Date: 20/01/2015 05:08:37
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 663747
Subject: Dawn approaches Ceres

The Dawn spacecraft observed Ceres for an hour on Jan. 13, 2015, from a distance of 238,000 miles (383,000 kilometers). A little more than half of its surface was observed at a resolution of 27 pixels. This animated GIF shows bright and dark features.

Over the next several weeks, Dawn will deliver increasingly better and better images of the dwarf planet, leading up to the spacecraft’s capture into orbit around Ceres on March 6. The images will continue to improve as the spacecraft spirals closer to the surface during its 16-month study of the dwarf planet.

more

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Date: 20/01/2015 07:36:44
From: dv
ID: 663750
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

Bloody awesome

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Date: 20/01/2015 08:21:18
From: Dropbear
ID: 663759
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

Shit photos man, they going for the glamour look?

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Date: 20/01/2015 08:26:01
From: roughbarked
ID: 663763
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

Dropbear said:


Shit photos man, they going for the glamour look?

heh.. was going to say something similar. ;)

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Date: 20/01/2015 12:52:30
From: Bubblecar
ID: 663832
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

Might as well slip this in here: comet activity snap from Rosetta. Taken late last year but released on Friday. Nucleus is overexposed to reveal the faint jets of activity:

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Date: 20/01/2015 18:01:32
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 663965
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

Dropbear said:


Shit photos man, they going for the glamour look?

You don’t see animated gifs of dwarf planets very often.

I’m still excited because I don’t know if Ceres will resemble the Moon, or Callisto, or something bizarrely different. One thing is for sure – it won’t resemble Vesta. Despite its large size, Vesta is still just an asteroid, but Ceres is something quite different.

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Date: 20/01/2015 18:28:38
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 663991
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

mollwollfumble said:


Dropbear said:

Shit photos man, they going for the glamour look?

You don’t see animated gifs of dwarf planets very often.

I’m still excited because I don’t know if Ceres will resemble the Moon, or Callisto, or something bizarrely different. One thing is for sure – it won’t resemble Vesta. Despite its large size, Vesta is still just an asteroid, but Ceres is something quite different.

The closest in size to Ceres is Tethys
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Inset-sat_tethys-large.jpg/300px-Inset-sat_tethys-large.jpg

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Date: 20/01/2015 18:29:33
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 663993
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

The closest in size to Ceres is Tethys

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Date: 20/01/2015 18:31:13
From: stumpy_seahorse
ID: 663995
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

mollwollfumble said:


The closest in size to Ceres is Tethys

shopped…

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Date: 21/01/2015 20:54:07
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 664563
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

By the way, nice that I posted this thread BEFORE the same image appeared on APOD.

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Date: 22/01/2015 22:35:41
From: Bubblecar
ID: 665137
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

Lubly video:

Dawn’s Farewell Portrait of Giant Asteroid Vesta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84411374&x-yt-ts=1421828030&v=84vz6J8cnc8

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Date: 22/01/2015 22:38:17
From: CrazyNeutrino
ID: 665139
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

http://xkcd.com/1476/

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Date: 24/01/2015 21:08:03
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 666007
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

CrazyNeutrino said:


http://xkcd.com/1476/

Yes! Just spotted that myself.
I’m killing myself wondering what “that stupid white dot is”.

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Date: 1/02/2015 11:52:28
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 670008
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

Animation

Now 43 pixels wide, was 27 pixels before. The white spot is still in evidence. Animation above.

It really is beginning to look like Tethys. Full story on http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/01/dawn-spacecraft-captures-best-ever-view-of-dwarf-planet

The images were taken 147,000 miles (237,000 kilometers) from Ceres and represent a new milestone for a spacecraft that soon will become the first human-made probe to visit a dwarf planet. At 43 pixels wide, the new images are more than 30 percent higher in resolution than those taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 2003 and 2004 …

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Date: 1/02/2015 12:13:16
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 670017
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

Aha, I can display the 43 pixel animation now. That’s better.

I found the link to it HERE

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Date: 1/02/2015 12:23:45
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 670020
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

See also the journal from the Planetary Society, for operational issues and more.
dawn-journal-closing-in-on-ceres

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Date: 6/02/2015 18:17:05
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 672942
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

From images of Ceres taken 5th Feb.

or, same sequence viewed a different way

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Date: 6/02/2015 18:21:21
From: Cymek
ID: 672946
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt. The mass of Ceres has been determined by analysis of the influence it exerts on smaller asteroids. Results differ slightly between researchers. The average of the three most precise values as of 2008 is 9.4×1020 kg. With this mass Ceres comprises about a third of the estimated total 3.0 ± 0.2×1021 kg mass of the asteroid belt, which is in turn about 4% of the mass of the Moon. The mass of Ceres is sufficient to give it a nearly spherical shape in hydrostatic equilibrium

Whats the lower limit for a spherical shape to form in space

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Date: 6/02/2015 18:25:26
From: ChrispenEvan
ID: 672948
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

i think that would depend on the substance and its resistance to shear forces. more than that i haven’t a clue.

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Date: 6/02/2015 18:25:45
From: wookiemeister
ID: 672950
Subject: re: Dawn approaches Ceres

I’ll just get a 9v battery tonight

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