Asteroid Ceres Is Young

The bright spots on Ceres formed recently, say scientists, and activity could be going on today.

It’s been two years since the Dawn spacecraft ended its orbital reconnaissance of Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt, and mission scientists at Jet Propulsion Lab are finally announcing today, “News: Mystery Solved: Bright Areas on Ceres Come from Salty Water Below.” Accompanying the article are stunning new close-up images of Occator Crater with its bright spots.

To see why this is a problem for those believing the solar system is 4.5 billion Darwin Years old, look at these quotes in the article:

• The research not only confirmed that the bright regions are young – some less than 2 million years old; it also found that the geologic activity driving these deposits could be ongoing.

• On Ceres’ surface, salts bearing water quickly dehydrate, within hundreds of years. But Dawn’s measurements show they still have water, so the fluids must have reached the surface very recently.

• “The impact heat subsided after a few million years; however, the impact also created large fractures that could reach the deep, long-lived reservoir, allowing brine to continue percolating to the surface.”

• Active Geology: Recent and Unusual

• In our solar system, icy geologic activity happens mainly on icy moons, where it is driven by their gravitational interactions with their planets. But that’s not the case with the movement of brines to the surface of Ceres, suggesting that other large ice-rich bodies that are not moons could also be active.

Ceres bright spots (faculae) in Occator Crater

The scientists claim that the crater was excavated 20 million Darwin Years ago, but that is only inferred from assumptions about crater geology. Even so, that represents a tiny, tiny fraction of the assumed age of the solar system. And that’s just for the formation of the crater; what about geological activity that could be ongoing today?

Secular scientists will never bring the ages down to recent periods, because Darwin needs the time. Sorry. The solar system is filled with young objects, like Pluto, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Enceladus, Miranda, Triton, Titan, the Earth, and just about everything under the sun.

It’s much easier to put upper limits on ages of planetary objects than lower limits. These upper limits rule out the kind of time the Darwinians need. Billions of years is a secular myth that scientists cannot and will not let go of.

For such a small object to be active is remarkable.