NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has taken the best images yet seen of the dwarf planet Ceres, showing the cratered surface of the planet in great detail.
Ceres is a miniature planet beyond Mars believed to be left over from the formation of the solar system.
The newly-released images were taken on December 10 at the lowest altitude flown yet by Dawn, just 240 miles (385 kilometers) above the planet’s surface, a NASA statement said.
The photos, taken at the southern hemisphere of Ceres include a view of a chain of craters called Gerber Catena.
Craters and fractures on the surface, NASA said, are caused by impacts but also tectonic movement, a process common on larger planets.
Launched in 2007, the Dawn spacecraft made a 14-month tour of the asteroid Vesta before steering itself toward Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Earlier this year, Dawn relayed images of startlingly bright spots on the surface of Ceres, which could be patches of subsurface ice exposed after an asteroid or comet impact. They also could be deposits of salt or other minerals. (Reuters)