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Scientists studying the surface features of the dwarf planet Ceres
are proposing a new theory for its geologic history.
One problem facing NASA investigators is the absence of exceptionally large,
so-called impact basins from collisions which planetary scientists believe
must have occurred over the dwarf planet's supposedly ancient geologic age.
Rather than considering that these giant impacts may have simply never happened;
the investigators are proposing that mysterious processes have smoothed the surface of Ceres,
erasing its largest craters over time.
The phys.org report describes the failure of collision models
to predict what scientists have actually found.
It states, "The team's simulations of collisions with Ceres
predicted that it should have 10 to 15 craters larger than 250 miles in diameter
and at least 40 craters larger than 60 miles wide.
In reality however, Dawn found that Ceres has only 16 craters larger than 60 miles,
and none larger than the 177-mile Kerwan Basin."
The solution the team is proposing is that theoretical ice in Ceres' crust
has caused the topography of large impact craters to weaken and relax over time,
smoothing the features to the point that they disappear.
Dawn scientist David Williams also suggests that internal heat
from the decay of radioactive elements may have also played
a role in erasing the hypothetical giant impact basins.
But is this another example of space scientists today simply performing
patchwork on existing theory, rather than exploring new pathways of discovery?
Scientists have also proposed resurfacing of the planet Venus
due to its lack of expected, so called impact craters.
Paradoxically, some bodies in the solar system including the Saturnian moon Tethys,
the Martian moon Phobos and the asteroid Vesta, show craters so enormous
that they probably should have shattered the bodies if they were caused by impacts.
Indeed, like virtually every other rocky body image to date,
Ceres poses major challenges to standard geology
and to the consensus history of our Solar System.
The surface of Ceres is carpeted with varieties of weird craters,
including an abundance of hexagonal craters such as those also seen on Mars,
Mercury and the Saturnian moons - Mimas and Dione.
We also see an abundance of bullseye craters
which are craters with central interior craters
as well as craters with central peaks and chains of craters.
Nor is the extreme circularity of craters on Ceres a new mystery for planetary scientists.
In the 20th century, investigations into our own Moon
caused many adjustments to the theory of impact cratering
since the more than 90% of circular craters on the Moon
demand that the objects strike vertically.
A similar puzzle is seen on Ceres.
As one commenter noted to the Thunderbolts project, far too many of the Ceres craters are,
"90 degrees axial to the center of the body. As if every single so-called object impact
was vectored exactly towards the nucleus leaving no sideswiping impacts.
Let's see the math that speaks to such a probability.
This image displays the evidence of a globalized dynamic process."
It's also unlikely that the dwarf planet has sufficient gravity to influence
the paths of incoming objects at speed sufficient to cause such circular cratering.
But as described in previous episodes,
electric arcs always strike the surface from directly above.
In the Electric Universe theory, most if not all of the massive cratering seen on Ceres
occurred when the dwarf planet was electrically excavated from a larger planetary body.
Consider the side by side comparison of the surface of Ceres on the right
and an image of anode cratering in an electrical discharge machining process on the left.
Like the supposedly disappearing giant impact basins on Ceres,
Dawn scientists imagine that special conditions under the visible surface of Ceres
are the cause of the dwarf planet's numerous hexagonal craters.
They have theorised that colliding bodies have perfectly struck
underground faults and cracks to form the unique cratering pattern.
A process that has also been proposed for hexagonal features on other planets and moons.
In the Thunderbolts article "Picture of the Day", managing editor Steve Smith questions this logic.
He writes, "How can the detonation of a colliding rock cause a hexagonal crater?
No experiment has been able to demonstrate a polygonal shape
left behind after an explosive event.
Explosions do not aggregate into stable configurations;
they induce chaotic behavior that leaves little in the way of identifiable forms".
"To propose that it is pre-existing stress patterns is to say that straight-edged,
underground faults and cracks are everywhere,
and in just the right arrangements for square,
pentagonal or hexagonal formations to result from explosive impacts".
But the ideal analogs for planetary craters may be found in electrical discharge experiments.
Electrically scarred worlds like Ceres
defy the standard story of our Solar System's formation and history,
and can offer new paths of discovery
for a better understanding of our electric universe.
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