NASA Probe "Dawn" spacecraft is on its final phase in its approach to the dwarf planet Ceres. The team behind the "Dawn" receives amazing photos of the dwarf planet and they expect to learn more about Ceres.
KMBZ reported that NASA's "Dawn" spacecraft is slowly approaching the dwarf planet Ceres and they have released photos of the cosmic rock. The dwarf planet Ceres has an approximate diameter of 590 miles, which is comparable to the size of Texas. It is considered to be the largest foreign body in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. The recent images released by NASA shows what Ceres looks like 238,000 miles away.
The Italian astromer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the dwarf planet Ceres last January 1, 1801 according to Sci-News. The Team Dawn expects that the spacecraft will be able to get in touch with the dwarf planet on March 6, 2015. The team also said that as "Dawn" approach Ceres, we can expect that an improve quality of pictures with great detail will arrive. According to the report, the best image for Ceres right now are the images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope last 2003 and 2004.
Dr. Marc Rayman , Dawn's chief engineer from NASA's Jet Propulsion said that "We know so much about our Solar System and yet so little about dwarf planet Ceres," adding that "Now, Dawn is ready to change that."
The recent images from Ceres spark the interests and theorist among different research team throughout the world. Dr Andreas of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen, Germany gave his opinion saying that "Already, the latest images hint at first surface structures such as craters."
Dr Chris Russell of the University of California, Los Angeles on the other hand is excited with the recent image saying that "The team is very excited to examine the surface of Ceres in never-before-seen detail. We look forward to the surprises this mysterious world may bring," Space additionally reported that by the end of January, the "Dawn" spacecraft will be able to obtain high resolution images of Ceres compared to those taken by Hubble Space Telescope.
In the same report, scientists have announced that there is evidence of water on Ceres in the form of vapour plumes in the sky. These plumes may have been caused by ice geysers in the dwarf planet and they may have been a liquid ocean beneath the surface of Ceres. And when there is water there could be a possibility that life can propagate in the planet. NASA has yet to confirm this officially.
NASA Probe "Dawn" spacecraft may be the key that scientist are looking for to discover more about the dwarf planet Ceres in our Solar System. While chance of life in this dwarf planet is low, there is a hope that humans may discover more in space exploration in this journey.
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