Scientists discover a mystery on Ceres - is it an asteroid, or an imposter?

Ceres is rich in water ice, suggesting it has moved between the planets.

While the world was aflame with anger over the demotion of Pluto in 2006 from planet to dwarf planet, another object was quietly being promoted. The asteroid Ceres, by far the largest asteroid in the Solar System, became a dwarf planet, the same as Pluto. Now, a new mystery has emerged suggesting astronomers have a lot more to learn about Ceres.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - Ceres is a dwarf planet, and not an asteroid, although it looks and seems like an asteroid. It is much larger than any other known asteroid, it is round like a planet, and now there is new information to suggest like all imposters, the truth lies beneath its surface.

Recently, Ceres was studied using a high-flying telescope called SOFIA. SOFIA stands for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, and it is an eight-foot-wide telescope carried into the sky by a special NASA 747 airliner.

SOFIA can study the light reflecting off a distant object in space and tell what it's made of. Those observations revealed an unusual substance on the surface of Ceres, anhydrous pyroxene dust. This dust is caused by asteroid impacts and then mixed with water and other elements more common at the edge of the Solar System. The dust coats Ceres, giving it the appearance of an asteroid. However, underneath the dust is the surface of a proper dwarf planet. The crust is rich in other minerals common in the outer Solar System. Water-ice is common on Ceres.

The conclusion reached by NASA scientists is that Ceres may have formed at the edge of the Solar System as a dwarf planet, and not between Jupiter and Mars as an asteroid.

Astronomers now know that the bodies in the Solar System may have changed places in the past with the entire orbits of planets shifting, particularly as the system formed.

Because Ceres is so small, it is the smallest of the dwarf planets; it could easily have been shuffled between the planets until settling down in the generous gap between Mars and Jupiter.

Scientists are planning future missions to explore Ceres in detail, and those missions may solve the mystery.

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