The “closest-yet view” of the dwarf planet Ceres still doesn’t solve the mystery of its bright spots. In fact, the mystery has deepened with the new images because they show the spots appear to be a composite of many smaller spots … like a city?
Well, that’s going a bit far. Scientists believe the spots are due to ice or some other shiny stuff reflecting sunlight.
“Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice,” said Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission from the University of California, Los Angeles.
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft finished its closest-yet mapping sweep of the planet last week. Here’s the agency’s details:
Dawn has now concluded its first mapping orbit, in which it completed one 15-day full circle around Ceres while making a host of new observations with its scientific instruments. On May 9, the spacecraft powered on its ion engine to begin the month-long descent toward its second mapping orbit, which it will enter on June 6. In this next phase, Dawn will circle Ceres about every three days at an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) — three times closer than the previous orbit. During this phase, referred to as Dawn’s survey orbit, the spacecraft will comprehensively map the surface to begin unraveling Ceres’ geologic history and assess whether the dwarf planet is active. The spacecraft will pause twice to take images of Ceres as it spirals down into this new orbit.
Newest animation of Ceres (we can’t slow the animation, so click through the gallery above to get a better view):
A zoomable version
Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8334 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook.
If Google Plus is your thing, check out our science coverage here.
from The Big Science Blog http://ift.tt/1F2M24A
The “closest-yet view” of the dwarf planet Ceres still doesn’t solve the mystery of its bright spots. In fact, the mystery has deepened with the new images because they show the spots appear to be a composite of many smaller spots … like a city?
Well, that’s going a bit far. Scientists believe the spots are due to ice or some other shiny stuff reflecting sunlight.
“Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice,” said Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission from the University of California, Los Angeles.
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft finished its closest-yet mapping sweep of the planet last week. Here’s the agency’s details:
Dawn has now concluded its first mapping orbit, in which it completed one 15-day full circle around Ceres while making a host of new observations with its scientific instruments. On May 9, the spacecraft powered on its ion engine to begin the month-long descent toward its second mapping orbit, which it will enter on June 6. In this next phase, Dawn will circle Ceres about every three days at an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) — three times closer than the previous orbit. During this phase, referred to as Dawn’s survey orbit, the spacecraft will comprehensively map the surface to begin unraveling Ceres’ geologic history and assess whether the dwarf planet is active. The spacecraft will pause twice to take images of Ceres as it spirals down into this new orbit.
Newest animation of Ceres (we can’t slow the animation, so click through the gallery above to get a better view):
A zoomable version
Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8334 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook.
If Google Plus is your thing, check out our science coverage here.
from The Big Science Blog http://ift.tt/1F2M24A
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