NASA's Dawn spacecraft sets sail for Ceres
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Artist concept showing the Dawn spacecraft with Ceres and Vesta (Image: William K. Hartmann Courtesy of UCLA)
This image taken before Dawn left Vesta shows the shadowy outlines of the terrain in Vesta's northern region (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)
An image from the last sequence of images NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained of the giant asteroid Vesta, looking down at Vesta's north pole as it was departing (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)
Article Summary
After becoming the first spacecraft to enter orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter in July 2011, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has spent the last year mapping the giant asteroid Vesta. The spacecraft has now bid adieu to Vesta and is on its way to the dwarf planet Ceres to continue its mission to help shed light on the evolution of our solar system.
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