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Topography of Vesta's Surface

Aug. 26, 2011
This view of the topography of asteroid Vesta's surface is composed of several images obtained with the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft on August 6, 2011. The image mosaic is shown superimposed on a digital terrain model.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image -- of a central mound in a large structure at the south pole -- with its framing camera on August 12, 2011. This image was taken through the camera's clear filter. The image has a resolution of about 260 meters per pixel.

The framing cameras were developed and built under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, with significant contributions by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, and in coordination with the Institute of Computer and Communication Network Engineering, Braunschweig. The framing camera project is funded by NASA, the Max Planck Society and DLR. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena.

More information about Dawn is online at http://www.nasa.gov/dawn and http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov.

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