NASA's Dawn spacecraft moves in on dwarf planet Ceres
The largest celestial body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter welcomes its first visitor Friday.
Space Exploration
Mar 6, 2015
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News tagged with main asteroid belt
NASA spacecraft nears encounter with dwarf planet Ceres
A NASA spacecraft called Dawn is about to become the first mission to orbit a dwarf planet when it slips into orbit Friday around Ceres, the most massive body in the asteroid belt.
Space Exploration
Mar 4, 2015
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NASA spacecraft nears historic dwarf planet arrival
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to its historic orbit insertion at the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn will be the first mission to successfully visit a dwarf planet when it enters orbit around ...
Space Exploration
Mar 2, 2015
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Scientists study surface composition of asteroid 2004 BL86 during close flyby of Earth
Planetary Science Institute researchers Vishnu Reddy and Driss Takir studied the surface composition of near-Earth asteroid 2004 BL86 during its close flyby of Earth earlier this week.
Space Exploration
Jan 28, 2015
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Are asteroids the future of planetary science?
I don't think I ever learned one of those little rhymes – My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas – to memorize the order of the planets, but if I had, it would've painted for me a minimalist picture of the ...
Space Exploration
Jan 27, 2015
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Gullies on Vesta suggest past water-mobilized flows
(Phys.org)—Protoplanet Vesta, visited by NASA's Dawn spacecraft from 2011 to 2013, was once thought to be completely dry, incapable of retaining water because of the low temperatures and pressures at its surface. However, ...
Space Exploration
Jan 23, 2015
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Dawn delivers new image of Ceres
(Phys.org)—As NASA's Dawn spacecraft closes in on Ceres, new images show the dwarf planet at 27 pixels across, about three times better than the calibration images taken in early December. These are the first in a series ...
Space Exploration
Jan 19, 2015
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A visual journey to Bennu, the target of NASA's asteroid sampling mission OSIRIS-REx
Asteroid Bennu, the target of OSIRIS-REx, NASA's first mission to a pristine carbonaceous asteroid that may hold clues to the origins of life in our solar system, took center stage at the AAS's Division for Planetary Sciences ...
Space Exploration
Dec 16, 2014
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Dawn snaps its best-yet image of dwarf planet ceres
The Dawn spacecraft has delivered a glimpse of Ceres, the largest body in the main asteroid belt, in a new image taken 740,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from the dwarf planet. This is Dawn's best image yet of Ceres as ...
Space Exploration
Dec 5, 2014
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Geologic mapping of asteroid Vesta reveals history of large impacts
A team of 14 scientists led by David Williams of Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration has completed the first global geologic and tectonic map of the asteroid Vesta. The work reveals that Vesta's ...
Space Exploration
Nov 17, 2014
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