[meteorite-list] Ceres Bright Spots Seen Closer Than Ever

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4594

Ceres Bright Spots Seen Closer Than Ever
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
May 20, 2015

NASA's Dawn mission captured a sequence of images, taken for navigation 
purposes, of dwarf planet Ceres on May 16, 2015. The image showcases the 
group of the brightest spots on Ceres, which continue to mystify scientists. 
It was taken from a distance of 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) and has 
a resolution of 2,250 feet (700 meters) per pixel.

"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," Christopher Russell, principal investigator 
for the Dawn mission from the University of California, Los Angeles, said 
recently.

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.

The spacecraft has been using its ion propulsion system to maneuver to 
its second mapping orbit at Ceres, which it will reach on June 6. The 
spacecraft will remain at a distance of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) 
from the dwarf planet until June 30. 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 the Dawn mission, visit:

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov


Media Contact

Elizabeth Landau
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6425
elizabeth.landau at jpl.nasa.gov 

2015-172