Craters Pop as NASA’s Dawn Probe Approaches Ceres
New features on Ceres’ icy surface are popping into view as NASA’s Dawn spacecraft slowly spirals in on its final celestial target in the asteroid belt.
ANALYSIS: NASA Spacecraft Ready to Unlock Ceres’ Mysteries
Due to arrive in a stable Ceres orbit in March, the ion drive-propelled spacecraft is now less than 90,000 miles (145,000 kilometers) from its ultimate goal.
As the solar system’s innermost dwarf planet, very little was known about Ceres until this year’s sharpening photographs from Dawn. Before Dawn, only a blurry blob through the Hubble Space Telescope’s optics could be seen, with hints of color variations in the small world’s surface.
NEWS: NASA Probe Gets Best Ever View of Dwarf Planet Ceres
But as this most recent series of observations show, Ceres has a varied surface apparently covered in impact craters. In the dwarf planet’s south polar region, for example, a large, well formed and approximately circular impact crater can be resolved.
More: Craters Pop as NASA’s Dawn Probe Approaches Ceres : Discovery News