# 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:** 2
**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, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/21 "2015-01-22T20:57:53Z")
Especially on a matter of such gravity. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/22 "2015-01-22T21:11:56Z")
The CNN article says some expect ice, water vapor, or even an ocean. An ocean on a 600 mile diameter planetoid? ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/23 "2015-01-22T22:04:15Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Perhaps if the Aliens took Liberace, rather than Dr. David Bowman? šŸ˜ƒ I imagine the movie score would be a little differentā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/24 "2015-01-22T23:02:55Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The CNN article says some expect ice, water vapor, or even an ocean. An ocean on a 600 mile diameter planetoid? More like a layer under an ice crust, if Iā€™m reading things properly. ---
**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 23, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/25 "2015-01-23T18:33:01Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Whatā€™s Demeter with that? > [@DrDeth](#): > > Canā€™t you guys be Sirius just once? > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Especially on a matter of such gravity. This does not [Bode](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/70959/Bodes-law) well. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/26 "2015-01-23T18:48:37Z")
> [@FUTBOL!](#): > > This does not [Bode](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/70959/Bodes-law) well. You [plotted](nasopharyngeal cancer) that pun. If \*you \*can stretch, _I_ can stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/27 "2015-01-23T20:43:36Z")
> [@FUTBOL!](#): > > O > > 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 artistā€™s impression. > > * * * > > - Methane sludge deposits? IIRC. Mid July, on my momā€™s birthday, as it happens, is when New Horizons makes its closest flyby to Pluto, but I think NASA have said there would be decent photos. ---
**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 23, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/28 "2015-01-23T20:51:25Z")
> [@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 ā€œmurderā€ us with related bad puns Cereal killers? I owe you a _cerveza_. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/29 "2015-01-24T11:34:11Z")
These puns are chapping my ass to 'roid rage intensity. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/30 "2015-01-24T12:06:53Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The CNN article says some expect ice, water vapor, or even an ocean. An ocean on a 600 mile diameter planetoid? The Sea of Cerenity? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/31 "2015-01-24T13:30:24Z")
I guess I should Google the math, but it does seem possible for something that small to hold water. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/32 "2015-01-24T14:17:55Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I guess I should Google the math, but it does seem possible for something that small to hold water. The idea is it accretes as cometary ice during initial formation, and then melts under pressure below the thin crust. Iā€™d imagine it unlikely to last in that such a small body would lose its heat quickly. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/33 "2015-01-24T14:19:39Z")
If itā€™s a lake, then it better be named after some Astronaut, not some Italian astronomer nobody outside IAU has heard off. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/34 "2015-01-24T14:24:43Z")
> [@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/), ā€œyou could escape Diemos with a bike and a rampā€. Just for understandings sake, 510 m/s is about Mach 1.5 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/35 "2015-01-24T15:01:40Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > If itā€™s a lake, then it better be named after some Astronaut, not some Italian astronomer nobody outside IAU has heard off. Lake Armstrong. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/36 "2015-01-24T17:59:57Z")
Or as another comparison I think many in this thread will be familiar with, escape velocity for the Mun is 807 m/s, and for Minmus is 243 m/s. And since weā€™re in MPSIMS, and Iā€™ve been on an extended wiki-wander this morning, behold the [Marquardt Space Sled](http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/050328-F-1234P-016.jpg). Sadly I canā€™t find any hard data about it. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2015, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/37 "2015-03-07T05:16:50Z")
Dawn has now established orbit around Ceres: [NASA 'exhilarated' as Dawn orbits mini-planet Ceres](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/03/06/ceres-dawn-spacecraft-nasa/24485279/) ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/38 "2015-03-07T23:02:09Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Dawn has now established orbit around Ceres: [NASA 'exhilarated' as Dawn orbits mini-planet Ceres](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/03/06/ceres-dawn-spacecraft-nasa/24485279/) I absolutely love this quote from your link: ā€œCeres reached out and tenderly took the newcomer from Earth into its permanent gravitational embrace.ā€ Love it. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/39 "2015-03-07T23:11:28Z")
> [@Twoflower](#): > > [XKCD](http://xkcd.com/1476/) has it covered ā€¦ I was thinking more of _[The Order of the Stick](http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots.html)_, those bright spots looks like the place [The Monster in the Darkness](http://www.threatormenace.com/2013/02/28/what-is-the-monster-in-the-darkness/) is residing. > **[NASA's Dawn Probe Reaches Ceres, First Probe to Orbit a Dwarf Planet](http://www.universityherald.com/articles/16530/20150306/nasas-dawn-probe-reaches-ceres-first-probe-to-orbit-a-dwarf-planet.htm)** > > NASA has confirmed its Dawn spacecraft has reached Ceres and is orbiting the dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388/40 "2015-03-07T23:49:37Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Lake Armstrong. > > šŸ™‚ I can see it now, Neil Armstrong stepping out onto an ice lake. ā€œOne small step for a man, oneā€¦_OOOOOOOPS!_ā€ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closer-look-at-ceres/710388.md?page=3)