The brightest area on Ceres stands out against the dark, cratered terrain in a stunning new image from the Dawn spacecraft. The image was taken on October 16 from the fifth scientific orbit in turn, with a new angle of incidence of the Sun. At the moment, the probe is observing at an altitude of about 1,480 kilometers above the surface of the dwarf planet, which corresponds to the altitude that the spacecraft reached in early October.
The image clearly shows the already famous Occator crater with a bright central area and other areas with less pronounced reflectivity. The crater is 92 kilometers wide and 4 kilometers deep, and its structure is indicative of recent geological activity. Recent studies show that the bright material of this crater consists of salts formed after the salty liquid came out from under the surface – when it freezes, the liquid sublimates and turns from ice to vapor.
“This image allows you to see how fascinating and amazing this world is,” said Mark Reiman, chief engineer and director of the Dawn mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
It is noteworthy that thanks to the Dawn images, scientists have already been able to create a model of Ceres in those colors that would appear to the human eye when approaching a dwarf planet.
