Planet Ceres is an 'ocean world' with sea water beneath surface, mission finds

Re:Planet Ceres is an 'ocean world' with sea water beneath s... by smithza on Monday August 10, 2020 @06:51PM (#24115036)

What of the lack of atmosphere and lack of active mantle/core? Solar energy has little chance of staying within the system.

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Re:Planet Ceres is an 'ocean world' with sea water beneath s... by Symmetry on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @06:23AM (#24118890)

The potential lack of vulcanic and geological activity now is a big problem. For the first 700 millions years life on Earth depended on chemosynthesis and that's where the energy for that comes from. Presumably there could have been more active geology far in the past, though, possibly implying life that died out.

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Re:Planet Ceres is an 'ocean world' with sea water beneath s... by bjo590 on Monday August 10, 2020 @07:28PM (#24115424)

Isn't surface temperature a good proxy value of the amount of energy inside the system?

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Re:Planet Ceres is an 'ocean world' with sea water beneath s... by jayparth on Monday August 10, 2020 @07:36PM (#24115503)

Well not necessarily. The Martian equator can get as hot as 18C. It doesn't retain the heat (due to no atmosphere) and it gets cold like even a few centimeters off of the surface.

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Re:Planet Ceres is an 'ocean world' with sea water beneath s... by bjo590 on Monday August 10, 2020 @07:42PM (#24115547)

Wow, I learned something new and can now think about the world more closely to how it really is. Thank you.

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Re:Planet Ceres is an 'ocean world' with sea water beneath s... by jayparth on Friday August 14, 2020 @12:21PM (#24159872)

Your comment made me smile :)

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