Dawn at Ceres Thread

[Aethon]

So, looking at the embiggenated version on NASA's website, it looks like something is flowing from the central white peak, off to the lower left. Fascinating.

http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia19996.png

Or raining back down and flowing toward the white spot? I know, it's crazy.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Aethon

[lajoswinkler]

The weird mountain got a proper name. Ahuna mons.

And here's a new, better photo of it.

[-ctn-]

When is the new (last) orbit being finalized? And when can we expect data from it?

[Robotengineer]

On November 9, 2015 at 1:29:14 PM, lajoswinkler said:

The weird mountain got a proper name. Ahuna mons.

And here's a new, better photo of it.

-snip-

Looks like a weird video game terrain bug. It's also strange that it has a similarly sized crater right next to it, as if someone scooped it out and put it there. 

[Frida Space]

3 hours ago, -ctn- said:

When is the new (last) orbit being finalized? And when can we expect data from it?

Dawn is scheduled to reach LAMO (Low Altitude Mapping Orbit), its final orbit around Ceres, on December 15th, 2015, maybe a bit earlier than that considering it is already at less than 480 kilometers from the dwarf planet.

When can we expected data from it? In the case of HAMO, Dawn started taking the first images on August 18, one day after scheduled orbital insertion (Aug. 17) and they were released starting from Aug. 25. So I would say a week or so, but I might very well be wrong.

 

[Streetwind]

So the images should conveniently arrive around christmas...

[Frida Space]

Dawn should have stopped thrusting yesterday. Tomorrow engineers will decide whether the descent is fine or a correction manoeuvre is needed.

[Aethon]

 

 

Could someone explain to me how to embed videos into posts.  I'm pretty computer dumb.

 

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/dawn/new-clues-to-ceres-bright-spots-and-origins

This indicates a subsurface ocean to me.

Edited December 10, 2015 by Aethon

[PB666]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ceres-is-cloudy-with-a-chance-of-cryovolcanoes/

Theres a nasa jpl link also but its glitchy. 

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4785

 

 

Edited December 10, 2015 by PB666

[problemecium]

5 hours ago, Aethon said:

Could someone explain to me how to embed videos into posts.  I'm pretty computer dumb.

For YouTube, just paste the video URL (make sure there's no timestamp or anything. You actually did that part right) and then press "Enter" (not "Shift+Enter"!). If the post editor is in a cooperative mood, it'll turn the URL into a big giant embedded video. If not, try again xP

[cubinator]

5 hours ago, Aethon said:

This indicates a subsurface ocean to me.

I don't know about subsurface ocean, but I'm sure there's some kind of sublimation/ice activity going on. If there was an ocean that would be really cool, water really isn't as rare as we sometimes believe.

[Frida Space]

First images from Dawn's lowest and final orbit, LAMO, at 385 km from Ceres. Resolution is approx. 4x better than in previous orbit, HAMO (1470 km). Images taken via Dawn's backup FC (Framing Camera) as part of a test to verify its status.

[Frida Space]

On Dec. 31st (US time, might be Jan 1st somewhere), Dawn will ignite its ion thruster in the first of a series of course correction manoeuvres needed to keep the probe on track with its observational plan. Flight teams are still finalizing the details.

[Frida Space]

Update: Dawn successfully concluded its correction manoeuvre and has started collecting data again. The "small" correction manoeuvre lasted 11 hours. I knew that ion engines are pretty pathetic thrust-wise (but great in efficiency), but still, 11 hours for a correction manoevure? That really surprised me

[Streetwind]

Wonder how long it'll take to obtain and downlink a full surface mapping from this orbit... and for how many decades that map will stay the definitive resource for all things Ceres surface

[-ctn-]

New LAMO images today!
 

"These features likely resulted when the crater partly collapsed during its formation. The curvilinear nature of the scarps resembles those on the floor of Rheasilvia, the giant impact crater on Vesta, which Dawn orbited from 2011 to 2012... The 20-mile-wide (32-kilometer-wide) crater is located just west of the larger, named crater Dantu, at northern mid-latitudes on Ceres. Both of these impact features were captured during Dawn's Survey orbit."

"The fractured floor of Dantu Crater on Ceres is seen in this image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. Similar fractures are seen in Tycho, one of the youngest large craters on Earth's moon. This cracking may have resulted from the cooling of impact melt, or when the crater floor was uplifted after the crater formed."

"This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows Kupalo Crater, one of the youngest craters on Ceres. The crater has bright material exposed on its rim and walls, which could be salts. Its flat floor likely formed from impact melt and debris.Kupalo, which measures 16 miles (26 kilometers) across and is located at southern mid-latitudes, is named for the Slavic god of vegetation and harvest."


 

"...Messor Crater (25 miles or 40 kilometers, wide), located at northern mid-latitudes on Ceres. The scene shows an older crater in which a large lobe-shaped flow partly covers the northern (top) part of the crater floor. The flow is a mass of material ejected when a younger crater formed just north of the rim."

[Streetwind]

Stunning resolution on those. Go Dawn!

[Aethon]

 

 

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/new-animation-takes-a-colorful-flight-over-ceres

[Frida Space]

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/bright-spots-and-color-differences-revealed-on-ceres

Edited March 22, 2016 by Frida Space

[lajoswinkler]

OMG that's amazing. Even the brightness seems to be better handled (I don't like light gray Ceres photos).

[Streetwind]

Surprise update! And the news bodes well.

Dawn is an old spacecraft, partially crippled for years already and riddled with issues. But operators were surprised during the Ceres science campaign when they activated a reaction wheel that was considered lost, and found it spinning up just fine. This means that the spacecraft needed to devote less RCS fuel to attitude control, which was one of the major constraints to its remaining lifetime. In addition to that, precise and frugal maneuvers means that the spacecraft still carries more xenon fuel today than predicted.

The result? NASA asked the Dawn team to submit a new extended mission proposal. And though the team declines to confirm at this time, the rumor mill says that this extended mission has the potential to to do something that was previously thought impossible - push Dawn out of Ceres orbit, and set it on its way to another asteroid for study. Just a flyby, or actually an orbit? Totally conjecture at this point.

We will know more by the end of September/early October, when the review concludes.

[-ctn-]

Source for this news?

[Streetwind]

8 minutes ago, -ctn- said:

Source for this news?

Here you go: http://www.seeker.com/a-third-stop-for-dawn-asteroid-probe-1839172903.html

It's based on statements made during a webcast running while addressing a committee. From the looks of it, there won't be an official press kind of deal unless NASA greenlights the whole thing later this year.

 

Edited June 7, 2016 by Streetwind

[Duski]

Wouldn't be surprised if it was like a geyser on Triton. Could be a recent impact as well

EDIT: Just saw the pictures, so that's out of the window.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Duski
Saw the pics

[Streetwind]

Update: Dawn got a mission extension from NASA, but not the one the team wanted.

http://spacenews.com/nasa-rejects-plan-to-send-dawn-to-another-asteroid/

TL;DR: Dawn is to stay at Ceres and continue monitoring it for at least another year, looking for changes as the dwarf planet approaches perihelion. NASA considers that to be more valuable than a mere flyby of a different, much smaller asteroid (which would have been all that Dawn has fuel left to do).