Dawn in Orbit around Ceres!

Dawn entered orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres on Friday, March 6! This little spacecraft, which has already orbited the second largest asteroid/protoplanet Vesta, will spend the rest of its mission orbiting Ceres (the largest asteroid/dwarf planet). You can read previous posts about Dawn here and here. 

Crescent Ceres. Image taken on March 1, days before orbital insertion. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

There are some unusually bright spots on Ceres that have people itching to learn what they are and how they got there. 

What could they be? Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Dawn had an interesting and odd trajectory to fall into orbit - Ceres doesn't have much gravity and the ion propulsion is not as fast as other types of rockets, but very efficient and effective.  

Dawn is the first spacecraft to have orbited one object (Vesta), leave it behind, and fall into orbit around another object! This feat is even more amazing because of how small Vesta and Ceres are compared to the vastness of space, or even our own planet. If Earth were the size of a soccer ball, Ceres would be about the size of a grape, and about 5 miles away! Check out this blog from the Planetary Society to learn more. Below is a great overview of the mission. 

Dawn is currently on the night side of Ceres, but keep watching for more science updates! We should learn much more about this little world soon. The Peoria Riverfront Museum will host an event to celebrate the Dawn mission at Ceres called I C Ceres on May 9. This nationwide event will feature activities for families, special planetarium shows, and live streaming of lectures from Dawn mission scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The event will be free with admission, as are all our daily planetarium shows!