NASA Dawn Spacecraft Beams Back New Images Of Vesta Asteroid - Polidicks

[URL]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/22/nasa-dawn-spacecraft-vesta-asteroid_n_1165041.html?1324657146&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk1%26pLid%3D122675[/URL] Here's the video [url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/22/nasa-dawn-spacecraft-vesta-asteroid_n_1165041.html?1324657146&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk1%26pLid%3D122675[/url] [img]http://i.huffpost.com/gen/446178/DAWN-SPACE.jpg[/img] [quote]LOS ANGELES -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft has been a fervent photographer, snapping more than 10,000 pictures of the asteroid Vesta since it slipped into orbit around the giant space rock last summer.The views were taken from a distance away – until now. On Wednesday, the space agency released new images of the hummocky surface as Dawn circled from an average altitude of 130 miles above the surface – the closest it'll get.From this low orbit, scientists can count numerous small impact craters and see textured grooves and outcrops in sharp detail."We're totally thrilled with the data we're getting. It seems to get better," said mission deputy principal investigator Carol Raymond of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $466 million mission.By inching this close to Vesta, Dawn will use other instruments to measure the gravity field and determine its chemical makeup to better understand its origins.Dawn will spend the next 2 1/2 months at the current altitude before moving higher to take another round of pictures. By that time, the sun will hit Vesta at a different angle and illuminate sections of the northern hemisphere that had been shrouded earlier.About the length of Arizona with a huge crater at its south pole, Vesta is the second largest body residing in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids are leftovers from the solar system's birth some 4.5 billion years ago and studying these bodies could offer clues about how rocky planets like Earth formed.Previous spacecraft have visited smaller asteroids before, but this is the first trip to Vesta.[FONT=Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=#000000]Powered by ion propulsion, Dawn began orbiting Vesta in July after a 1.7 billion-mile cruise. It will depart Vesta next summer and will fly to an even bigger asteroid, Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015.[/quote] Ceres the planetoid is next on the list in 2015 At my HS debate class, we are debating on if the US should substantially increase it's space exploration and expansion. My main thing is asteroid mining and mapping so this will help my team out.

Its incredible how many pebbles are just floating around the solar system The universe is awesome.

Send a rover to it!

[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;33862291][img]http://i.huffpost.com/gen/446178/DAWN-SPACE.jpg[/img] [/QUOTE] Belongs in LAMO Pics Thread

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Vesta_Snowman_craters.jpg/375px-Vesta_Snowman_craters.jpg[/img] Vesta is inhabited by snowmen

[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;33864373][img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Vesta_Snowman_craters.jpg/375px-Vesta_Snowman_craters.jpg[/img] Vesta is inhabited by snowmen[/QUOTE] Oh shit get the LOIC

I wish my camera could hold 10k+ pictures on it.

[QUOTE=Sam 01 1;33885947]I wish my camera could hold 10k+ pictures on it.[/QUOTE] I wish my camera was a [I]spacecraft[/I]

[QUOTE=Contag;33886779]I wish my camera was a [I]spacecraft[/I][/QUOTE] But how will you take crappy pictures of yourself in the mirror?

[QUOTE=Goberfish;33888841]But how will you take crappy pictures of yourself in the mirror?[/QUOTE] Send a mirror [I]into space[/I]