Intrepid Explorers...

I was recently researching the eradication of the dinosaurs, generally believed to be caused by a comet which struck the Earth,triggering a Hollywood style apocalypse of tsunamis, earthquakes and dust clouds obscuring the sun.
My research led me to realise that there have officially been five periods of extinction in our history, including one called 'The Great Dying' which I thought was a good name for such a sad event. Apparently in  the 'Great Dying' it was mostly bivalves and the like , so that's not too bad, is it ?
I mean , they're not really sentient beings are they ?
Just molluscs really.
Lower life forms are always harder to identify with...

Which brings me to wondering
Are we lower life forms ?

Is there superior life at large in our solar system ?

Yes, full on speculation here, given the ongoing strangeness that is Ceres -
Does anyone remember the bright spots in the craters of that strange little world ?

The spacecraft Dawn is now in orbit
and keeps teasing us with close up, but not quite detailed photographs.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

It's enough to make anyone reach for the tin - foil helmet.
Seriously though, are they just delaying the inevitable ?
Are they desperately trying to avoid showing us something ?
Personally I think it has the hallmarks of  'Oops, someone else beat us to it. '

Discarded heat shield of 'Opportunity' on Mars.

Perhaps Ceres has vast quantities of an as yet undiscovered rare metal, and we're seeing a mining colony.

Then there is the three mile high mountain.
It stands out because it is alone in its mountain-ness.
Leftover heaps of detritus from excavation ?

Mountain near top right

Better quality images of Ceres can be found here.


Leaving Ceres aside for a moment, what of Pluto ?
As we close in, it also gets stranger.
Apparently it has an atmosphere- and methane has been detected.
Another recent discovery, thanks to increasingly detailed images are the four equidistant blobs on Pluto , each one estimated to be some 300 miles in diameter.

Please forgive me as I lapse into pure speculation...

                

The definition is still too vague, but the sense of mystery is almost palpable.

It's only a matter of days before New Horizons does the flypast thing.
The first ever flypast of Pluto.
I'm excited for many reasons.

It almost makes me proud to wear a tin-foil helmet.
But now, sadly , it's time for splashdown...

return in a Soyuz capsule...