Going back to [XKCD](http://xkcd.com/681_large/), “you could escape Diemos with a bike and a ramp”. I good basketball played would be able to dunk 150 feet up there. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/14 "2015-01-21T20:25:34Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Oh, the pain. The cereing, cereing pain. At least now I have an idea as to where we can exile cereal offenders to. Some dwarf planets have a cereous problem with housing these people. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/15 "2015-01-21T21:04:48Z")
> [@FUTBOL!](#): > > Oh, good grief! Has everybody already forgotten about the [monolith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey)? Of course not, but this is a _white_ spot, not a black spot. Have there been any movies made about large white monoliths? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/16 "2015-01-22T05:13:43Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > [Stack Exchange](http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/2741/could-a-human-reach-escape-velocity-by-jumping-from-the-surface-of-ceres-a-dwar) has this one. Escape velocity is 510 m/s, so nope. > > Going back to [XKCD](http://xkcd.com/681_large/), “you could escape Diemos with a bike and a ramp”. Cool - thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/17 "2015-01-22T16:05:51Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Shouldn’t they have waited for October? > > That’s the traditional time for news stories about the world Ceres. > [@Finagle](#): > > Oh, the pain. The cereing, cereing pain. > [@robert\_columbia](#): > > At least now I have an idea as to where we can exile cereal offenders to. Some dwarf planets have a cereous problem with housing these people. Say, [this word](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cereal) is named after the Roman deity of agriculture, as is the planetoid. Can we therefore call those who “murder” us with related bad puns Cereal killers? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/18 "2015-01-22T16:09:18Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Of course not, but this is a _white_ spot, not a black spot. Have there been any movies made about large white monoliths? Perhaps if the Aliens took Liberace, rather than Dr. David Bowman? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/19 "2015-01-22T18:58:54Z")
> [@FUTBOL!](#): > > Say, [this word](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cereal) is named after the Roman deity of agriculture, as is the planetoid. Can we therefore call those who “murder” us with related bad puns Cereal killers? What’s Demeter with that? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/20 "2015-01-22T19:16:54Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > What’s Demeter with that? Can’t you guys be Sirius just once? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388.md?page=2)