Dawn's Ceres Color Map Reveals Surface Diversity. April 13, 2015

April 13, 2015—A new color map of dwarf planet Ceres, which NASA's Dawn spacecraft has been orbiting since March, reveals the diversity of the surface of this planetary body. Differences in morphology and color across the surface suggest Ceres was once an active body, Dawn researchers said today at the 2015 General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna.

LINK>>> [link to dawn.jpl.nasa.gov]


Dawn VIR Images of Ceres

These images, from Dawn's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR), highlight two regions on Ceres containing bright spots. The top images show a region scientists have labeled "1" and the bottom images show the region labeled "5." Region 5 contains the brightest spots on Ceres.

VIR has been examining the relative temperatures of features on Ceres' surface. Preliminary examination suggests that region 1 is cooler than the rest of Ceres' surface, but region 5 appears to be located in a region that is similar in temperature to its surroundings.

LINK>> [link to dawn.jpl.nasa.gov]


"The bright spots continue to fascinate the science team,

Last Edited by Cryptananiro on 04/13/2015 08:20 PM