Dawn spirals closer to Ceres, returns a new view

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Press Release

29 May 2015 Astronomy Now

This new view of Ceres' surface captured May 23rd and seen from a distance of 3,200 miles (5,100 kilometres) shows finer details coming into view as NASA's Dawn spacecraft spirals down to increasingly lower orbits. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA.
This new view of Ceres’ surface captured May 23rd and seen from a distance of 3,200 miles (5,100 kilometres) shows finer details coming into view as NASA’s Dawn spacecraft spirals down to increasingly lower orbits. Resolution in the image is about 1,600 feet (480 metres) per pixel. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA.
The view shows numerous secondary craters, formed by the re-impact of debris strewn from larger impact sites. Smaller surface details like this are becoming visible with increasing clarity as Dawn spirals lower in its campaign to map Ceres.

The region shown here is located between 13° and 51° north latitude and 182° and 228° east longitude. The image has been projected onto a globe of Ceres, which accounts for the small notch of black at upper right.

OpNav9 is the ninth and final set of Dawn images of Ceres taken primarily for navigation purposes.

Related Articles

Observing

See dwarf planet Ceres at its best for 2019

28 May 2019 Ade Ashford

Have you ever seen a dwarf planet? Of the five within our solar system recognised by the International Astronomical Union – Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris – only Ceres can be considered bright and easy to locate. It reaches opposition in the constellation of Scorpius on 29 May at magnitude +7, an easy binocular object if you follow our guide.