This fascinating Contextual (or "CTX", for short) Frame, taken by the NASA - Dawn Spacecraft on September, 20, 2015, shows us, once again, a very small portion of the Northern Hemisphere of the Dwarf Planet named 1-Ceres. The most interesting Surface Feature visible here, is a relatively small Unnamed Impact Crater whose East-North/East-facing Inner Slopes appear extremely bright. Considering the very dark color of its surroundings, the true reason of such an unusual phenomenon (note: "Vitrification" is just one possibility) is still fully unknown. Even though the Visual Angle and the Conditions of Illumination, as they appear in this picture, are quite different, please look, if you wish, at the APODs of October 8 and 9 for further information about this very same and truly unusually-looking Surface Feature. Also the photo was taken from an altitude of approx. 915 miles (such as about 1472,5461 Km) from the Surface, with a resolution of roughly 450 feet (such as about 137,16 meters) per pixel. This image (which is an Original NASA - Dawn Spacecraft's b/w and NON Map-Projected frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 19979 - Dawn HAMO Image 37) |