--- title: Ceres: NASA Wants You to Guess the Cause of Mysterious Bright Spots description: NASA has asked the public to vote for the likeliest cause of mysterious bright spots on the surface of Ceres canonical: https://time.com/3837917/nasa-ceres-bright-spots/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-28T12:27:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:04.617Z article:section: Science og:title: NASA Wants You to Guess the Cause of Mysterious Bright Spots on a Dwarf Planet og:description: Ice? Geysers? Volcanos? og:url: https://time.com/3837917/nasa-ceres-bright-spots/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8aee29d0a4ec585c/6987ed28524fc0ff1fdf073d/ceres-nasa.jpg?branch=production&width=844&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 844 og:image:height: 475 og:image:alt: ceres-nasa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NASA Wants You to Guess the Cause of Mysterious Bright Spots on a Dwarf Planet twitter:description: Ice? Geysers? Volcanos? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8aee29d0a4ec585c/6987ed28524fc0ff1fdf073d/ceres-nasa.jpg?branch=production&width=844&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NASA Wants You to Guess the Cause of Mysterious Bright Spots on a Dwarf Planet > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=d2ee87d6-4fb7-455d-a801-3780be1a0498&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How to Hunt for New Earths [Watch (HLS stream): How to Hunt for New Earths](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HM12kMGN.m3u8) (5:05)  _Published 2013-04-18. At the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawai'i, planet hunters focus their powerful telescope to search for earth-like exoplanets._  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Apr 28, 2015 12:27 PM UTC  NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Apr 28, 2015 12:27 PM UTC NASA has asked the public to vote on the likeliest cause of mysterious bright spots on the surface of Ceres, a dwarf planet that it recently captured in mystifying photographs. The space agency first captured images of Ceres after the Dawn spacecraft entered its orbit in March. Ceres is the largest body, measuring 590 miles across, in an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. “Even before the spacecraft arrived at the dwarf planet, images revealed mysterious bright spots that captivated scientists and observers alike,” NASA [wrote](http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/dawn/world%5Fceres/#) on a website asking the public to vote on natural causes, ranging from ice to volcanoes to salt deposits. ### PHOTOS: This Astronaut's Images of Earth Look Like Beautiful Abstract Paintings  "Harsh land. Windswept valleys in northern #Africa"—Alexander Gerst via Twitter on July 6, 2014 Alexander Gerst—ESA  "Land use in South Africa, you can see where water is."—Alexander Gerst via Twitter on July 9, 2014. Alexander Gerst—ESA  "Irrigation in the #Sahara #Desert looks like a challenging task from up here... #BlueDot"—Alexander Gerst via Twitter on July 28, 2014 Alexander Gerst—ESA  "An open history book of our planet: the #Sahara Desert"—Alexander Gerst via Twitter on July 26, 2014 Alexander Gerst—ESA  "An open history book of our planet: the # Sahara Desert"—Alexander Gerst via Twitter on July 26, 2014 Alexander Gerst—ESA/SIPA USA  "Close-up of gigantic Salar of Uyuni in Bolivia. You can even see the salt fields and the 'Cactus Island'."—Alexander Gerst via Twitter on July 15, 2014. Alexander Gerst—ESA  "The #Moon was still behind the horizon. A #FataMorgana of atmospherical refraction #BlueDot"—Alexander Gerst via Twitter on July 14, 2014 Alexander Gerst—ESA/SIPA USA  "When I took this photo, I was sure these are clouds. But now I'm not so sure... #BlueDot"—Alexander Gerst via Twitter on July 7, 2014 Alexander Gerst—ESA  "Probably a river in Kazakhstan or slightly west of it."—Alexander Gerst via Twitter on July 29, 2014 Alexander Gerst—ESA/SIPA USA  "An open history book of our planet: the #Sahara Desert"—Alexander Gerst via Twitter on July 26, 2014 Alexander Gerst—ESA  "Human-made fires in East Africa. Can you spot them?"—Alexander Gerst via Twitter on July 9, 2014 Alexander Gerst—ESA ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] They [00:04] are among the most fundamental questions [00:06] astronomers ask. Are there other planets like Earth in [00:09] the Universe? Is there life elsewhere? Are we alone? [00:14] The [ UNKNOWN ] is the, is the astronomer's dream [00:16] place. You find yourself next to the best and biggest [00:20] telescopes on Earth. It's a magnificent feeling and at [00:24] the same time very humbling. [ UNKNOWN ] is an [00:26] associate astronomer at the University of Hawaii's [00:29] Institute for Astronomy. He is also, a planet hunter. [00:33] Being an astronomer is not a nine to five job, it's a [00:36] lifestyle. You got into this business because you are [00:39] interested into solving some mystery of the universe. [00:42] And the universe has so many mysteries and some of [00:45] them are so deep that you cannot just worry about it 9 [00:49] to 5. It becomes an obsession, it occupies your head [00:51] and it never goes away. Nader has an amazing job [00:54] description, specializing in celestial mechanics, and [00:58] planetary dynamics. Because planet hunters from the [01:02] beginning were looking for something similar to our [01:04] solar system. They were focusing their search on [01:09] finding planets around other stars, and when they [01:12] found those planets, to separate them from our solar [01:16] system, they call it Extraplanet around solar type of [01:20] stars, and then develop into extrasolar planets. Like [01:24] Earth, if an extrasolar planet orbits within a certain [01:27] distance from its star, that zone is called the habitable [01:31] zone. The reason that we are interested to find [01:33] Earth- like planets in the habitable zone, is because [01:36] we are interested in finding planets that are habitable [01:40] like our Earth. We determine whether the planet exists [01:42] or not, and what is the distance to the center of the [01:45] star. And the amount of radiation that it gets, whether [01:47] that is enough for the planet to develop liquid waters [01:51] on its surface. Of course, the goal in future is to [01:54] identify, to look at this candidates and to identify the [01:58] bio signatures to see whether they have. [ MUSIC ] [02:00] Oxygen in the atmospheres. Whether they have land, [02:03] whether they have water. Whether there's ozone in the [02:07] atmospheres. And and any signature of life that can [02:10] exist whether there is veg, vegetation. I identify those. [02:13] Currently, there are 861 confirmed extra- solar [02:17] planets. But finding these planets is not easy. For every [02:20] observation, it takes two groups of people in two [02:24] different locations on the island. One team is at the [02:27] Keck headquarters in Waimea, and the other, at the [02:30] Keck telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea. It might [02:33] be imagined that we go up to the summit and that we [02:36] sit behind telescopes look through the eyepiece and [02:39] find the planet. Basically it doesn't work that way. We [02:41] don't go to the summit, we go to Keck headquarters in [02:45] Wimea. A very nice place. We sit in an observer [02:50] room and we are in continuous contact with support [02:53] astronomers with actually the summit, and runs the [02:57] telescope for us. But what I have to say is that it's not [02:59] like you put the telescope towards the star and then [03:01] you say, " Oh wow, I found a planet ." The finding is [03:05] actually when we process the data. Then we get to a [03:07] point after many years of accumulating data, when we [03:09] get to a point that we see our models have converged [03:12] into some sort of finding or discovery that is reliable, [03:15] that is when we have discovered something. When [03:17] preparing for an observation, astronomers calculate [03:20] which stars will be visible at that time of year. They [03:24] make sure to gather data on as many stars as [03:26] possible, in the allotted time. More than half of the [03:30] currently known extra solar planets have been found [03:33] using the Kec telescopes. Telescopes don't stop. They [03:37] work all year long. as, as soon as the sun goes [03:41] down and until the sun comes up, 365 days a [03:45] year. And all the crew and all the observers. All [03:49] together work to make all those astonishing [03:52] discoveries. Big telescopes measure incredibly tiny [03:56] amounts of light from space. But with atmospheric [03:59] interference, computer and mechanical error, it can [04:02] take as many as 30 observations and many years to [04:06] confirm the existence of an extra- solar planet. Keck is [04:09] the biggest fittable telescope in infrared and visible [04:15] in the world. Because of that, getting time on Keck is [04:19] extremely difficult and competitive. My program has [04:21] been getting something around 3 or 4 nights a year. [04:26] With over 2300 more planetary candidates to confirm, [04:29] astronomers will be busy in the future. But [04:32] [ UNKNOWN ] isn't deterred by the work that lies [04:34] ahead. You find yourself being attracted to that type of [04:38] lifestyle. Being able to carry one or two puzzle for rest [04:42] of your life. Deal with it, try to solve that. And then, [04:45] when you solve it, or you contribute to a solution. Then [04:48] you satisfy of your work. That's why I'm in this [04:50] business. [ LAUGH ] I've been doing this for. Almost 30 [04:53] years. [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3837917/nasa-ceres-bright-spots/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3837917/nasa-ceres-bright-spots/"},"headline":"NASA Wants You to Guess the Cause of Mysterious Bright Spots on a Dwarf Planet","datePublished":"2015-04-28T12:27:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:41:04.617Z","description":"Ice? 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