Dawn Spacecraft Captures Stunning New Color Image of Ceres

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has captured a startling new color map of the dwarf planet Ceres. The new image reveals the spectacular diversity of the surface of this body, showing differences in both morphology and color.

"This dwarf planet was not just an inert rock throughout its history," said Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission, in a news release. "It was active, with processes that resulted in different materials in different regions. We are beginning to capture that diversity in our color images."

On March 6, the Dawn spacecraft reached the dwarf planet, making it the first ever spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial targets, including the asteroid Vesta. While Vesta is a dry body, though, Ceres is believed to be at least 25 percent water ice by mass.

The new image reveals that Ceres' surface is heavily crated, but it has fewer large craters than scientists anticipated. It also has a pair of very bright neighboring spots on its northern hemisphere. In addition, preliminary examination suggests that different bright regions on Ceres' surface behave differently.

Ceres also has bright spots-about 10 in all. One pair of bright spots, by far the brightest marks visible on the dwarf planet, appears to be located in a region that is similar in temperature to its surroundings. But a different bright feature corresponds to a region that is cooler than the rest of Ceres' surface.

The origins of Ceres' bright spots are still known. However, further investigation of the planetary body by Dawn may reveal further details.

"The bright spots continue to fascinate the science team, but we will have to wait until we get closer and are able to resolve them before we can determine their source," said Russell.

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