Flight over dwarf planet Ceres

To get a glimpse of what Ceres would look like if one were on the orbiter itself, scientists from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research processed a total of 80 images – some acquired from an orbit altitude of 13,500 kilometres and others taken for navigation purposes at distances of 7000 and 5100 kilometres. "Here, we used a three-dimensional terrain model that we had produced based on the images acquired so far," explains Jaumann. "They will become increasingly detailed as the mission progresses – with each additional orbit bringing us closer to the surface." The DLR planetary researchers are also responsible for producing cartographic surveys of the dwarf planet.

'Dry' Vesta and 'wet' Ceres

The dwarf planet has already proven its worth as an interesting object for scientific study. "Looking down on Ceres from space, we see a variety of geological formations that show how powerful forces have shaped the surface of Ceres." The researchers had to wait seven years for the Dawn spacecraft to reach the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter; this happened on 6 March 2015. When the orbiter was launched – on 27 September 2007 – Ceres was still classified as an asteroid. Now, it has been 'promoted' to the category of dwarf planet. En route to its destination, Dawn paid a visit to asteroid Vesta, which it orbited from July 2011 to September 2012 – acquiring tens of thousands of images.

The connection between these two celestial bodies is that they are among the largest found in the asteroid belt. Vesta has a diameter of 530 kilometres, and Ceres is larger, at almost 1000 kilometres across. In spite of this, they are extremely different; Vesta is what is known as a 'dry' asteroid that did not absorb much water during its formation. In contrast, Ceres is located further from the Sun and could even have an ocean beneath its icy crust.

The mission