Recent signs detected from the dwarf planet Ceres raised the possibility of the celestial body's capacities to hold life, even our own.
Using the Herschel infrared space telescope of the European Space Agency, researchers have confirmed that minor-planet designation 1 Ceres, the largest asteroid and the only small planet within the inner Solar System, has water when water vapors were spotted gushing from the surface of Ceres, said a Reuters report.
The Independent said this was a timely discovery. The Dawn spacecraft of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration is scheduled to arrive in just over a year to inspect Ceres upfront, said the news agency.
Research team leader Michael Küppers of the European Space Agency in Spain said in a statement, "This is the first time water vapor has been unequivocally detected on Ceres or any other object in the asteroid belt and provides proof that Ceres has an icy surface and an atmosphere."
The Telegraph explained that the rare phenomenon happened as the sun heated up the icy surface of the dwarf planet, which size is less than a third of the moon's and is the same size as the United Kingdom. From high-powered telescopes from Earth, scientists and researchers deduced that the icy surface of Ceres had warmed up as it orbits closer to the Sun, which caused it to release plumes of steam of roughly 13 pounds per second. The British newspaper also said that the steam came off from the two dark spots on Ceres' surface.
The Dawn mission, which was launched in 2007, will help researchers and scientists test whether the dawrf planet has the capacities to form and host life.
When asked by Reuters whether Ceres could form and hold life, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory team member and chief engineer and mission director of the Dawn mission Marc Rayman said it is too early to tell on the basis that water is a critical element to breed new life.
He told the news agency over the phone, "Certainly all life that we know depends on water. And so this is part of the larger question of where can life exist. I think that's a stretch," Rayman said. "Rather, I would say this indicates Ceres might be a good place to look to understand more about the places life could form - and perhaps places that life has formed. There's a lot more than just water that's required for life. And whether Ceres has those other ingredients - which include, for example, a source of energy and all of the nutrients that life requires, the rest of the chemistry - it's too early to say."