[meteorite-list] NASA's Dawn's Spacecraft Views Dark Side of Vesta

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:14:44 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201107290514.p6T5Ei3s008487_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-232

NASA's Dawn's Spacecraft Views Dark Side of Vesta
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
July 28, 2011

[Image}

Dawn took this image over Vesta's northern hemisphere after the
spacecraft completed its first passage over the dark side of the giant
asteroid. It is northern hemisphere winter on Vesta now, so its north
pole is in deep shadow.

The Dawn science team is working to determine the significance of the
distinct features in this image, which include large grooves or ridges
extending for great distances around Vesta.

This image was taken by Dawn's framing camera on July 23, from a
distance of 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers).

The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, for NASA. The University of California, Los Angeles, is
responsible for overall Dawn mission science. The Dawn framing cameras
have been developed and built under the leadership of the Max Planck
Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, with
significant contributions by DLR German Aerospace Center, Institute of
Planetary Research, Berlin, and in coordination with the Institute of
Computer and Communication Network Engineering, Braunschweig. The
Framing Camera project is funded by the Max Planck Society, DLR, and
NASA/JPL.

Priscilla Vega (818) 354-1357
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Priscilla.r.vega at jpl.nasa.gov

2011-232
Received on Fri 29 Jul 2011 01:14:44 AM PDT