Bright spots on Ceres

[6] Arizona State University scientists have proposed that the bright spots are best explained as resulting from briny water erupted from Ceres's interior that subsequently sublimated, leaving behind only the salt deposits.

[8][9][10][11] In August 2020, NASA confirmed that Ceres was a water-rich body with a deep reservoir of brine that percolated to the surface in various locations causing the "bright spots", including those in Occator crater.

[24] An informal NASA poll during May offered the following ideas for the nature of the spots:[25] ice, volcanos, geysers, salt deposits, rock, or other.

[26] Asteroid specialist A. Rivkin noted, in an article by Sky & Telescope magazine, that at low angles a haze can be seen in but not outside of the crater, and speculated that this could be sublimated vapor from ice, possibly linked to the bright spots.

[28] Further analysis of Dawn's low-altitude data indicates two sources: melting of crustal ices by impact, and a deeper brine reservoir (of sodium carbonate and/or ammonium chloride[29]),[30] near or in the mantle.