Sequence of the sublimation process on Ceres
Sequence of the sublimation process on Ceres
This schematic illustration shows how the sublimation process of surface dust mixed with ice on Ceres appears in the simulation with analogue material in the experiment. In each of the spherical ice particles produced experimentally, layered silicate platelets formed connections between the water ice crystals. After sublimation of the ice, the disappearance of the ice crystals left cavities that interconnected a highly porous network of phyllosilicate filaments. In some cases, the ice-free structure retained the spherical shapes of the original ice particles. More often, however, the ice spheres fragmented into a disordered, foam-like structure of platelets and filaments.
