Dwarf planet Ceres’ bright spots captured by NASA Dawn probe

NASA has released the most detailed pictures yet of the mysterious “alien lights” on dwarf planet Ceres which continue to mystify scientists.

NASA’s Dawn mission has captured a sequence of images of dwarf planet Ceres which showcases a group of bright spots which continue to mystify scientists.

The images, taken on May 16 from a distance of 7,200 kilometres, show two rough circle-shaped spots within the much larger crater.

NASA announced the release of the image with the following tweet:

My closest image yet of the bright spots on #Ceres, taken from 4,500 miles away http://t.co/gVH1AnrTJ5 pic.twitter.com/lHNGfVk5T4

— NASA's Dawn Mission (@NASA_Dawn) May 20, 2015

“Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice,” Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission from the University of California, Los Angeles, said recently.

Dawn arrived at Ceres on March 6, marking the first time a spacecraft has orbited a dwarf planet.

A dwarf planet is a planetary-mass object that is neither a planet nor a natural satellite.

Previously, the spacecraft explored giant asteroid Vesta for 14 months from 2011 to 2012.

Dawn’s goal is to characterise the conditions and processes of its earliest history by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formation.

Ceres and Vesta reside in the main asteroid belt, the extensive region between Mars and Jupiter, along with many other smaller bodies.

Giant asteroid ... The asteroid Vesta photographed by the Dawn spacecraft on July 17, 2011. Pic: AP Photo/NASA/JPL

Each followed a very different evolutionary path, constrained by the diversity of processes that operated during the first few million years of solar system evolution.

Dawn has the distinction of being the only spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial targets.

The spacecraft has been using its ion propulsion system to manoeuvre to its second mapping orbit at Ceres, which it will reach on June 6.

The spacecraft will remain at a distance of 4,400 kilometres from the dwarf planet until June 30. Afterward, it will make its way to lower orbits.