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.
Discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on 6 October 2013 a week before its last close flyby of Earth, 30-metre-wide asteroid 2013 TX68 was initially thought to pass by Earth again on 5 March 2016. Additional observations of the body have now been obtained, refining its orbital path and moving the date of the asteroid’s close brush with our planet to 8 March.
The Dawn spacecraft has finally been able to get a good look at the famous bright spot on the surface of Ceres, with NASA releasing new images at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas.
The first images from the New Horizons spacecraft since late July will come back to Earth on 5 September, and scientists are salivating over what the new pictures will reveal about Pluto.
