Starship Asterisk*

Credit: ESO/P. Vernazza et al./MISTRAL algorithm (ONERA/CNRS)

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Astronomers using ESO’s SPHERE instrument at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) have revealed that the asteroid Hygiea could be classified as a dwarf planet. The object is the fourth largest in the asteroid belt after Ceres, Vesta and Pallas. For the first time, astronomers have observed Hygiea in sufficiently high resolution to study its surface and determine its shape and size. They found that Hygiea is spherical, potentially taking the crown from Ceres as the smallest dwarf planet in the Solar System.

As an object in the main asteroid belt, Hygiea satisfies right away three of the four requirements to be classified as a dwarf planet: it orbits around the Sun, it is not a moon and, unlike a planet, it has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit. The final requirement is that it has enough mass for its own gravity to pull it into a roughly spherical shape. This is what VLT observations have now revealed about Hygiea. ...

The team also used the SPHERE observations to constrain Hygiea’s size, putting its diameter at just over 430 km. Pluto, the most famous of dwarf planets, has a diameter close to 2400 km, while Ceres is close to 950 km in size.

Surprisingly, the observations also revealed that Hygiea lacks the very large impact crater that scientists expected to see on its surface ...

• Nature Astronomy (online 28 Oct 2019) DOI: 10.1038/s41550-019-0915-8 (pdf)

bystander wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2019 5:09 pm ESO Telescope Reveals What Could be the
Smallest Dwarf Planet Yet in the Solar System
ESO Science Release | VLT | SPHERE | 2019 Oct 28

Credit: ESO/P. Vernazza et al./MISTRAL algorithm (ONERA/CNRS)

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Astronomers using ESO’s SPHERE instrument at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) have revealed that the asteroid Hygiea could be classified as a dwarf planet. The object is the fourth largest in the asteroid belt after Ceres, Vesta and Pallas. For the first time, astronomers have observed Hygiea in sufficiently high resolution to study its surface and determine its shape and size. They found that Hygiea is spherical, potentially taking the crown from Ceres as the smallest dwarf planet in the Solar System...Surprisingly, the observations also revealed that Hygiea lacks the very large impact crater that scientists expected to see on its surface ...

Hygiea, heal thyself

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygieia wrote:

Cross section of dwarf planet Hygiea

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<<In Greek as well as Roman mythology, Hygieia (also Hygiea or Hygeia; Ancient Greek: Ὑγιεία or Ὑγεία, Latin: Hygēa or Hygīa), was one of the Aeclepiadae; the sons and daughters of the god of medicine, Asclepius, and the goddess of healing, Epione. She was the goddess/personification of health (Greek: ὑγίεια - hugieia), cleanliness and hygiene.

Hygieia as well as her four sisters each performed a facet of Apollo's Art: Hygieia ("Hygiene" the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness, and sanitation); Panacea (the goddess of Universal remedy); Iaso (the goddess of recuperation from illness); Aceso (the goddess of the healing process); and Aglaïa (the goddess of beauty, splendor, glory, magnificence, and adornment).

Hygieia also played an important part in her father's cult. While her father was more directly associated with healing, she was associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health. Her name is the source of the word "hygiene".>>

Ann wrote: ↑Tue Oct 29, 2019 3:56 am
The caption "Cross section of dwarf planet Hygeia" was funny, Art!

neufer wrote: ↑Tue Oct 29, 2019 1:43 pm

Ann wrote: ↑Tue Oct 29, 2019 3:56 am
The caption "Cross section of dwarf planet Hygeia" was funny, Art!

Sadly, there is little chance of finding microbial life in the interior ocean.