This image is one of several NASA’s Dawn spacecraft took on approach to Ceres on 4th February 2015 at a distance of about 90,000 miles (145,000 kilometres) from the dwarf planet. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDANASA’s Dawn spacecraft, on approach to dwarf planet Ceres, has acquired its latest and closest-yet snapshots of this mysterious world. The images of Ceres were taken on 4th February 2015 from a distance of about 90,000 miles (145,000 kilometres).
At a resolution of 8.5 miles (14 kilometres) per pixel, the pictures represent the sharpest images to date of Ceres.This animation showcases a series of images obtained with the Framing Camera of NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on approach to Ceres on 4th February 2015 at a distance of about 90,000 miles (145,000 kilometres) from the dwarf planet. The resolution is 8.5 miles (14 kilometers) per pixel. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDAAfter the spacecraft arrives and enters into orbit around the dwarf planet, it will study the intriguing world in great detail. Ceres, with a diameter of 590 miles (950 kilometres), is the largest object in the main asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter.
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has detected deposits of glass within impact craters on Mars. Though formed in the searing heat of a violent impact, such deposits might provide a delicate window into the possibility of past life on the Red Planet.
NASA’s NEOWISE mission has recently discovered some celestial objects traveling through our neighborhood, including one on the blurry line between asteroid and comet. Another — definitely a comet — might be seen with binoculars through next week.
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to entering orbit around Ceres on Friday, March 6th — the first mission to successfully visit a dwarf planet.
