Deposits of bright, salt-rich minerals speckle the surface of Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, in this image from the Dawn spacecraft. Dawn’s observations show that Ceres has more water than any body in the inner solar system besides Earth. It has an abundance of organic compounds, which are the chemical building blocks of life. And it should be warm enough below the surface to sustain microscopic life. [NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Justin Cowart]
Find out more in our radio program entitled Ceres.