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Asteroid Ceres is a former ocean world that slowly formed into a giant, murky icy orb
A crater-rich dwarf planet named Ceres located in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter was long thought to be a celestial being composed of a materials mixture not dominated by water ice. Researchers at Purdue University used data from NASA’s Dawn mission to show that Ceres’ crust could be over 90% ice. This discovery that Ceres has a dirty ice crust is led by Ian Pamerleau, PhD student, and Mike Sori, assistant professor of Purdue University’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) published their findings in Nature Astronomy.
NASA Mars Rover Spots Surprising ‘Zebra Rock’ Unlike Any Other
FORBES — Mars fans have been abuzz since NASA’s Perseverance rover spotted an extraordinary rock on Sept. 13. A raw image sent back by the rover shows a striped rock with dark and light features sitting on the dusty ground. No other known Mars rocks have looked quite like this “zebra rock.” Researchers are now offering possible explanations for the oddity. “The internet immediately lit up with speculation about what this ‘zebra rock’ might be, and we’ve enjoyed reading your theories,” wrote Athanasios Klidaras, a Perseverance team member and doctoral student at Purdue EAPS.
Michael Vermeuel is 2024 AGU James R. Holton Award Recipient
WEST LAFAYETTE — Michael Vermeuel has been named AGU's 2024 James R. Holton Award recipient. The James R. Holton Award is presented annually and recognizes outstanding scientific research and accomplishments from honorees within three years of receiving their Ph.D. This award serves to acknowledge exceptional contributions at an early stage of the awardee’s career.
Purdue seismologists use new technique to determine activity below the surface of an Alaskan volcano
WEST LAFAYETTE — Great Sitkin, a volcano located in Alaska, is helping researchers better understand the property changes beneath the surface during the eruption. Xiaotao Yang, assistant professor with Purdue EAPS, and recent MS graduate Cody Kupres used an emerging new technique using the seismic energy produced by ocean waves to measure subtle changes in the velocity of seismic waves propagating across the volcano below each seismic station on the island. They published their findings in The American Geophysical Union’s Geophysical Research Letters.
Unrelaxed craters muddy the waters of the dwarf planet Ceres
NATURE — Ceres’s surface is ice-rich and warm, so we expect craters to viscously flow. Yet most of Ceres’s craters are not shallow. A new model, created by Ian Pamerleau and Prof. Mike Sori of Purdue EAPS, that includes a stronger, progressively dirtier icy crust, frozen from an ancient ocean, may reconcile this discrepancy.
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