Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Approaching Asteroid Ceres

NASA ^ | January 20, 2015 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: It is the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt -- what secrets does it hold? To find out, NASA has sent the robotic Dawn spacecraft to explore and map this cryptic 1,000-kilometer wide world: Ceres. Orbiting between Mars and Jupiter, Ceres is officially categorized as a dwarf planet but has never been imaged in detail. Featured here is a 20-frame video taken a week ago of Dawn's approach that now rivals even the best images of Ceres ever taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The video shows enough surface definition to discern its 9-hour rotation period. On target to reach Ceres in early March, Dawn will match speeds and attempt to orbit this previously unexplored body, taking images and data that may help humanity better understand not only the nature and history of Ceres but also the early history of our entire Solar System.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, UCLA, MPS/DLR/IDA/PS]

[SunkenCiv]

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[cripplecreek]

Cool, more new stuff.

[ThomasMore]

Let’s hope this monster never gets thrown out of it’s orbit.

[TheOldLady]

Cool. Now we get to wait for early March to see more detail on
Ceres. I hope that Dawn gets some really spectacular pictures.

Thank you, Mr. Civilizations.

[BenLurkin]

This is hugh.

[BenLurkin]

I wonder what that white dot in the upper left is.

[sauron]

Amazing times. I'm glad I've lived this long. ;)

I can't believe we're going to map out Ceres. Just incredible.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Not to hijack this thread, SunkenCiv, but have you seen the recent photos available at MSN?

[SampleMan]

OMG that’s not an asteroid! It’s the Death Star.

[SampleMan]

OMG that’s not an asteroid! It’s the Death Star.

[BenLurkin]

Ceres compared to asteroids visited to date, including Vesta, Dawn’s mapping target in 2011. Image by NASA/ESA/JAXA. Compiled by Paul Schenck.

Comparisons of Ceres with other prominent icy objects. Dione is Ceres’ closest twin in size and mass. Image credit: NASA/ESA. Compiled by Paul Schenk.

[Moonman62]

I wonder what that white dot in the upper left is.

...

A white monolith.

No really, it’s probably ice and the same white area we see in the Hubble image.

[Moonman62]

Amazing times. I’m glad I’ve lived this long. ;)

I can’t believe we’re going to map out Ceres. Just incredible.

...

Yes, and a few months after that we’ll be getting a closeup view of Pluto and its moons.

In a couple of weeks, SpaceX will make another attempt at landing its first stage.

[BenLurkin]

A crater, looks like. If that’s water ice then this object looks like a good place to plant a colony.

[Moonman62]

If only it were in orbit around Mars. Ceres is a bit further out, and smaller bodies like Ceres are difficult to use as stopping points because so much fuel or time has to be used to slow down and go into orbit.

[MaxMax]

It looka like a Rock, Yaaa, Rock

[MaxMax]

I wonder what that white dot in the upper left is.

Probably just an alien drone looking to attack us using Plastic grocery bags and CO2.

[martin_fierro]

[BenLurkin]

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