Dawn captured images of the dwarf planet on 10th of April 2015.
One explanation for the mysterious white spots - there are now two visible - is that Ceres actually has an
icy crust dulled by dust but where these spots are it has been exposed. It would seem unlikely that it was the result of volcanic activity.
It’s too early to say what they are,’ said Dr Marc Rayman, Dawn's mission director and chief engineer, ‘Some people have offered they might be ice, but I don’t consider that necessarily the most likely explanation.’
Dr Rayman favours a theory that they could be ‘salty deposits' from the asteroid's past.