Dawn Beams Back Closest-Yet Views of Ceres and Its Strange, Conical Mountain

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has beamed back the closest-yet views of Ceres. The new pictures reveal unprecedented details of Ceres' tall, conical mountain.

"Dawn is performing flawlessly in this new orbit as it conducts its ambitious exploration," said Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission director, in a news release. "The spacecraft's view is now three times as sharp as in its previous mapping orbit, revealing exciting new details of this intriguing dwarf planet."

It takes Dawn 11 days to capture and return images of Ceres' whole surface. Each 11-day cycle consists of 14 orbits and over two months, the spacecraft will map the entirety of Ceres six times.

The spacecraft is using its framing camera to extensively map the surface of Ceres. This, in turn, enables 3D modeling. Every image from this orbit has a resolution of 450 feet per pixel, and covers less than one percent of the surface of Ceres.

Scientists also plan to refine their measurements of Ceres' gravity field, which will help mission planners in designing Dawn's next orbit. In late October, Dawn will begin spiraling into its final orbit, which will be at an altitude of 230 miles.

Dawn is actually the first ever mission to visit a dwarf planet, and the first to orbit two distinct solar system targets. It orbited protoplanet Vesta for 14 months in 2011 and 2012, and arrived at Ceres on March 6, 2015.

For more information about the Dawn mission, visit NASA's website.

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