Dawn VIR Images of Ceres

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Caption:

These images, from Dawn's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR), highlight two regions on Ceres containing bright spots. The top images feature a bright spot scientists have labeled "1" (located at around 4 degrees north, 8 degrees east on Ceres' surface); the bottom images feature the spot labeled "5" (located at around 20 degrees north, 240 degrees east). Spot 5 actually contains two spots, which are the brightest on Ceres.

Each row shows Ceres' surface at different wavelengths. At left are images taken in visible light, close to wavelengths seen by the human eye. The center images show the same regions of Ceres in wavelengths shifted to the infrared range. The two images at right show Ceres in thermal infrared, where brighter colors represent higher temperatures.

During Dawn's arrival at Ceres, VIR has been examining the relative temperatures of features on the dwarf planet's 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.

The images were captured on February 19, 2015, when Dawn was nearly 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers) from Ceres. Image scale on Ceres is about 7 miles (11 kilometers) per pixel.

Background Info:

The Dawn mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The University of California, Los Angeles, is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK, Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.The Dawn mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The University of California, Los Angeles, is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK, Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of acknowledgments, http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission .

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