Evidence for Ammonium-Bearing Minerals on Ceres

Spectra obtained from recent telescopic observation of 1-Ceres and laboratory measurements and theoretical calculations of three component mixtures of Ceres analog material suggest that an ammoniated phyllosilicate is present on the surface of the asteroid, rather than H(2)O frost as had been previously reported. The presence of an ammoniated phyllosilicate, most likely ammoniated saponite, on the surface of Ceres implies that secondary temperatures could not have exceeded 400 kelvin.