Tag: Ceres
-
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft marks one year at dwarf planet Ceres
Eight and a half years after its launch from Florida, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft celebrated its one year anniversary at the dwarf planet Ceres on Sunday. The craft’s anniversary follows its investigations at the protoplanet Vesta in the asteroid belt and an ongoing series of discoveries regarding Ceres, the closest dwarf planet to Earth. Dawn –…
-
Dawn’s latest close-ups should shed more light on Ceres’ mysterious bright spots
This image of Ceres’ Kupalo Crater was captured by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft from a height of about 240 miles on Dec. 21. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA) For years, scientists puzzled over the bright spots that shine like alien headlights from the surface of Ceres, a dwarf planet in…
-
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,…
-
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,…
-
Ceres as you’ve never seen it before: NASA’s Dawn orbiter delivers closest close-ups of dwarf planet
This Dec. 10 image of Ceres shows the area around a crater chain called Gerber Catena,. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft was flying about 240 miles above Ceres when the picture was taken. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA). Earlier this month we started seeing some of the closest views yet of…
-
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.…
-
Those mysterious bright spots on Ceres? Probably salty ice, scientists say
This color-coded representation of Ceres’ Occator Crater shows differences in surface composition, highlight bright patches inside the crater. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA) For months, scientists have puzzled over weirdly bright spots of material shining on the asteroid Ceres, but now they say the spots are probably made of salty…
-
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…
-
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,…
-
Dwarf planet Ceres’ puzzling ‘pyramid’ mountain gets close-up from NASA’s Dawn probe
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 (6 kilometers) high. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA) NASA’s mission to that other dwarf planet, Ceres, has delivered a fresh…