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Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Dwarf Planet Ceres
NASA ^ | February 04, 2016 | (see photo credit)

Posted on 02/04/2016 3:10:39 PM PST by SunkenCiv

Explanation: Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the Solar System's main asteroid belt, with a diameter of about 950 kilometers (590 miles). Ceres is seen here in approximately true color, based on image data from the Dawn spacecraft recorded on May 4, 2015. On that date, Dawn's orbit stood 13,642 kilometers above the surface of the small world. Two of Ceres' famous mysterious bright spots at Oxo crater and Haulani crater are near center and center right of this view. Casting a telltale shadow at the bottom is Ceres' cone-shaped, lonely mountain Ahuna Mons. Presently some 385 kilometers above the Cerean surface, the ion-propelled Dawn spacecraft is now returning images from its closest mapping orbit.

February 04, 2016

(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; ceres; science
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[Credit & License: NASA, JPL-Caltech, UCLA, MPS,DLR,IDA; Composition: Justin Cowart]

1 posted on 02/04/2016 3:10:39 PM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: brytlea; cripplecreek; decimon; disndat; KoRn; Grammy; steelyourfaith; Mmogamer; dayglored; ...
The Big One

2 posted on 02/04/2016 3:11:27 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: SunkenCiv

The place is filthy with Belters.


3 posted on 02/04/2016 3:12:23 PM PST by cripplecreek (Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.)
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To: cripplecreek

There should be a crater named for Ethel Merman...


4 posted on 02/04/2016 3:20:04 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: cripplecreek

Da Rosi, im gutegow xitim.


5 posted on 02/04/2016 3:34:39 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Size reference. I was wondering how big a rock has to be before its gravity compresses it into a sphere? Comets we have pictures of are very small in comparison but are still jagged shaped. Ceres looks like it gets pounded continuously.


6 posted on 02/04/2016 3:35:57 PM PST by Delta 21 (Patiently waiting for the jack booted kick at my door.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I think they prefer to be called little person planets


7 posted on 02/04/2016 3:36:14 PM PST by tophat9000 (King G(OP)eorge III has no idea why the Americans Patriot%s are in rebellion... teach him why)
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To: SunkenCiv
"Ceres is the largest object in the Solar System's main asteroid belt, with a diameter of about 590 miles."

To put this in perspective, the moon is approximately 2100 miles in diameter. So if Ceres was where the moon is, roughly 240,000 miles from Earth, it would be between 1/4 and 1/3 as wide as a full moon (~28%).

8 posted on 02/04/2016 3:36:47 PM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
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To: cripplecreek

I binge watched that show the past two nights.
pretty good, gonna watch episode 9 tonight.


9 posted on 02/04/2016 3:36:52 PM PST by mowowie (`)
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To: cripplecreek
The place is filthy with Belters.

"When I was homicide," Miller said, "there was this guy. Property management specialist working a contract out of Luna. Someone burned half his skin off and dropped him out an airlock. Turned out he was responsible for maintenance on sixty holes up on level thirty. Lousy neighborhood. He'd been cutting corners. Hadn't replaced the air filters in three months. There was mold growing in three of the units. And you know what we (the police) found after that?"
"What?" Havelock asked.
"Not a goddamn thing, because we stopped looking. Some people need to die, and he was one. And the next guy that took the job cleaned the ducting and swapped the filters on schedule. That's what it's like in the Belt. Belters don't take the long view when you screw with basic resources. Water is future air, propellant mass, and potables for us. We have no sense of humor about that sh*t."

10 posted on 02/04/2016 3:43:31 PM PST by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: Talisker

And now we gotta wait till 2017 for season two.

Very well done show in m opinion.


11 posted on 02/04/2016 3:48:13 PM PST by cripplecreek (Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.)
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To: tophat9000

They probably would prefer their dwarf names, but they’ve only got seven.


12 posted on 02/04/2016 3:50:02 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: cripplecreek

That show must cost a lot of $$$ to produce.


13 posted on 02/04/2016 4:02:10 PM PST by mowowie (`)
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To: Delta 21
To Pluto -- And Far Beyond "To Pluto And Far Beyond" By David H. Levy, Parade, January 15, 2006 -- We don't have a dictionary definition yet that includes all the contingencies. In the wake of the new discovery, however, the International Astronomical Union has set up a group to develop a workable definition of planet. For our part, in consultation with several experienced planetary astronomers, Parade offers this definition: A planet is a body large enough that, when it formed, it condensed under its own gravity to be shaped like a sphere. It orbits a star directly and is not a moon of another planet.

14 posted on 02/04/2016 4:02:13 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: mowowie

What show? I have to say I’m intrigued.


15 posted on 02/04/2016 4:09:12 PM PST by Crucial (At the heart all leftidsts sw the fear that the truth is bigger than themselves.)
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To: Crucial

New sci-fi show on the SyFy Channel “The Expanse”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3230854/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Really good, i watched practically the whole season on syfy.com last night.
I think it is also on cable tv on-demand menu.


16 posted on 02/04/2016 4:27:12 PM PST by mowowie (`)
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To: SunkenCiv

Hey! There ya go.


17 posted on 02/04/2016 4:27:56 PM PST by Delta 21 (Patiently waiting for the jack booted kick at my door.)
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To: Crucial

On the show Earth has a base on Ceres, populated with mostly “Belters”, people who live and work in the Asteroid Belt.


18 posted on 02/04/2016 4:29:00 PM PST by mowowie (`)
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To: SunkenCiv

Looks just like our moon.


19 posted on 02/04/2016 4:30:29 PM PST by cloudmountain
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To: SunkenCiv
There should be a crater named for Ethel Merman...

There's NO business like SHOW business....

Lol.

20 posted on 02/04/2016 4:32:11 PM PST by cloudmountain
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