What is the mysterious bright spot on Ceres? Nasa spots 'alien'

What is the mysterious bright spot on Ceres? Nasa spots 'alien' mark on dwarf planet as the Dawn probe edges closer to its target

• Alien mark can be clearly seen in the latest images Ceres as the Dawn probe prepares to enter its orbit
• One theory is that it is a frozen pool of ice at bottom of a crater which is clear enough to reflect sunlight
• Ceres dwarf planet orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter, and may have water gushing from its surface
• Latest image was taken on January 13 from a distance of 238,000 miles (383,000km) from the dwarf planet 

A mysterious white spot glowing on the surface of Ceres has baffled scientists, who are closing in on the dwarf planet.

The 'alien' mark can be clearly seen in the latest images of the icy world as the Dawn probe prepares itself for a rendezvous on March 6.

While Nasa has not provided an explanation, scientists suggest it may be a frozen pool of ice at the bottom of a crater that reflects light.

'We can confirm that it is something on Ceres that reflects more sunlight, but what that is remains a mystery,' Marc Rayman, mission director and chief engineer for the Dawn mission, told Space.com 

Over the next weeks, Dawn will provide increasingly sharper images of the icy world, leading up to the spacecraft's capture into orbit around Ceres. 

'We know so much about the solar system and yet so little about dwarf planet Ceres. Now, Dawn is ready to change that,' Rayman added.

This most recent images from Dawn showing the white blotch were taken January 13 at a distance of 238,000 miles (383,000 km).

While these latest images from Dawn aren’t quite as sharp as Hubble’s images from January 2004, Nasa says they will be very soon, and could help resolve the mystery.