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3h ago

Study Pinpoints Early Window When Ceres’ Ocean Had Sustained Chemical Energy

New models point to radioactive heating driving hydrothermal fluids to supply chemical energy to an early ocean.

Image
This illustration depicts the interior of Ceres, including the transfer of water and gases from the rocky core to a reservoir of salty water; carbon dioxide and methane are among the molecules carrying chemical energy beneath Ceres’ surface. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Overview

  • Published in Science Advances on Aug. 20, the study led by Sam Courville uses Dawn mission data to model Ceres’ interior evolution.
  • Radioactive decay in the rocky core likely drove hot, gas-rich fluids upward, delivering molecules such as carbon dioxide and methane to a subsurface ocean.
  • The modeling identifies a likely habitable interval roughly 0.5 to 2 billion years after Ceres formed, about 2.5 to 4 billion years ago.
  • Dawn previously revealed surface salts from upwelling brines and evidence of organic carbon, providing observational context for the new mechanism.
  • Ceres shows no evidence of life and is now too cold for a stable ocean, and researchers emphasize that confirming the chemistry will require in-situ sampling, which no mission has yet performed.