The Dawn spacecraft, which was launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2007 to conduct a close-range study of two massive objects found in the asteroid belt, is getting closer to one of its target extraterrestrial worlds, the dwarf planet Ceres.
As it approaches Ceres, the space probe has also taken its best images of the mystery-shrouded world. With a resolution of 8.5 miles per pixel, the latest images of Ceres were the sharpest taken of the dwarf planet to date.
The new Ceres images were captured on Wednesday, Feb. 4, while Dawn was at a proximity of 90,000 miles from Ceres.
Ceres is the largest object in the main asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter. Discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1901, the alien world has a diameter of 590 miles.
Although it is the sole dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, Ceres has approximately 30 percent of the total mass of the belt. In comparison, the protoplanet Vesta, another target object of the Dawn spacecraft that it earlier orbited, contains only about 8 percent of the mass of the asteroid belt.
Although Ceres is relatively near compared with other dwarf planets, such as Eris and Pluto, much about it remains a mystery for scientists. It is, however, believed that it harbors a great amount of water albeit in the form of ice.
Dawn mission director Marc Rayman said that Ceres is known to be about 30 percent water by mass. Scientists likewise consider the possibility that the dwarf planet has oceans of liquid water hiding beneath its icy surface.
Early last year, researchers who were conducting analyses of data collected by the Herschel Space Observatory revealed that they had detected a plume of water vapor coming from the dwarf planet, which raises the possibility that internal heat causes cryovolcanism on Ceres much like it does on Enceladus, the sixth largest moon of planet Saturn.
Thus, Ceres may have liquid water and an energy source, which are important criteria necessary for life to exist.
Following its July 2011 to September 2012 orbit of Vesta, the second largest object in the asteroid belt, Dawn is anticipated to orbit Ceres by March.
"After looking through telescopes at Ceres for more than 200 years, I just think it's really going to be exciting to see what this exotic, alien world looks like," Rayman said. "We're finally going to learn about this place."
