[meteorite-list] Dawn Soars Over Asteroid Vesta in 3-D

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2011 14:13:25 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201112012213.pB1MDPrm016680_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-366

Dawn Soars Over Asteroid Vesta in 3-D
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
November 30, 2011

PASADENA, Calif. - Glide over the giant asteroid Vesta with NASA's Dawn
spacecraft in a new 3-D video. Dawn has been orbiting Vesta since July
15, obtaining high-resolution images of its bumpy, cratered surface and
making other scientific measurements.

The new video is available online at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=1041 . Best viewed with
red-blue glasses, the video incorporates images from Dawn's framing
camera from July to August 2011. It was created by Dawn team member Ralf
Jaumann of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

The images were obtained when Dawn was making its approach to Vesta, and
while orbiting the giant asteroid in its first science orbit, known as
survey orbit, at an altitude of about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers).
The video begins with a global view of Vesta from the plane of its
equator, where a mysterious band of linear ridges and troughs can be
seen. The movie cuts to a flyover of young craters in the northern
hemisphere, whose peculiar alignment has led some scientists to refer to
them as the "snowman." Then this virtual tour of Vesta takes the viewer
around a massive mountain at the south pole of Vesta that is about 16
miles (25 kilometers) high, or more than twice the height of Mt. Everest.

"If you want to know what it's like to explore a new world like Vesta,
this new video gives everyone a chance to see it for themselves,"
Jaumann said. "Scientists are poring over these images to learn more
about how the craters, hills, grooves and troughs we see were created."

Vesta is the second most massive object in the asteroid belt between
Mars and Jupiter. Dawn is currently spiraling down to its low altitude
mapping orbit, which will bring the spacecraft to about 130 miles (210
kilometers) above Vesta's surface.

"Dawn's data thus far have revealed the rugged topography and complex
textures of the surface of Vesta, as can be seen in this video," said
Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Soon, we'll add other pieces of the puzzle
such as the chemical composition, interior structure, and geologic age
to be able to write the history of this remnant protoplanet and its
place in the early solar system."

Dawn launched in September 2007 and arrived at Vesta on July 15, 2011.
Following a year at Vesta, the spacecraft will depart in July 2012 for
the dwarf planet Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015.

Dawn's mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by JPL for NASA's Science
Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Dawn is a project of the
directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission
science. Orbital Sciences Corp. in Dulles, Va., designed and built the
spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for
Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National
Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.

For more information about the Dawn mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/dawn
and http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov .

To follow the mission on Twitter, visit: http://www.twitter.com/NASA_Dawn .

Jia-Rui Cook/Priscilla Vega 818-354-0850/4-1357
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
jccook at jpl.nasa.gov/priscilla.vega at jpl.nasa.gov

2011-366
Received on Thu 01 Dec 2011 05:13:25 PM PST


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