Friday, March 6, 2015

Checking to see if Dawn is in orbit


As I write this, I haven't checked to see if Dawn is in orbit around Ceres.

So let me go do that.

Yup, it is.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet

A momentous achievement, especially remembering that Dawn also visited Vesta, too.

"In addition to being the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet, Dawn also has the distinction of being the first mission to orbit two extraterrestrial targets. From 2011 to 2012, the space-craft explored the giant asteroid Vesta, delivering new insights and thousands of images from that distant world. Ceres and Vesta are the two most massive residents of our solar system's main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter."


Now, most importantly -- what are the white spots???



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