Cosmic water witching: Scientists discover water on Ceres

Discovery of water confirms a hypothesis and will serve as a guide for future planning.

Cosmic water witching. That's one way to think of the search for water on distant bodies in the Solar System. New research now confirms the dwarf planet Ceres has water stored as ice on the surface, with a great deal more likely beneath the surface. The discovery is important because it confirms that our models are accurate. This will speed the development of plans for human exploration and habitation of the cosmos.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- In 1989, scientists hypothesized that the dwarf planet Ceres would have water ice on its surface and below the surface. Their model predicted where the ice could be found. The model also suggested the ice could last 4.5 billion years below the surface. That timeframe is important, our solar system is about 5 billion years old.

Ceres is a dwarf planet, although some know it as a very large asteroid. Ceres is spherical in shape, like a planet, and it is quite large by comparison to most asteroids. It has a diameter of 590 miles across, and orbits between Mars and Jupiter. It is the smallest dwarf planet, and it has no known moons.

Recently, the asteroid was visited by the Dawn spacecraft, which went into orbit on March 6, 2015. Dawn will remain in orbit around Ceres perpetually.

The Dawn spacecraft has identified regions on Ceres that are very bright, an indicator of ice. Spectral analysis of the light has confirmed the presence of water ice in just the place the 1989 hypothesis predicted.

At high latitudes on Ceres, water ice can be found at the surface, and it is strongly believed that it also exists below the surface.

The discovery is important. It confirms that the current model for water on these bodies is accurate. It serves as a guide, telling future explorers where they can expect to find water.

Water is an important compound since all life as we know it requires water to exist. Humans need it for drinking. Plants need it to grow. Nothing we know of can survive without water.  If humanity is to explore the universe, we will need to find water wherever we go, just as a thirsty traveler crossing the desert must do.

Fortunately, water is abundant in the universe, but we will still need to find where it exists in sufficiently abundant quantities to make exploration and settlement practical.

Thanks to a thirty-year -old model, the Dawn mission, and Ceres, we now have a guide for where to look.

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