Il 19 febbraio una sonda della NASA ha fotografato due punti luminosi su Cerere, il maggiore degli asteroidi.
Secondo gli esperti, potrebbe trattarsi del segnale di una attività vulcanica sul corpo celeste, la cui orbita si situa tra Marte e Giove. E’ comunque un fatto inatteso che rilancia l’interesse per la missione Dawn, avviata nel 2007 che ha il compito di fotografare la superficie di Cerere e Vesta (altro asteroide).
Cerere ha un diametro di 950 km e fu scoperto dall’astronomo italiano Piazzi nel 1801. Non è visibile a occhio nudo essendo di magnitudine +6.7.
ats/mas
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