Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has relayed an impressive new image of asteroid Vesta.
Making use of its Framing Camera – a project funded by Germany’s Max Planck Society, the DLR German Aerospace Center, and NASA/JPL — the smallest detail visible on Vesta is about 1.2 miles (2.0 km).
The image was taken from a distance of about 6,500 miles (10,500 kilometers) away from the asteroid.
The large structure near the south pole that showed up so prominently in previous images is visible in the center of the illuminated surface. Compared to other images, this one shows more of the surface beneath the spacecraft in the shadow of night. Vesta turns on its axis once every five hours and 20 minutes.
Dawn entered orbit around Vesta on July 15th. The craft will spend a year orbiting the protoplanet. After that, the next stop on its itinerary will be an encounter with the dwarf planet, asteroid Ceres.
By Leonard David