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NEW YORK: NASA’s Dawn spacecraft captured the most detailed images of the dwarf planet Ceres. The images were captured by the craft from a distance of nearly 1,470 kilometers. The pictures were received by NASA on August 21.
According to the space agency, the Dawn mission spacecraft captured the images from 1,470 kilometers away. The images sent back home reveals some impressive details of the dwarf world’s surface.
The photos of the Ceres, which is located between Jupiter and Mars, depict clearly the geography of the planet in a detailed manner. The images clearly show craters, mountains and cracks on the surface of the dwarf planet.
Marc Rayman, chief engineer and mission director of Dawn, said the latest images will help them to know the dwarf planet more clearly. He also said that he is very satisfied with the images and the progress of the mission so far.
“Dawn is performing flawlessly in the new orbit as it conducts its ambitious exploration. The spacecraft’s view is now three times as sharp as in its previous mapping orbit, revealing exciting new details of this intriguing dwarf planet”, he said.
As per mission scientists, the image sent by the craft shows what is calculated to be a six kilometer cone shaped mountain which is protruding from the surface of the planet.
Furthermore, scientists said Dawn will take some more time to capture the entire surface of Ceres. So far every images taken by the craft represents 1% of the planet’s surface.
