[meteorite-list] Dawn Glimpses Ceres' North Pole

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2015 14:55:48 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201504162155.t3GLtmMm022933_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4555

Dawn Glimpses Ceres' North Pole
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
April 16, 2015

[Animation]
This animation shows the north pole of dwarf planet Ceres as seen by the
Dawn spacecraft on April 10, 2015. Dawn was at a distance of 21,000 miles
(33,000 kilometers) when its framing camera took these images. Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

After spending more than a month in orbit on the dark side of dwarf planet
Ceres, NASA's Dawn spacecraft has captured several views of the sunlit
north pole of this intriguing world. These images were taken on April
10 from a distance of 21,000 miles (33,000 kilometers), and they represent
the highest-resolution views of Ceres to date.

Subsequent images of Ceres will show surface features at increasingly
better resolution.

Dawn arrived at Ceres on March 6, marking the first time a spacecraft
has orbited a dwarf planet. Previously, the spacecraft explored giant
asteroid Vesta for 14 months from 2011 to 2012. Dawn has the distinction
of being the only spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial targets.

Ceres, with an average diameter of about 590 miles (950 kilometers), is
the largest body in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn
has been using its ion propulsion system to maneuver to its first science
orbit at Ceres, which it will reach on April 23. The spacecraft will remain
at a distance of 8,400 miles (13,500 kilometers) from the dwarf planet
until May 9. Afterward, it will make its way to lower orbits.

Dawn's mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
California, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn
is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible
for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK, Inc., in Dulles, Virginia,
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 a complete list of acknowledgements, visit:

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission

For more information about Dawn, visit:

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov


Media Contact

Elizabeth Landau
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6425
Elizabeth.Landau at jpl.nasa.gov

2015-133
Received on Thu 16 Apr 2015 05:55:48 PM PDT