The NASA’s Dawn spacecraft got up and close with dwarf planet Ceres and transmitted new photos of the dwarf planet that are currently being analyzed for signs of life by scientists.
The new photos of Ceres show what the dwarf planet is up close, and analysts think it might be icy and even contain an ocean. A further examination of the images suggest that Ceres might also have craters but the researchers are not so sure yet, and this makes the researchers impatient for Dawn probe to get much closer to the dwarf planet.
Ceres is the largest body within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it possesses an average diameter of 590 miles.
The images taken by NASA’s Dawn probe were taken on January 13 but released today, and they appear very grainy when compared to the ones the Hubble Telescope can take.
The images were taken about a distance of 238,000 miles and it reflects the position and view of Ceres from the distance and angle occupied by Dawn when the images were taken. These photos will be employed to help guide Dawn in its approach closer to Ceres.
NASA expects the photos to get much better and clearer as Dawn gets much closer to Ceres – and it might even reach it by March 6, making it the very first time Dawn spacecraft will be visiting a dwarf planet.
The mission is expected to last for 16 months to enable researchers analyze Ceres in terms of its oceans, craters, habitability, and history among others.