Mauro Ciarniello

TL;DR: The VIRTIS instrument on board the Rosetta spacecraft has provided evidence of carbon-bearing compounds on the nucleus of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and no ice-rich patches are observed, indicating a generally dehydrated nature for the surface currently illuminated by the Sun.

TL;DR: Measurements of Ceres indicate widespread ammoniated phyllosilicates across the surface, but no detectable water ice, which suggests that material from the outer Solar System was incorporated into Ceres, either during its formation at great heliocentric distance or by incorporation of material transported into the main asteroid belt.

TL;DR: Spectra of these bright areas in the Occator crater on Ceres are consistent with a large amount of sodium carbonate, constituting the most concentrated known extraterrestrial occurrence of carbonate on kilometre-wide scales in the Solar System.

TL;DR: The widespread presence of these two types of minerals is a strong indication of a global and extensive aqueous alteration—i.e., the presence of water at some point in Ceres’ geological history.

TL;DR: Observations of water ice on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko are reported, appearing and disappearing in a cyclic pattern that follows local illumination conditions, providing a source of localized activity.