{"id":10072,"date":"2015-03-06T12:43:54","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T17:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10072"},"modified":"2015-03-06T12:43:54","modified_gmt":"2015-03-06T17:43:54","slug":"dawn-spacecraft-enters-orbit-around-ceres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10072","title":{"rendered":"Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around Ceres"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today NASA&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/dawn\" target=\"_blank\">Dawn<\/a> spacecraft went into orbit around <a href=\"http:\/\/solarsystem.nasa.gov\/planets\/profile.cfm?Object=Dwa_Ceres\" target=\"_blank\">Ceres<\/a>, the largest object in the asteroid belt and now classified as a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dwarf_planet\" target=\"_blank\">dwarf planet<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/2015\/03\/dawn-historic-arrival-ceres\/\" target=\"_d\">Dawn completes historic arrival at Ceres &#8211;\u00a0NASASpaceFlight.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orbitalatk.com\/news-room\/dawn-spacecraft-captured-into-orbit-around-ceres,-the-largest-object-in-the-main-asteroid-belt\" target=\"_d\">Dawn Spacecraft Captured Into Orbit Around Ceres, The Largest Object in the Main Asteroid Belt &#8211; Orbital ATK<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here is NASA&#8217;s announcement:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press\/2015\/march\/nasa-spacecraft-becomes-first-to-orbit-a-dwarf-planet\/index.html#.VPnmK_nF98E\" target=\"_d\">NASA Spacecraft Becomes First to Orbit a Dwarf Planet<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>NASA&#8217;s Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet. The spacecraft was approximately 38,000 miles (61,000) kilometers from Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet\u2019s gravity at about 4:39 a.m. PST (7:39 a.m. EST) Friday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/PIA19311_7321.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10073\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=10073\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/PIA19311_7321.png\" data-orig-size=\"732,495\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"PIA19311_732[1]\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/PIA19311_7321.png\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10073\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/PIA19311_7321.png\" alt=\"PIA19311_732[1]\" width=\"520\" height=\"352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/PIA19311_7321.png 732w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/PIA19311_7321-300x203.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Ceres is seen from NASA&#8217;s Dawn spacecraft on March 1, just a few days before the mission achieved orbit around the previously unexplored dwarf planet. The image was taken at a distance of about 30,000 miles (about 48,000 kilometers). Image Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/UCLA\/MPS\/DLR\/IDA<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Mission controllers at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California received a signal from the spacecraft at 5:36 a.m. PST (8:36 a.m. EST) that Dawn was healthy and thrusting with its ion engine, the indicator Dawn had entered orbit as planned.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet,&#8221; said Marc Rayman, Dawn chief engineer and mission director at JPL. &#8220;Now, after a journey of 3.1 billion miles (4.9 billion kilometers) and 7.5 years, Dawn calls Ceres, home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In addition to being the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet, Dawn also has the distinction of being the first mission to orbit two extraterrestrial targets. From 2011 to 2012, the spacecraft explored the giant asteroid Vesta, delivering new insights and thousands of images from that distant world. Ceres and Vesta are the two most massive residents of our solar system\u2019s main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\n<p>The most recent images received from the spacecraft, taken on March 1 show Ceres as a crescent, mostly in shadow because the spacecraft&#8217;s trajectory put it on a side of Ceres that faces away from the sun until mid-April. When Dawn emerges from Ceres&#8217; dark side, it will deliver ever-sharper images as it spirals to lower orbits around the planet.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We feel exhilarated,&#8221; said Chris Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). &#8220;We have much to do over the next year and a half, but we are now on station with ample reserves, and a robust plan to obtain our science objectives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Dawn&#8217;s mission is managed by JPL for NASA&#8217;s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate&#8217;s Discovery Program, managed by NASA&#8217;s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.<\/p>\n<p>For a complete list of mission participants, visit:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/dawn.jpl.nasa.gov\/mission\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>dawn.jpl.nasa.gov\/mission<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For more information about Dawn, visit:\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/dawn\" target=\"_blank\">www.nasa.gov\/dawn<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today NASA&#8217;s Dawn spacecraft went into orbit around Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt and now classified as a dwarf planet. Dawn completes historic arrival at Ceres &#8211;\u00a0NASASpaceFlight.com Dawn Spacecraft Captured Into Orbit Around Ceres, The Largest Object in the Main Asteroid Belt &#8211; Orbital ATK Here is NASA&#8217;s announcement: NASA Spacecraft Becomes &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10072\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around Ceres<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asteroids","category-space-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2Cs","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10389,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10389","url_meta":{"origin":10072,"position":0},"title":"Dawn images Ceres north pole area","author":"TopSpacer","date":"April 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0Dawn\u00a0spacecraft is moving towards the sunlight side of Ceres and has begun taking images again: Dawn Glimpses Ceres' North Pole \u00a0 This animation shows the north pole of dwarf planet Ceres as seen by the Dawn spacecraft on April 10, 2015. Dawn was at a distance of 21,000 miles (33,000\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"19317_animation_700[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/19317_animation_7001.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10035,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10035","url_meta":{"origin":10072,"position":1},"title":"New images from Dawn spacecraft as it approaches the dwarf planet Ceres","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest news about NASA's Dawn spacecraft and its approach to Ceres: NASA Spacecraft Nears Historic Dwarf Planet Arrival \u00a0 Ceres rotates in this sped-up movie comprised of images taken by NASA's Dawn mission during its approach to the dwarf planet. The images were taken on Feb. 19, 2015, from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"15-027-ceres-gif-650[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/15-027-ceres-gif-6501.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9686,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9686","url_meta":{"origin":10072,"position":2},"title":"Dawn nearing dwarf planet Ceres","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"NASA's Dawn spacecraft is closing in on Ceres,\u00a0the\u00a0largest object in the asteroid belt and now classified as a dwarf planet: \u00a0Dawn Delivers New Image of Ceres 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"pia19168[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/pia191681.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9770,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9770","url_meta":{"origin":10072,"position":3},"title":"Dawn returns best-ever images of dwarf planet Ceres","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dawn spacecraft moves closer to the dwarf planet Ceres in the asteroid belt (compare to a week ago). NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Captures Best-Ever View of Dwarf Planet January 27, 2015\u2014NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned the sharpest images ever seen of the dwarf planet Ceres. The images were taken 147,000\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ceres_OpNav2_Anim_v2[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Ceres_OpNav2_Anim_v21.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12122,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12122","url_meta":{"origin":10072,"position":4},"title":"Video: Flying over the dwarf planet Ceres","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dawn mission has released a video showing high resolution fly-over views of the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres in the Asteroid Belt as imaged by the Dawn probe: New Animation Takes a Colorful Flight Over Ceres https:\/\/youtu.be\/nJiw2NxqoBU The movie was produced by members of Dawn's framing camera team\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/nJiw2NxqoBU\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9572,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9572","url_meta":{"origin":10072,"position":5},"title":"Dawn probe moves closer to dwarf planet Ceres","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"NASA's\u00a0Dawn\u00a0is getting closer to Ceres, the largest asteroid and now classified as a dwarf planet. Ceres is particularly interesting because it has a thick layer\u00a0of water ice. Dawn Spacecraft Begins Approach to Dwarf Planet Ceres \u2022 Dawn has entered its approach phase toward Ceres \u2022 The spacecraft will arrive at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"PIA17650-1280x800[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/PIA17650-1280x8001-1024x640.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10074,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10072\/revisions\/10074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}