Dawn observes Ceres’ northern hemisphere

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Press Release

10 May 2015 Astronomy Now

This image of dwarf planet Ceres is part of a sequence taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on May 4th, 2015, from a distance of 8,400 miles (13,600 kilometres). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA.
This image of dwarf planet Ceres is part of a sequence taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on May 4th, 2015, from a distance of 8,400 miles (13,600 kilometres). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA.
On May 8th, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft successfully completed its final observations in this mapping orbit, focusing on Ceres’ southern hemisphere. It is transmitting the pictures and other scientific data to Earth now.

It takes about 15 days to make one orbital revolution around Ceres at this altitude (8,400 miles, or 13,600 kilometres). On May 8th, the spacecraft completed one revolution since its arrival in this orbit on April 23rd and has started ion-thrusting to spiral down to its second mapping orbit.

This image of Ceres is part of a sequence taken by Dawn’s Framing Camera on May 4th, 2015, from a distance of 8,400 miles (13,600 kilometres) when the spacecraft was orbiting over the side of Ceres illuminated by the Sun, collecting images and spectra of the dwarf planet’s northern hemisphere.

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New details on Ceres seen in Dawn images

13 January 2016 Astronomy Now

Features on dwarf planet Ceres that piqued the interest of scientists throughout 2015 stand out in exquisite detail in the latest images from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, which recently reached its lowest-ever altitude at Ceres. Dawn took these images near its current altitude of 240 miles (385 kilometers) between 19 and 23 December 2015.