The two bright spots on Ceres are back in view in the new image from NASA’s Dawn space probe.
The two mysterious bright spots are located in a crater that’s 92 km wide (top of the image). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.
Dawn took this image from a distance of 14,000 miles (22,000 km). The image shows the two bright spots clearly standing out against their darker surroundings, but their composition and sources are still unknown.
Planetary researchers also see other interesting features, including heavy cratering.
As Dawn gets closer to the dwarf planet, surface features will continue to emerge at increasingly better resolution.
Dawn has now finished delivering the images that have helped mission scientists maneuver the spacecraft to its first science orbit and prepare for subsequent observations. All of the approach operations have executed flawlessly and kept Dawn on course and on schedule.
“The approach imaging campaign has completed successfully by giving us a preliminary, tantalizing view of the world Dawn is about to start exploring in detail,” said Dr Marc Rayman of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
“It has allowed us to start asking some new and intriguing questions.”
Beginning April 23, Dawn will spend 3 weeks in a near-circular orbit around Ceres, taking observations from 8,400 miles (13,500 km) above the surface.
On May 9, the spacecraft will begin to make its way to lower orbits to improve the view and provide higher-resolution observations.
