NASA craft circling Ceres in first visit to dwarf planet

[Buster's Uncle]

NASA craft circling Ceres in first visit to dwarf planet
Associated Press
By ALICIA CHANG  1 hour ago



This Feb. 19, 2015 file image provided by NASA shows the dwarf planet Ceres, taken by the space agency's Dawn spacecraft from a distance of nearly 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers). On Friday, March 6, 2015, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft arrives at the mysterious dwarf planet located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter after a nearly eight-year journey. Dawn, which previously visited Vesta, also in the asteroid belt, has already beamed back images of Ceres as it closes in. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA, File



LOS ANGELES (AP) — A NASA spacecraft for the first time has arrived at a dwarf planet to begin a 16-month exploration.

The space agency on Friday confirmed that the Dawn craft entered orbit around Ceres in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

"It went exactly the way we expected. Dawn gently, elegantly slid into Ceres' gravitational embrace," said mission chief engineer Marc Rayman at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $473 million mission.

Ceres is the last and final stop for Dawn, which launched in 2007 on a voyage to the main asteroid belt, a zone littered with rocky leftovers from the formation of the sun and planets some 4.5 billion years ago.

Dawn will spend the next 16 months photographing the icy surface. It previously spent a year at Vesta exploring the asteroid and sending back stunning close-ups of the lumpy surface before cruising onto the Texas-sized Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt.

The 3-billion mile trip was made possible by Dawn's ion propulsion engines, which provide gentle yet constant acceleration and are more efficient than conventional thrusters.

As Dawn approached Ceres, it had beamed back puzzling images revealing a pair of shiny patches inside a crater — signs of possible ice or salt.

Scientists hope to get a better glimpse when the spacecraft spirals closer to the surface to study whether previously spotted plumes of water vapor continue to vent.

Dawn is currently in Ceres' shadows and won't take new pictures until it emerges in April, Rayman said.

"The real drama is exploring this alien, exotic world," he said.

Dwarf planets lately have become the focus of exploration.

This summer, another NASA spacecraft — New Horizons — is set to make the first visit to Pluto, which was demoted to dwarf planet.

Dawn almost never made it out to the inner solar system. The mission endured funding-related project cancellations and launch delays before it received the green light to fly.


http://news.yahoo.com/nasas-dawn-spacecraft-moves-dwarf-planet-ceres-071516209.html

[Geo]

Dawn floats in Ceres' shadow until April? Must be more like a solar orbit very similar to Ceres' orbit then an actual orbit around the dwarf planet.

[Unorthodox]

Dawn floats in Ceres' shadow until April? Must be more like a solar orbit very similar to Ceres' orbit then an actual orbit around the dwarf planet.

They did a ballistic capture, so you are exactly right, it was placed VERY close to Ceres' orbit, and they are waiting for gravity to actually go to work to attain more useful orbits.  Just wondering how many of these stock 'news' stories with the same photo we've got to sit through for the next month. 

[Geo]

Unless those double 'lights' shine at the nightside, we won't see any new pictures until late April.