What has #NASA"s #Dawn spacecraft cooked up for us this time? More awe-inspiring pictures of #Ceres... - http://clapway.com/2015/09/10/dawn-pictures-of-ceres123/

Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, has been the focus of NASA’s Dawn spacecraft for some time now. The dwarf planet, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, is the thirty-third largest known body in the Solar System and the only one that circuits entirely within Neptune’s orbit.

Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA

Today, the Dawn space probe, launched by NASA back in 2007, continues to keep its eye on the celestial body. Recently, it sent back the clearest photos of Ceres to date, nearly three times the resolution of the images the probe snapped in June, when it was orbiting 2,700 miles above the surface of Ceres. These new photos, taken at an altitude of 915 miles, depict Ceres’ Occator impact crater like never before, revealing – yet again – the mysterious bright spots that characterize the dwarf planet.

DAWN SPACE PROBE SHEDS LIGHT ON CERES

To this day, scientists are still uncertain of what exactly is causing these bright spots; so far, volcanoes, salt deposits and even ice geysers have been offered as possible hypotheses, according to the Huffington Post. However, regardless of where they’ve enigmatically spawn from, space enthusiasts can all agree that the bright spots make for some captivating photographs, as Marc Rayman, Dawn’s chief engineer and mission director suggests:

“Dawn has transformed what was so recently a few bright dots into a complex and beautiful, gleaming landscape.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE DAWN SPACECRAFT AND CERES

Over the course of the next two months, everyone can expect to see and hear much more about Dawn. For the time being, the space craft has kept itself busy mapping all of Ceres; it has already completed two 11-day cycles, each consisting of 14 orbits, and recently began its third on September 9. Dawn will complete this procedure six more times, which will ultimately allow scientists to construct 3D maps of the dwarf planet. Each cycle, in the meantime, helps to captures a slightly different viewing angle to aid in the construction, according to NASA.

“Soon, the scientific analysis will reveal the geological and chemical nature of this mysterious and mesmerizing extraterrestrial scenery,” Rayman said.

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CRAZY ABOUT NASA, SPACE AND THE UNIVERSE? SO ARE WE. SO ARE WE…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdcU4nKKV2E

http://www.lidtime.com/nasa-reveals-closest-look-at-ceres-mysterious-bright-spots-6738/

Dawn Sends Back Even Better Pictures of Ceres

Water On Ceres? Dawn Spacecraft Finds Evidence of Sub-Surface Oceans - http://clapway.com/2015/08/02/water-on-ceres-dawn-spacecraft-finds-evidence-of-sub-surface-oceans-101/

We have seen a lot of great astronomical accomplishments in the last month. New Horizons’ flyby of Pluto, the discovery of Earth-like (super-earth) planets only 21 light-years away, and Rosetta’s discovery of the chemical compounds necessary to generate life on Comet 67P giving first empirical support to the notion of space-seeded biogenesis, and evolution.

DAWN RENDEZVOUS WITH CERES

But recently, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft spiraled into its third and closest orbit of Ceres, and now the spacecraft has finally entered orbit just a few miles over the dwarf planet’s surface. Since then, mission control has released color-coded images which show inconsistencies in Ceres’ topological structure, in both valleys and hills.

Similar to Saturn’s two moons Tethys and Dione are Ceres’, Ceres also has craters encirclilng the planet in a way that suggests an old, tempered surface. Mission Scientist Paul Schenk commented that those two moons of Saturn’s are similar in both size and density.

But something stands out on Ceres. There are two impact craters named Dantu and Ezinu that are unusually deep. Near their edges, two impact basins called Kerwan and Yalode are larger, but ordinarily shallow.

Another member of the Dawn science team named Ralph Jaumann (also of the German Aerospace Center) believes the presence of these differing features is actually a sign of “increasing ice mobility with crater size age.”

This means that, because of its large craters, Ceres could in fact be some sort of water world with subsurface oceans.

“Dawn has the potential for making many paradigm-shifting discoveries. Ceres may have active hydrological processes leading to seasonal polar caps of water frost, altering our understanding of the interior of these bodies,” read a NASA statement.

WATER ON CERES?

Even more exciting is the possibility for the dwarf planet to hold down a thin yet permanent atmosphere. Ceres’ enigmatic bright spots, shining from the bottom of a crater, seem to actually support a small, localized atmosphere by sublimating emerging chemicals out into space at a high enough rate of flow to create pressure, i.e. atmosphere.

These craters and peaks were captured in color photos and released to the masses by NASA on July 28th. NASA was also able to surmise that Ceres’ diameter is about 598 miles, which leaves it a bit smaller than the 607 miles scientists originally suspected.

 

 

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UNTIL WE BREAK THE ICE WITH CERES, HERE’S SOMETHING MORE DOWN TO EARTH:

 

Water On Ceres? Dawn Spacecraft Finds Evidence of Sub-Surface Oceans

As if space didn"t have enough mysteries, this mountain shows up. - http://clapway.com/2015/06/22/odd-mountain-on-ceres-adds-to-the-dwarf-planets-mysteries-125/

New photos from NASA show a huge mountain on Ceres—a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This is just the latest mystery to emerge on this fascinating and perplexing world.

A LONE MOUNTAIN

The photo showing the unusual mountain was taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on June 6, 2015. This pyramid-shaped mountain on Ceres rises out of what appears to be relatively smooth terrain. According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), this mountain rises approximately three miles above the surface.

THOSE MYSTERIOUS SPOTS

Dawn also snapped closer photos of the bright mysterious spots on Ceres’ surface that have perplexed scientists. But the new photos don’t provide any new clues to help definitively identify them.

The strange illuminated area on Ceres was photographed by Dawn before the spacecraft entered orbit in March 2015, which is comprised of two bright spots within a basin on the surface. Speculation about the source of these odd lights began immediately after Dawn’s photos were published by NASA. Perplexed scientists suggested light reflections off ice or water vapor, or a volcano as possible explanations. And others presented the possibility that the illumination could be from an extraterrestrial civilization.

The mystery remains. And, until Dawn can get a better look, NASA actually launched a website inviting public suppositions regarding the bright spot on Ceres.

A CLOSER LOOK

The recent images of Ceres were taken by Dawn from 2,700 miles above the planet. The spacecraft is scheduled to maneuver down to 900 miles above the planet in August 2015. The closer approach will hopefully yield even better photos and give scientists a better idea about what is causing those weird bright spots.

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Solving space mysteries, huh? Can Musio, your newest A.I. friend do this?:

Odd Mountain on Ceres Adds to the Dwarf Planet"s Mysteries