Back to Ceres

Lest we forget, as Cassini enters its final orbits around Saturn, the Dawn satellite is still orbiting the asteroid Ceres.

I happened to find this interesting short article, which features the most interesting feature on Ceres, Occator Crater.  You know, the one with the really bright spots that turned out to be complex salts.

Here's the article, and followed by that, the accompanying picture (which you can also see in the article).

Complex Relationships in the Occator-Kirnis Region

Here's the opening paragraph:

This view obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft during its Survey orbit illustrates the diversity and complexity of Ceres' geology. It shows familiar features: Occator Crater with its bright deposits (called faculae) of carbonates and other salts, a series of linear features (at right) called Samhain Catenae, and another large crater on the right side of the image called Kirnis. A relatively fresh crater called Lociyo, superimposed on an older crater, can be seen toward the bottom left of the picture."

And here's that picture: