Ceres' Bright Spots Seen in Striking New Detail🕳

The new up-close view of Occator crater from Dawn's current vantage point reveals better-defined shapes of the brightest, central spot and features on the crater floor. Because these spots are so much brighter than the rest of Ceres' surface, the Dawn team combined two different images into a single composite view -- one properly exposed for the bright spots, and one for the surrounding surface.
Dawn scientists note the rim of Occator crater is almost vertical in some places, where it rises steeply for 1 mile (nearly 2 km).
Views from Dawn's current orbit, taken at an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 km), have about three times better resolution than the images the spacecraft delivered from its previous orbit in June, and nearly 10 times better than in the spacecraft's first orbit at Ceres in April and May.

The spots have intrigued scientists and sent alien theorists into overdrive ever since Dawn first noticed them during its approach earlier this year.
Possible explanations for those Ceres spots range from exposed ice reflecting the sun to light emanating from an underground alien space station.

The image zooms in on the Occator crater, named for a Roman god who worked as an assistant to Ceres, goddess of agriculture. The crater contains the brightest of the spots found on the dwarf planet.