Take a video tour of the curious dwarf planet Ceres
The many craters of Ceres are more complex than scientists expected. According to new data, back from the spacecraft Dawn's current orbit 2,700 miles above the planet's surface, the topography has some curious variations.
NASA released a video that includes animation from the most recent orbit, including visuals of the tallest peak on the dwarf planet, described as cone or pyramid-shaped and approximately four miles high, with steep slopes that contain bright streaks. They compare the elevation to Mount McKinley in Alaska, the highest point in North America.
"This mountain is among the tallest features we've seen on Ceres to date," Dawn science team member Paul Schenk, a geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston said in a statement. "It's unusual that it's not associated with a crater. Why is it sitting in the middle of nowhere? We don't know yet, but we may find out with closer observations."
The crater Occator, which contains the planet's signature bright spots, is in the northern hemisphere. The newly explored mountain peak lies 11 degrees south, 316 degrees east of the crater, in the southeast quadrant of the planet.
The bright spots do not appear to be made of ice, as the scientists previously thought. The reflections of the "albedo," which measures of the amount of light reflected from the bright spots, is not high enough to be concentrated ice.
"The science team is continuing to evaluate the data and discuss theories about these bright spots at Occator," said Chris Russell, Dawn's principal investigator at the University of California, Los Angeles. "We are now comparing the spots with the reflective properties of salt, but we are still puzzled by their source. We look forward to new, higher-resolution data from the mission's next orbital phase."
The Dawn spacecraft reached Ceres, the first dwarf planet where any mission has arrived, on March 6. NASA released the first images of the planet, highlighting its bright spots, in June. The Dawn mission launched in 2007.
Another, closer flyover of Ceres, at 1,500 miles above the surface, is planned for mid-August. Closer inspection of the topography then could reveal much more about the many craters, cracks and bright spots on the planet's surface.
"There are many other features that we are interested in studying further," said Dawn science team member David O'Brien, with the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona. "These include a pair of large impact basins called Urvara and Yalode in the southern hemisphere, which have numerous cracks extending away from them, and the large impact basin Kerwan, whose center is just south of the equator."