Scientists puzzled by mysterious ‘alien lights’ on dwarf planet Ceres

Strange lights seen shining from the Dwarf planet Ceres have left scientists baffled.

Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft captured images of the two strange lights while nearly 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers) from the surface of Ceres, which is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Andreas Nathues, lead investigator for the framing camera team at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen, Germany, said:

“The brightest spot continues to be too small to resolve with our camera, but despite its size it is brighter than anything else on Ceres. This is truly unexpected and still a mystery to us.”

As Dawn orbits the dwarf planet over the next six months, scientists hope to gain a better understanding on its origin and evolution, and these perplexing bright spots should come into sharper focus.

Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission, based at the University of California, Los Angeles, said:

“Ceres’ bright spot can now be seen to have a companion of lesser brightness, but apparently in the same basin. This may be pointing to a volcano-like origin of the spots, but we will have to wait for better resolution before we can make such geologic interpretations.”