Ceres (Photo : Reuters)
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration revealed Dawn spacecraft's first images of Ceres and its bright spots following a 15-day orbit mission.
Ceres first images have captured the closest images of the bright spots surrounding the dwarf planet, Earth Sky reported. The images were taken in the third and fourth days of May at 13, 600 kilometers at 8, 400 miles from its surface.
NASA's Ceres images of the bright spots have proven that there is not only a single bright spot, but a group of a number of smaller ones located in the northern-most hemisphere of the planet. However, the exact number of bright spots as well as its true identity remain unclear until now.
"Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice," UT San Diego quoted Dawn spacecraft missions' principal investigator Christopher Russell from Los Angeles' University of California as saying.
The accurate nature of the mysterious spots is expected to be revealed after Dawn's second Ceres mission. The second orbiting mission for Dawn was launched May 9. It started from a location proximal to the planet and will descend ultimately on June 6. The craft will be orbiting Ceres from a height of 4, 400 kilometers or 2, 700 miles; this time, three times closer to seeing the bright spots.
According to NASA, the craft will map the Ceres surface comprehensively during the mission they call Dawn's survey orbit and they are aiming to unravel the dwarf planet's geologic history.
Dawn is the first ever spacecraft to reach Ceres.
