NASA’s Dawn spacecraft flew by the dwarf planet Ceres this week. Located between Mars and Jupiter,  Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt.

Dawn took some stunning pictures.  NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory made an animation from the images:

Then ZLD zeroed in on the bright spots so we could get a good look:

Scientists are still trying to figure out what’s causing the bright spots … theories being floated are ice, salt, etc.

What do you think the bright spots are: Ice? Salt? Alien disco party? Death Star being powered up?

Update: The new flyby images are making scientists lean towards plain old water ice (as opposed to nastier frozen substances which have been found on other planets).