Composed of rock and ice, the dwarf planet Ceres is the largest denizen of the Main Asteroid Belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is also the only object that inhabits the warm, well-lit inner region of our Solar System to be designated a dwarf planet--where our seething-hot, roiling Sun shines brightly with its magnificent stellar fires. Ceres is 590 miles in diameter, containing approximately one-third of the mass of the entire Main Asteroid Belt--and this intriguing dwarf planet continues to bewilder and fascinate planetary scientists as NASA's Dawn spacecraft zips ever closer and closer to it, ultimately to be snared into orbit around this mysterious object. In February 2015, the most recent images gathered by Dawn--taken nearly 29,000 miles from Ceres--show that a strange and mysterious bright spot, that revealed itself in earlier images, has a nearby dimmer companion.
"Ceres' bright spot can now be seen to have a companion of lesser brightness, but apparently in the same basin. This may be pointing to a volcano-like origin of the spots, but we will have to wait for better resolution before we can make such geologic interpretations," explained Dr. Christopher T. Russell in a February 25, 2015 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Press Release. Dr. Russell is head of the Space Science Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, and is also principal investigator for the Dawn mission. The JPL is in Pasadena, California.
The Dawn spacecraft is a space probe launched by NASA in 2007 to investigate the two most-massive denizens of the Main Asteroid Belt: Vesta and Ceres. It is currently racing towards its rendezvous with Ceres, and is expected to enter orbit around the dwarf planet on March 6, 2015. It has been taking increasingly high-resolution extended images of Ceres since December 1, 2014.
Dawn was the first spacecraft to rendezvous with Vesta, entering orbit on July 16, 2011, and successfully completing its 14-month study of Vesta late in 2012. If the entire mission proves to be a success, it will also be the first spacecraft to rendezvous with Ceres, and to orbit two separate extraterrestrial objects.
Dawn is managed by NASA's JPL, with major contributions from European colleagues from Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany. It is also the first NASA exploratory mission to use ion propulsion to enter orbits. Earlier multi-target missions, such as Voyager, used conventional drives that were limited to flybys.
Ceres
Ceres was discovered on January 1, 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi in Palermo, Italy. At the time of its discovery it was classified as a major planet, and Piazzi originally suggested that it should be named Cerere Ferdinandea, after Ceres who was the ancient Roman goddess of agriculture, and King Ferdinand of Sicily. However, the name Ferdinandea proved to be unacceptable to other nations and was eventually dropped.
NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Spots Two Bright Points... by arynews
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8941082
"Ceres' bright spot can now be seen to have a companion of lesser brightness, but apparently in the same basin. This may be pointing to a volcano-like origin of the spots, but we will have to wait for better resolution before we can make such geologic interpretations," explained Dr. Christopher T. Russell in a February 25, 2015 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Press Release. Dr. Russell is head of the Space Science Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, and is also principal investigator for the Dawn mission. The JPL is in Pasadena, California.
The Dawn spacecraft is a space probe launched by NASA in 2007 to investigate the two most-massive denizens of the Main Asteroid Belt: Vesta and Ceres. It is currently racing towards its rendezvous with Ceres, and is expected to enter orbit around the dwarf planet on March 6, 2015. It has been taking increasingly high-resolution extended images of Ceres since December 1, 2014.
Dawn was the first spacecraft to rendezvous with Vesta, entering orbit on July 16, 2011, and successfully completing its 14-month study of Vesta late in 2012. If the entire mission proves to be a success, it will also be the first spacecraft to rendezvous with Ceres, and to orbit two separate extraterrestrial objects.
Dawn is managed by NASA's JPL, with major contributions from European colleagues from Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany. It is also the first NASA exploratory mission to use ion propulsion to enter orbits. Earlier multi-target missions, such as Voyager, used conventional drives that were limited to flybys.
Ceres
Ceres was discovered on January 1, 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi in Palermo, Italy. At the time of its discovery it was classified as a major planet, and Piazzi originally suggested that it should be named Cerere Ferdinandea, after Ceres who was the ancient Roman goddess of agriculture, and King Ferdinand of Sicily. However, the name Ferdinandea proved to be unacceptable to other nations and was eventually dropped.
NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Spots Two Bright Points... by arynews
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8941082
