Relict Ocean Worlds: Ceres

The aim of this chapter is to describe available evidence for the existence of relict ocean worlds. The focus is on Ceres as a clear example of such a world as indicated by the results from the Dawn mission. The sections of this chapter will also reflect the differences and commonalities with other...

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Published inSpace science reviews Vol. 216; no. 4
Main Authors De Sanctis, Maria Cristina, Mitri, Giuseppe, Castillo-Rogez, Julie, House, Christopher H., Marchi, Simome, Raymond, Carol A., Sekine, Yasuhito
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2020
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Aerospace Technology and Astronautics
Astrophysics and Astroparticles
Dwarf planets
Icy satellites
Moisture content
Ocean Worlds
Oceans
Outer solar system
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Planetology
Solar system
Space Exploration and Astronautics
Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics
Water content
Ceres
Exocean worlds
dwarf planets
Astrobiology
asteroids, icy satellites
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Summary:The aim of this chapter is to describe available evidence for the existence of relict ocean worlds. The focus is on Ceres as a clear example of such a world as indicated by the results from the Dawn mission. The sections of this chapter will also reflect the differences and commonalities with other recognized ocean worlds. We focus on Ceres as an example of relict ocean world and the implications it holds for the broader solar system. The presence of a large amount of water in the outer Solar System, the presence of low eutectic salts, and the similar pressure and temperature regimes at depth in icy moons and other dwarf planets suggest that many of these large icy worlds harbor or harbored deep oceans. Ceres is an example of relict Ocean world.
ISSN:0038-6308
1572-9672
DOI:10.1007/s11214-020-00683-w