NASA Dawn Spacecraft Approaches Dwarf Planet, Ceres (VIDEO)

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has officially entered its approach phase toward the dwarf planet, Ceres. The spacecraft should be able to provide some novel insights into the Texas-sized planet that's never been visited before.

Dawn launched in 2007 and is currently scheduled to enter Ceres' orbit in March 2015. The spacecraft itself only recently emerged from solar conjunction, in which the spacecraft was on the opposite side of the sun and which, in turn, limited communication with antennas on Earth. Now, mission controllers have programmed the maneuvers necessary for the next stage of the rendezvous.

"Ceres is almost a complete mystery to us," said Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission, in a news release. "Ceres, unlike Vesta, has no meteorites linked to it to help reveal its secrets. All we can predict with confidence is that we will be surprised."

Ceres has an average diameter of 590 miles, which makes it the largest body in the asteroid belt. This strip of solar system real estate is located between Mars and Jupiter. In contrast, Vesta has an average diameter of 326 miles and is the second most massive body in the belt.

Dawn uses ion propulsion to traverse space far more efficiently than chemical compulsion. Already, its' completed five years of accumulated thrust time, which is far more than any other spacecraft.

Over the next couple of months, Dawn will offer continually improving views of Ceres prior to its arrival. By the end of January, Dawn will provide the best images and data ever taken of the dwarf planet. And its final arrival in March will herald new discoveries and new information about this mysterious body located in the asteroid belt.

Want to learn more? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube and NASA.

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