Honolulu, Hawaii, June 3-8, 2018

Abstract deadline: January 19

http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2018/

Since 2015, the Dawn spacecraft has orbited Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt, and has returned a wealth of data. This session aims to summarize and synthesize our current understanding of Ceres, and welcomes submissions that study Ceres through a variety of techniques, including Dawn and telescopic data analyses, modeling studies, analog studies, and laboratory investigations. Ceres is weakly differentiated into a rocky and comparatively dense interior and a more water-ice-rich outer layer. Water ice facilitates the formation of particular types of lobate flows and is likely located in some polar permanently shadowed craters. Phyllosilicates are homogeneously distributed across the surface, indicating global scale alteration, possibly in an ancient ocean. Organic materials have also been detected on the surface. Occator crater contains distinctly bright regions, called faculae, which are proposed to be the solid residues of brines sourced in the subsurface. Ahuna Mons is a ~4 km high edifice interpreted as a recently formed viscous cryovolcanic dome.

We look forward to seeing you in Honolulu!

Jennifer Scully
Wing-Huen Ip
Jian-Yang Li
Norbert Schorghofer