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Occator / ɒ ˈ k eɪ t ər / is an impact crater located on Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, that contains "Spot 5", the brightest of the bright spots observed by the Dawn spacecraft. It was known as "Region A" in ground-based images taken by the W. M. Keck Observatory on ...
Ceres (minor-planet designation: 1 Ceres) is a dwarf planet in the middle main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It was the first known asteroid , discovered on 1 January 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo Astronomical Observatory in Sicily , and announced as a new planet .
Space probe broke orbit on 5 September 2012 and headed to Ceres; first "big four" asteroid visited by a spacecraft, largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft at the time. 4179 Toutatis: 2.45: 1934 Chang'e 2: 2012 3.2 0.70 Flyby; [1] closest asteroid flyby, first asteroid visited by a Chinese probe. 1 Ceres: 939.4 1801 Dawn: 2015–2018: 35 0.07
Asteroid impact prediction is the prediction of the dates and times of asteroids impacting Earth, along with the locations and severities of the impacts. The process of impact prediction follows three major steps: Discovery of an asteroid and initial assessment of its orbit which is generally based on a short observation arc of less than 2 weeks.
Other snapshots show cracks, probably formed by melting from impacts, and the material (likely salt) that produces Ceres' signature bright spots. NASA's closest-ever Ceres photos reveal more odd ...
Maximum meteor activity is expected to peak between 10 a.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET (15 to 18 Coordinated Universal Time) on January 3, which favors Alaska, Hawaii and far eastern Asia, said Bob Lunsford ...
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has sent back the closest images taken thus far of Ceres' Occator crater. They reveal steeply vertical walls in certain areas that rise from the rim for about a mile.
Dawn 's images led to widespread reports in the media about the bright spots, including in news sources, [22] astronomy magazines, [23] and science magazines. [24] An informal NASA poll during May offered the following ideas for the nature of the spots: [ 25 ] ice, volcanos, geysers, salt deposits, rock, or other.