dawn-sends-sharper-scenes-from-cereshttps://www.astronomy.com/science/dawn-sends-sharper-scenes-from-ceres/Dawn sends sharper scenes from Ceres | Astronomy.comDawn’s closest views yet of Ceres show the small world's features in unprecedented detail, including Ceres' tall conical mountain, crater formation features, and narrow braided fractures.https://www.astronomy.com/uploads/2021/09/ConicalmountainonCeres.jpgInStockUSD1.001.00robotic-spaceflightsolar-systemarticleASY2023-05-182015-08-2537586
The spacecraft's view is now three times as sharp as in its previous mapping orbit, revealing exciting new details of this intriguing dwarf planet.
By NASA |
Published: August 25, 2015 | Last updated on May 18, 2023
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft spotted this tall conical mountain on Ceres from a distance of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers). The mountain, located in the southern hemisphere, stands 4 miles (6km) high. Its perimeter is sharply defined with almost no accumulated debris at the base of the brightly streaked slope with bright streaks.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
The closest views yet of Ceres, delivered by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, show the small world’s features in unprecedented detail, including Ceres’ tall conical mountain, crater formation features, and narrow braided fractures.
“Dawn is performing flawlessly in this new orbit as it conducts its ambitious exploration. The spacecraft’s view is now three times as sharp as in its previous mapping orbit, revealing exciting new details of this intriguing dwarf planet,” said Marc Rayman from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft took this image that shows a mountain ridge, near lower left, that lies in the center of Urvara crater on Ceres.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
At its current orbital altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers), Dawn takes 11 days to capture and return images of Ceres’ whole surface. Each 11-day cycle consists of 14 orbits. Over the next two months, the spacecraft will map the entirety of Ceres six times.
The spacecraft is using its framing camera to extensively map the surface, enabling 3-D modeling. Every image from this orbit has a resolution of 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel and covers less than 1 percent of the surface of Ceres.
At the same time, Dawn’s visible and infrared mapping spectrometer is collecting data that will give scientists a better understanding of the minerals found on Ceres’ surface.
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft took this image of Gaue crater, the large crater on the bottom, on Ceres. Gaue is a Germanic goddess to whom offerings are made in harvesting rye.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Engineers and scientists will also refine their measurements of Ceres’ gravity field, which will help mission planners in designing Dawn’s next orbit — its lowest — as well as the journey to get there. In late October, Dawn will begin spiraling toward this final orbit, which will be at an altitude of 230 miles (375km).
Dawn is the first mission to visit a dwarf planet and the first to orbit two distinct solar system targets. It orbited protoplanet Vesta for 14 months in 2011 and 2012 and arrived at Ceres on March 6, 2015.
