Nasa Dawn Probe Reveals Bright Spots on Dwarf Planet Ceres

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By Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: 10 September 2015 11:24 IST
Nasa's Dawn spacecraft has shown the brightest spots on the dwarf planet Ceres that are gleaming with mystery.

The closest-yet view of Occator crater, with a resolution of 450 feet per pixel, on its surface gives scientists a deeper perspective on these very unusual features.

The new up-close view reveals better-defined shapes of the brightest, central spot and features on the crater floor.

"Dawn has transformed what was so recently a few bright dots into a complex and beautiful, gleaming landscape," said Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission director from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

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Dawn is the first mission to visit a dwarf planet, and the first to orbit two distinct solar system targets.

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"Soon, the scientific analysis will reveal the geological and chemical nature of this mysterious and mesmerising extraterrestrial scenery," he said in a statement.

Because these spots are so much brighter than the rest of Ceres' surface, the Dawn team combined two different images into a single composite view - one properly exposed for the bright spots, and one for the surrounding surface.

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Scientists also have produced animations that provide a virtual fly-around of the crater, including a colourful topographic map.

Dawn scientists note the rim of Occator crater is almost vertical in some places, where it rises steeply for nearly two km.

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The spacecraft has already completed two 11-day cycles of mapping the surface of Ceres from its current altitude.

Dawn will map all of Ceres six times over the next two months.

 

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Further reading: Ceres, Nasa, Science, Space
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