Ceres From Dawn, Raw

Figure 1
Click on the image for larger version

This is a raw image, taken Jan. 13, 2015, showing the dwarf planet Ceres as seen from the Dawn spacecraft on its approach. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at Ceres on March 6, 2015. Dawn's framing camera took this image at 238,000 miles (383,000 kilometers) from Ceres. A zoomed-in version is also available.

The zoomed-in raw image in Figure 1, taken Jan. 13, 2015, shows surface features starting to become apparent in the image.

The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington D.C. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. The Dawn framing cameras were developed and built under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen, Germany, with significant contributions by 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 the Max Planck Society, DLR, and NASA/JPL. The Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.

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