New study shows the crust of the closest dwarf planet to Earth consists of 90% water ice. Photo

The dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Previously, scientists assumed that its crust was 30% frozen water.

However, a new study shows that this it is actually more than 90% water ice. Using data from the Dawn spacecraft, scientists have discovered that Ceres was once a kind of ocean world that froze, ScienceAlert writes.

According to experts, Ceres is the closest dwarf planet to Earth and the only dwarf planet in the Solar System that is not located beyond the orbit of Neptune. The diameter of this tiny planet is 950 km, which is more than 2 times smaller than that of the more famous dwarf planet Pluto.

Researchers say that Ceres is covered with numerous craters. They assume that it hides cryovolcanoes, which push liquid ice to the surface rather than magma.

Previously, scientists believed that Ceres' crust consisted of only 30% water ice. However, thanks to the data from the Dawn spacecraft orbiting Ceres, scientists learned that the crust of this planet is actually more than 90% water ice.

The study shows that the ice on Ceres is much stronger than expected because it has impurities from muddy core. This fact allowed the ice crust to remain almost unchanged for billions of years.

The authors of the study say that Ceres has not just water ice, but dirty ice, which in the past formed an ocean. That is, this planet once had an ocean that contained various impurities. Therefore, the ocean was not completely liquid. However, when it froze, it formed an icy crust with a small amount of rocky material.

If Ceres' crust consists of more than 90% water ice, this makes it possible to better understand some of the ice-covered ocean worlds in the Solar System, scientists say. We are talking about some of the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus.

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