REAL LIFE NEWS: DAWN GETS READY FOR ITS CERES CLOSE-UP
by Hazed
Speaking of flying past dwarf planets, the Dawn spacecraft is preparing to make its final flyby of Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt.
Dawn has been flying around Ceres since 2015, and after making several close approaches, it’s now orbiting 270 miles above the surface. NASA will soon drop it down to just 30 miles which will allow the probe to send back high-res images as well as to collect data on gamma ray and neutron spectra.
Dawn’s Principal Investigator Carol Raymond of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, said, “These new high-resolution data allow us to test theories formulated from the previous data sets and discover new features of this fascinating dwarf planet.”
Dawn has already discovered plenty of fascinating things about Ceres, including a 13,000 foot high ice volcano and a seasonable water cycle. This new low, low orbit should yield even more amazing discoveries.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/01/dawn_ceres_close_up/
