Tag: Ceres
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NASA publishes tantalizing close-ups of dwarf planet Ceres
This image from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft shows Kupalo Crater, one of the youngest craters on Ceres. The crater has bright material exposed on its rim and walls, which could be salts. Its flat floor likely formed from impact melt and debris. Kupalo, which measures 16 miles (26 kilometers) across and is located at southern mid-latitudes,…
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NASA publishes tantalizing close-ups of dwarf planet Ceres
This image from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft shows Kupalo Crater, one of the youngest craters on Ceres. The crater has bright material exposed on its rim and walls, which could be salts. Its flat floor likely formed from impact melt and debris. Kupalo, which measures 16 miles (26 kilometers) across and is located at southern mid-latitudes,…
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With widespread salts and ices, Ceres in a class of its own
The dwarf planet Ceres turns out to be a world with untold wonders, with vivid bright spots likely made of dried mineral salts and hazes apparently triggered by daytime heating, drawing a comparison to comets and strikingly differentiating it from neighboring bodies in the asteroid belt, according to the latest results from NASA’s Dawn mission.…
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Dawn spacecraft moves in for a close-up of Ceres
This mosaic shows Ceres’ Occator crater and surrounding terrain from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers), as seen by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Occator is about 60 miles (90 kilometers) across and 2 miles (4 kilometers) deep. Occator is home to the brightest area on Ceres, which tends to appear overexposed in most images. This…
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Dawn gets better look at bright spots on Ceres
This image taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, shows Occator crater on Ceres, home to a collection of intriguing bright spots. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, nearly halfway through its exploration of the dwarf planet Ceres, has returned its best images yet of a mysterious grouping of bright spots inside a crater on the Texas-sized world,…
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Bright blobs on Ceres ready for their close-up
Dawn’s framing camera captured this image of the brightest spots on Ceres on June 6. The resolution is 1,400 feet (410 meters) per pixel. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA NASA’s Dawn spacecraft got its first glimpse of mysterious bright spots on the dwarf planet Ceres on final approach early this year, and scientists Thursday released the sharpest view…
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Dawn enters new orbit closer to Ceres
Dawn captured this view of Ceres on May 7 from a distance of 8,400 miles, or 13,600 kilometers. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA NASA’s Dawn asteroid explorer has arrived at its new perch 2,700 miles from the dwarf planet Ceres, a vantage point scientists say will yield better views as the probe continues to step closer to the…
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Skating rinks on Ceres? Ice could be source of bright spots
This animation shows a sequence of images taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on May 4, 2015, from a distance of 8,400 miles (13,600 kilometers), in its RC3 mapping orbit. The image resolution is 0.8 mile (1.3 kilometers) per pixel. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Scientists studying fresh pictures from NASA’s Dawn mission say gleaming dots seen on the…
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Dawn arrives for the first exploration of a dwarf planet
Ceres is seen from the Dawn spacecraft on March 1 at a distance of about 30,000 miles. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA NASA’s Dawn spacecraft slipped into orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres on Friday, ready to examine the largest unexplored world in the inner solar system after traveling 3.1 billion miles from Earth. The gravitational tug of…
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NASA probe closes in on dwarf planet Ceres
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS “SPACE PLACE” & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of the Dawn spacecraft on approach to Ceres. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is closing in on the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, beaming back increasingly sharp pictures revealing a heavily cratered world with unexpected…