This topographic map of the projected view of Ceres was one of the images taken by NASA’s Rassvet spacecraft during its stay in remote orbit in August and September 2015.
Recently obtained maps of the surface of Ceres give new information about the mysterious spots and grief having a pyramidal shape.
New maps of Ceres are constantly being delivered to the NASA Rassvet spacecraft. This device has been in Ceres orbit since March. On maps of the surface covered with craters, you can highlight interesting compositions and elevations. The differences between Ceres and planets like Mars and Jupiter are immediately visible.
For example, on a map focused on a ridge, a mountain was found duplicating the Pyramid. This mountain rises from the surface of Ceres to a height of about 4 miles (6, 4 km).
There is another amazing map of the Occator crater (90 km in diameter), with mysterious luminous bright spots visible on it.
IAU confirmation
This color surface map, made by the ship of the NASA Dawn mission, shows the highs and lows of the relief on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres. On it are special labels with the names of objects, approved by the International Astronomical Union NASA / JPL-.
The mission team must also collect a single global map of Ceres from all the cards. To do this, all topographic maps will be used, including the last with marked names, which were recently approved by the International Astronomical Union. All the names of objects in Ceres have an agricultural theme. For example, a mountain that is 12 miles wide (20 km) is called Ysolo Mons, in honor of the Albanian festival, on the first day of the harvest of eggplants.
New maps of Ceres were actively discussed at the European Conference (EPSC) held in Nantes, France. The conference was held from September 27 to October 2. At conferences, members of the Dawn crew were talking about mysterious flashes that were recorded by a spacecraft (three flashes of charged electrons). It is assumed that this is due to the interaction between the dwarf planet and solar radiation.
"This observation is very unexpected and now we are testing hypotheses," said the chief investigator of the ship Dawn Chris Russell. "Ceres surprises us, but still I think we will solve the cause of the energy bursts of the particles."
Low orbits
This view was taken using images taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. It shows a high conical mountain. The exterior covers a range of about 5 miles (8 km) from lowlands to mountain peaks. Blue is the lowest area and brown is the highest.
Dawn is now studying Ceres from a height of 915 miles (1,470 km). But soon, the probe will begin descending in a spiral down to a lower orbit. This will reduce the distance to the surface to 230 miles (375 km).
Dawn, as expected, will move to this orbit in 2 months, because the probe needs some time to maneuver to new positions. There the ship will remain until the end of its mission, until mid-2016. The launch cost of the Rassvet probe was $ 466 million. The mission of this device began in September 2007 with a visit to Vesta and Ceres, the two largest objects in the asteroid belt. The diameter of Ceres is about 590 miles. Vesta is smaller in size, its diameter is 330 miles.
The ship Dawn occupied the orbit of Vesta from July 2011 to September 2012, and after that he went to Ceres. Dawn is the first probe ever to go into orbit of a dwarf planet, and was the first to visit two objects outside the Earth-Moon system.
Planetary building blocks
This view, obtained using the Dawn Dawn probe, is a topographic map of the Occator crater on Ceres. Blue color shows the lowest areas, and brown the highest - the highest.
The mission found many differences between Vesta and Ceres, both of which are built from planetary building blocks left over from the early days of the solar system.
"The irregular shape of craters on Ceres is especially interesting, they resemble craters that we saw on the icy moon of Saturn Rey," said Deputy Chief Researcher Carol Raymond.
