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majicbar
06-10-2012, 02:43 PM
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/imageoftheday/201206/657029main_vesta_page.jpg

NASA's Mission Video Shows Vesta's Coat of Many Colors

June 6, 2012

A new video from NASA's Dawn mission reveals the dappled, variegated surface of the giant asteroid Vesta. The animation drapes high-resolution false color images over a 3-D model of the Vesta terrain constructed from Dawn's observations. This visualization enables a detailed view of the variation in the material properties of Vesta in the context of its topography.

The colors were chosen to highlight differences in surface composition that are too subtle for the human eye to see. Scientists are still analyzing what some of the colors mean for the composition of the surface. But it is clear that the orange material thrown out from some impact craters is different from the surrounding surface material. Green shows the relative abundance of iron. Parts of the huge impact basin known as Rheasilvia in Vesta's southern hemisphere, for instance, have areas with less iron than nearby areas.

Dawn has imaged the majority of the surface of Vesta with the framing camera to provide this 3-D map. While some areas in the north were in shadow at the time the images were obtained by the camera, Dawn expects to improve its coverage of Vesta's northern hemisphere with additional observations. Dawn's viewing geometry also prevented mapping of a portion of the mountain of the south pole.

The spacecraft is currently spiraling up from its lowest-altitude orbit into its final science orbit, where its average altitude will be about 420 miles (680 kilometers). Dawn is scheduled to leave Vesta around Aug. 26.

The Dawn mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., designed and built the Dawn spacecraft. The framing cameras were developed and built under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin made significant contributions in coordination with the Institute of Computer and Communication Network Engineering in Braunschweig. The framing camera project is funded by the Max Planck Society, DLR and NASA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Image Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ UCLA/ MPS/ DLR/ IDA/ PSI





http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/movies/imageoftheday/201206/vestarotate_20120530-640.mov

CasperParks
06-10-2012, 11:06 PM
Interesting colors

majicbar
09-09-2012, 07:18 PM
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/imageoftheday/201206/657029main_vesta_page.jpg

NASA's Mission Video Shows Vesta's Coat of Many Colors

June 6, 2012

A new video from NASA's Dawn mission reveals the dappled, variegated surface of the giant asteroid Vesta. The animation drapes high-resolution false color images over a 3-D model of the Vesta terrain constructed from Dawn's observations. This visualization enables a detailed view of the variation in the material properties of Vesta in the context of its topography.

The colors were chosen to highlight differences in surface composition that are too subtle for the human eye to see. Scientists are still analyzing what some of the colors mean for the composition of the surface. But it is clear that the orange material thrown out from some impact craters is different from the surrounding surface material. Green shows the relative abundance of iron. Parts of the huge impact basin known as Rheasilvia in Vesta's southern hemisphere, for instance, have areas with less iron than nearby areas.

Dawn has imaged the majority of the surface of Vesta with the framing camera to provide this 3-D map. While some areas in the north were in shadow at the time the images were obtained by the camera, Dawn expects to improve its coverage of Vesta's northern hemisphere with additional observations. Dawn's viewing geometry also prevented mapping of a portion of the mountain of the south pole.

The spacecraft is currently spiraling up from its lowest-altitude orbit into its final science orbit, where its average altitude will be about 420 miles (680 kilometers). Dawn is scheduled to leave Vesta around Aug. 26.

The Dawn mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., designed and built the Dawn spacecraft. The framing cameras were developed and built under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin made significant contributions in coordination with the Institute of Computer and Communication Network Engineering in Braunschweig. The framing camera project is funded by the Max Planck Society, DLR and NASA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Image Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ UCLA/ MPS/ DLR/ IDA/ PSI





http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/movies/imageoftheday/201206/vestarotate_20120530-640.mov

Dawn has departed the giant asteroid Vesta

Status Report: 2012-271


September 5, 2012 - PASADENA, Calif. -- Mission controllers received
confirmation today that NASA's Dawn spacecraft has escaped from the
gentle gravitational grip of the giant asteroid Vesta. Dawn is now
officially on its way to its second destination, the dwarf planet
Ceres.

Dawn departed from Vesta at about 11:26 p.m. PDT on Sept. 4 (2:26 a.m.
EDT on Sept. 5). Communications from the spacecraft via NASA's Deep
Space Network confirmed the departure and that the spacecraft is now
traveling toward Ceres.

"As we respectfully say goodbye to Vesta and reflect on the amazing
discoveries over the past year, we eagerly look forward to the next
phase of our adventure at Ceres, where even more exciting discoveries
await," said Robert Mase, Dawn project manager, based at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Launched on Sept. 27, 2007, Dawn slipped into orbit around Vesta on
July 15, 2011 PDT (July 16 EDT). Over the past year, Dawn has
comprehensively mapped this previously uncharted world, revealing an
exotic and diverse planetary building block. The findings are helping
scientists unlock some of the secrets of how the solar system,
including our own Earth, was formed.

Dawn spiraled away from Vesta as gently as it arrived. It is expected
to pull into its next port of call, Ceres, in early 2015.

Dawn's mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's
Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science.
Orbital Sciences Corp. in Dulles, Va., designed and built the
spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for
Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian
National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the
mission team. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena
manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about Dawn, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/dawn.