Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Creation Moment 3/31/2016 - Ceres YOUTH

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,
Hebrews 11:3
"The latest high-resolution images from asteroid Ceres show “mysteries” including surprisingly young features. A year in orbit, the Dawn spacecraft has reached an orbital elevation above Ceres closer than the International Space Station is to Earth. Those puzzling bright spots in Occator Crater are now coming into sharp focus.

"Scientists think the bright spots are deposits of epsom salts (magnesium sulphate), the trace remains of briny water-ice that at one time became exposed on the surface,” the BBC News says. “With no atmosphere on the dwarf planet, the water content would have rapidly vaporised, leaving only the magnesium sulphate spots.”

But there’s a problem. Space.com says, But Occator is about 80 million years old, and bright material should not have lasted nearly that long on the surface, researchers said.” Deputy principal investigator Carol Raymond remarked in a press conference on March 22, “It’s hard to keep things bright on a planetary surface over time.”

Another crater named Oxo shows evidence of water ice that should long be gone. New Scientist reports: Seeing water ice anywhere on Ceres is a surprise as the surface is generally warm enough that any ice should evaporate into space. That means it must have been exposed recently, said Jean-Philippe Combe of the Bear Fight Institute in Winthrop, Washington. “This area is possibly a cold trap where H20-rich materials could be preserved for at least some time,” he said. But 4.5 billion years? If the salt deposits at Occator cannot last 80 million years, much less should water ice persist for even a fraction of that time. The ice appears to be exposed, not locked in hydrated minerals." CEH