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NASA's Dawn spacecraft is maneuvering at its smallest orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres and has begun collecting images and other scientific data from its new perspective. At its current orbit, the spacecraft is about 22 miles above the surface of Ceres and reveals the features of the Occator Crater in unprecedented detail. Among the most striking features are the bright spots in the center of its Occator crater that continue to confuse researchers since the arrival of Dawn on the dwarf planet
The shining central area of the Crater Crater of Ceres is known as Cerealia Facula. from secondary, smaller bright spots in the eastern floor is the Vinalia Faculae. The Dawn Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer had previously found that bright spots on Vinalia Faculae are primarily composed of sodium carbonates, a material commonly seen on Earth. The center of the Occator crater is the large soda ash deposit and the nearest views of the Occator crater, taken last week, give researchers a deeper perspective on these mysterious features.
"Acquiring these spectacular images was one of the" greatest challenges of the extraordinary extraterrestrial expedition of Dawn, and the results are better than we had hoped for, "said Marc Rayman, Chief Engineer and Project Manager at Dawn. "Dawn is like a master artist, adding rich details to the beauty of another world in her intimate portrait of Ceres."
Only 22 miles above from the surface, @NASA_Dawn takes spots on the dwarf planet #Ceres https://t.co/T20C3OKyjy pic.twitter.com/a4IGpZGm15 – NASPL JPL (@NASAJPL) July 2, 2018
The dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and has been studied by NASA's Dawn spacecraft since 2015. Dawn spacecraft has achieved many scientific feats since its launch in 2007. It is the only spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet. Dawn is also the only spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial targets. In addition to Ceres, he studied the giant asteroid Vesta from 2011 to 2012 and revealed a lot about the geological features and composition of both objects. Dawn will continue to observe Ceres until the end of its second expansion and allow researchers to answer fundamental questions about the origin of its bright spots
"The First Views of Ceres Obtained by Dawn beckoned us with a single blinding glow, "said Carol Raymond Dawn's senior researcher at JPL. "Discovering the nature and history of this fascinating dwarf planet during Dawn's long stay in Ceres has been fascinating, and it is particularly fitting that the last act of Dawn provide new sets of data to test these theories."
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