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NASA Probe to Uncover Secrets of Brightest Asteroid Vesta ('Dawn' probe to orbit protoplanet)
SPACE.com ^ | 7/15/11 | Charles Q. Choi

Posted on 07/15/2011 12:31:35 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

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Driving a Vesta is on my Bucket List. Oh wait, that's drive a Vespa, not Vesta.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image on its approach to the protoplanet Vesta, the second-most massive object in the main asteroid belt. The image was obtained on June 20, 2011. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/ UCLA/MPS/DLR/PSI)

1 posted on 07/15/2011 12:31:39 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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NASA’s Dawn web site
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/main/index.html

NASA Spacecraft to Enter Asteroid’s Orbit on July 15
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/dawn20110714.html


2 posted on 07/15/2011 12:35:12 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge

So they should be getting some pix soon.
Any live coverage?


3 posted on 07/15/2011 12:35:26 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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Just in time for the 11 o’clock news here on the west coast

probe should get ‘captured’ about 10 PM PDT tonight ..


4 posted on 07/15/2011 12:36:39 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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the probe will continue its journey and leave for Ceres, a dwarf planet, in July 2012.. it took ‘em a bit of wangling to ease in around Vesta..


5 posted on 07/15/2011 12:38:54 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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To: tet68

If there is,, JPL and
Nasa will have it. ;-)

JPL Dawn web site
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/


6 posted on 07/15/2011 12:40:13 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge

Ceres should prove more interesting...


7 posted on 07/15/2011 12:40:59 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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http://www.space.com/12279-nasa-dawn-asteroid-mission-works-infographic.html

Infographic:
How NASA’s Dawn Asteroid Mission Works (Infographic)
Karl Tate, SPACE.com Infographics Artist
Date: 14 July 2011


8 posted on 07/15/2011 12:43:03 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge

*sigh* NASA... I’ll fondly remember it.


9 posted on 07/15/2011 12:43:11 PM PDT by brownsfan (I miss the America I grew up in.)
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To: NormsRevenge

New horizons is the mission I’m most interested in. Closest approach in 2015.

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/


10 posted on 07/15/2011 12:48:35 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: cripplecreek

Talk about a long shot that takes forever.. Thanks!

How the heck they don’t bump into something out there is beyond me.


11 posted on 07/15/2011 12:50:38 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge

These “lesser” missions do help with the wait.

Pluto is still a planet in my book and definitely exciting to get a first look even if I do have to wait 9 years. That’s a hell of a ride.


12 posted on 07/15/2011 12:54:06 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: brownsfan

I hear ya.. The Saturn 5B launches are most memorable.. the roar, the rattle,, the pure unadulterated power.. no more.


13 posted on 07/15/2011 12:55:03 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge
and why it is so bright is the No. 1 mystery of Vesta...

Chrome plating does wonders!

14 posted on 07/15/2011 12:56:40 PM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: NormsRevenge

It’s really hard to imagine how vast and empty space is. :) Just a few hydrogen atoms per square meter. If you were smack in the middle of the asteroid belt, you would not likely see an asteroid for years at a time.


15 posted on 07/15/2011 12:57:48 PM PDT by Heavyrunner (Socialize this.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Lets all enjoy what is left of our space program, not going to be much of one when Obobo is done


16 posted on 07/15/2011 1:03:45 PM PDT by Farnsworth
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To: Heavyrunner
Our own sun's sphere of influence is amazingly huge.

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17 posted on 07/15/2011 1:19:04 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: NormsRevenge

Why so bright? A 330 mile lump of solid silver, maybe? Or just pure ice? Questions, questions...


18 posted on 07/15/2011 2:50:45 PM PDT by JimRed (Excising a cancer before it kills us waters the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: NormsRevenge
Vesta is the brightest asteroid, with a surface about three times as bright as Earth's moon, "and why it is so bright is the No. 1 mystery of Vesta," planetary scientist Christopher Russell, principal investigator for NASA's Dawn spacecraft, told SPACE.com. ..

That's no asteroid...


19 posted on 07/15/2011 3:42:33 PM PDT by Talisker (History will show the Illuminati won the ultimate Darwin Award.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Looks like the craft has entered orbit....maybe. Apparently they won’t know for a while.

Even if they didn’t succeed they can try again. Apparently the trajectory of the craft is keeping pace with the roid.


20 posted on 07/16/2011 5:14:23 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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