The dark material found on the protoplanet Vesta contains the mineral serpentine - and must therefore be of exogenic origin.
The Numisia crater just south of Vesta’s equator has a diameter of 30 kilometers. Images obtained by the camera system on board NASA’s spacecraft Dawn with the clear filter (left) show dark material in the crater walls and in the material ejected during impact. The camera system’s color filters can filter individual wavelengths from the reflected light and thus make further variations in the surface composition visible (right). In data like this the researchers found the characteristic fingerprints of the mineral serpentine.
The Numisia crater just south of Vesta’s equator has a diameter of 30 kilometers. Images obtained by the camera system on board NASA’s spacecraft Dawn with the clear filter (left) show dark material in the crater walls and in the material ejected during impact. The camera system’s color filters can filter individual wavelengths from the reflected light and thus make further variations in the surface composition visible (right). In data like this the researchers found the characteristic fingerprints of the mineral serpentine.
To apply, please use our web service. If you visit this website for the first time you have to register at our online system. Otherwise please login with your username and password.
Application deadline 1 October 2023. PhD projects in planetary science, solar and stellar physics, solar magnetism, heliophysics, helioseismology, asteroseismology, ...
The Sun’s planets and small objects have undergone substantial evolution. Deciphering the history of our cosmic home is not a simple task even though we now have access to a multitude of data gathered by space missions, remote observations, and laboratory studies of diverse samples. A significant fraction of materials available for the study of planetary bodies come from meteorites.
Application deadline 1 November 2022. PhD projects in planetary science, solar and stellar physics, solar magnetism, heliophysics, helioseismology, asteroseismology, ...
Data from NASA's Dawn mission, analyzed for the first time, suggest that brine rose from the depths and organic compounds were deposited in Urvara crater.