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| Piú viste - 1-Ceres and 4-Vesta |
051-569825main_dawn-image-070111-43_946-710.jpgApproaching 4-Vesta79 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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049-Vesta-PIA14124.jpg4-Vesta in Spectrometer View (Visible Light and IR)76 visiteCaption NASA:"On June 8, 2011, the Visible and InfraRed Mapping Spectrometer aboard NASA's Dawn Spacecraft captured the instrument's first images of 4-Vesta that are larger than a few pixels, from a distance of about 218.000 miles (approx. 351.000 Km). The images were taken for calibration purposes.
Images obtained in the Visible part of the light Spectrum, at about 0,55 microns in wavelength, appear on the left. Images obtained in the InfraRed Spectrum, at around 3 microns in wavelength, appear on the right. The spatial resolution of these images is about 60 miles (approx. 90 Km) per pixel.
The Visible and InfraRed mapping spectrometer will be able to provide images of 4-Vesta in 432 wavelengths, which will help scientists determine the basic composition of the Asteroid".MareKromium
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052-569814main_dawn-image-062411-43_946-710.jpgApproaching 4-Vesta72 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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089-Craters-Licinia_Crater-PIA16050-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgLicinia Crater (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)70 visiteThis NASA - Dawn Spacecraft Framing Camera (FC) image of 4-Vesta shows Licinia Crater, which is the large Impact Crater positioned in the center of the picture. Licinia Crater has a fresh, sharp Rim that is scalloped in shape; all around the Inner Walls of Licinia Crater there are many Streaks of Dark and Bright Dusty Material cascading towards the Crater's center. There are also many hummocky Slumps of Material around the Crater's Walls and Base. A large Mound of Material (most likely made of small Rocks and Dust) is well visible in the Crater's center, and the Mound itself is surrounded by more smooth and dark unidentified Material. The possibility that such (as of yet, we repeat, unidentified) smooth Material visible on 4-Vesta's Surface might be the so-called "Impact Melt" is currently under investigation. Licinia Crater is one of the freshest Impact Craters that can be seen in this image.
This area visible here is located in the "Floronia Quadrangle" of 4-Vesta, in the Northern Hemisphere of the Giant Asteroid. The NASA - Dawn Spacecraft obtained this image with its Framing Camera (FC) on October 11, 2011. The image was taken through the Camera's Clear Filter and the distance of the Spacecraft from the Surface of 4-Vesta was, at the time that the picture was taken, of approx. 700 Km (such as a little less than 435 miles); the image has a resolution of about 63 meters (207 feet) per pixel. This picture of Licinia Crater was acquired during the HAMO (---> High-Altitude Mapping Orbit) phase of the mission.
This frame (which is an Original NASA - Dawn Spacecraft b/w image published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16050) has been additionally processed and then colorized, according to an informed speculation carried out by Dr Paolo C. Fienga (LXTT-IPF), in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Dawn Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Giant Asteroid 4-Vesta), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. Different colors, as well as different shades of the same color, mean, among others, the existence of different Elements present on the Surface of 4-Vesta, each having a different Albedo (---> Reflectivity) and Chemical Composition.MareKromium
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000-Ceres~0.jpgBig Asteroid or Small Planet?69 visiteLa decisione non è stata ancora presa, ma il problema rimane: 1-Cerere è un "grande" Asteroide o un "piccolo" Pianeta?
A parte tutto, Cerere sembra proprio essere un mondo a sè: le sue dimensioni (circa 930 Km di iametro) sono modeste ma, per un asteroide, alquanto consistenti (Cerere è comunque l'oggetto conosciuto più grande fra le (decine di) migliaia che si trovano in quella regione di spazio compresa fra le orbite di Marte e Giove e che è comunemente conosciuta come "Cintura degli Asteroidi" (o Asteroids' Belt).
Di 1-Cerere si parla molto in questi giorni perchè la IAU (International Astronomical Union) sta valutando se conferire a questo Corpo Celeste lo "status" di Pianeta vero e proprio oppure no, ma la NASA - a quanto si sa - era già da tempo interessata a questo piccolo mondo ed infatti, proprio in questi giorni, è in fase di completamento la preparazione della Sonda "Dawn" (alba) la quale verrà lanciata nel 2007 (forse a Giugno) e che dovrebbe raggiungere e studiare MOLTO da vicino l'asteroide Vesta (nel 2011) e - guarda caso... - proprio 1-Cerere, nel 2015 (l'Anno del possibile - ed auspicabile - "contatto" fra l'altra Sonda New Horizons ed il Doppio Pianeta - o Sistema Binario formato da - Plutone e Caronte.
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012-1-Ceres-PIA19620-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgHuge Mountain on 1-Ceres (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)67 visiteLocated just on the Limb (obviously, only from our point of view) of the so-called "Dwarf Planet" 1-Ceres, at about 7 o'clock of 1-Ceres' (highly uneven) disk, we can see - once again - the large Flat-Topped Mountain - about 3 miles (such as approx. 4,82802 Km) high, surrounded by (relatively) smooth Terrain - that we have already shown you in yesterday's APOD. Probably it is useless to say - but it is a good thing, in our opinion, as IPF, to underline this specific circumstance - the so-called Emission Angle here is very high. The "new" White Spot, as well as the white Material that we have noticed still in yesterday's APOD, are also clearly visible here, in this picture.
As we have already said in the past, also this specific frame is just one among the first snapshots coming from Dawn's second Mapping Orbit of 1-Ceres, which is carried out from an altitude of approx. 2700 miles (such as about 4345,218 Km). Even in this case, the Resolution is roughly 1400 feet (such as approx. 426,72 meters) per pixel.
The 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 19587 - Dawn Survey Orbit Image 19) has been additionally processed, magnified to aid the visibility of the details, contrast enhanced and sharpened, Gamma corrected and then colorized (according to an educated guess carried out by Dr Paolo C. Fienga-LXTT-IPF) in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a normal human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Dawn Spacecraft and then looked ahead, towards the Limb and Surface of 1-Ceres), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team.MareKromium
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009-1-Ceres-PIA19884-PCF-LXTT-IPF-1.jpgWhite Unnamed Crater on 1-Ceres (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)63 visiteToday's APOD is an Extra Detail Magnification (or "EDM", for short) of yesterday's Contextual (or "CTX", for short) Frame, taken by the NASA - Dawn Spacecraft that shows us a small White Crater (---> also informally known as "White Spot") that is located in the Northern Hemisphere of the Dwarf Planet named 1-Ceres.
Now, we ask you one (extremely complicated, in fact) question that you, however, should try to answer: why, on 1-Ceres, the huge and deep Impact Craters do not show "White Material" inside them, while, on the other hand, the small and shallow ones (Impact Craters) do? Probably because, but we, as IPF, cannot be sure of this (just like everyone else), the White Material, in the end, does not belong to/comes from the Sub-Surface of 1-Ceres (as we thought, at the beginning), but it belongs to/comes from the Impactors. And you, what do you think?...If you want to share your opinion, please, write us at alphacentauri@intercom.it
The picture 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, was taken on August 21, 2015.
This image (which is a crop taken from an Original NASA - Dawn Spacecraft's b/w and NON Map-Projected frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 19884 - Dawn HAMO Image 8) has been additionally processed, extra-magnified to aid the visibility of the details, contrast enhanced and sharpened, Gamma corrected and then colorized (according to an educated guess carried out by Dr Paolo C. Fienga-LXTT-IPF) in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a normal human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Dawn Spacecraft and then looked ahead, towards the Surface of 1-Ceres), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team.MareKromium
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001-Ceres-alone.jpg1-Ceres from Hubble Space Telescope62 visiteNASA's Hubble Space Telescope took these images of the asteroid 1 Ceres over a 2-hour and 20-minute span, the time it takes the Texas-sized object to complete one quarter of a rotation. One day on Ceres lasts 9 hours.
Hubble snapped 267 images of Ceres as it watched the asteroid make more than one rotation. By observing the asteroid during a full rotation, astronomers confirmed that Ceres has a nearly round body like Earth's. Ceres' shape suggests that its interior is layered like those of terrestrial planets such as Earth. Ceres may have a rocky inner core, an icy mantle, and a thim, dusty, outer crust.
The "Bright Spot" that we see is a mistery: it is (obviously) brighter than its surroundings, but it is still very dark (very low albedo) reflecting only a small portion of Sunlight.
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086-Craters-Fabia_Crater-PIA15900-PCF-LXTT-IPF-2.jpgFabia Crater and Surroundings (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunar Explorer Italia - Italian Planetary Foundation)62 visiteThis Dawn framing camera (FC) image of Vesta shows Fabia crater, which is the large crater offset to the bottom right of the center of the image. Fabia crater is very distinctive because the two sides of its rim have very different states of freshness. In this image the bottom part of the rim is distinct and fresh but the top part of the rim is much more rounded and degraded. This dichotomy between the rims is possibly due to material slumping over the top part of Fabia's rim, which caused the rim to become obscured and look more degraded. There are linear features visible on the illuminated part of Fabia crater, which were probably created by material cascading towards the center of the crater. There is also a distinguishing band of bright material along the bottom rim of the crater.
This image is located in Vesta's Numisia quadrangle, in Vesta's northern hemisphere. NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on Oct. 19, 2011. This image was taken through the camera's clear filter. The distance to the surface of Vesta is 700 kilometers (435 miles) and the image has a resolution of about 63 meters (207 feet) per pixel. This image was acquired during the HAMO (high-altitude mapping orbit) phase of the mission.
MareKromium
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010-1-Ceres-PIA19898-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgUnnamed Crater on the Terminator of 1-Ceres (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)62 visiteThis simply beautiful Contextual (or "CTX", for short) Frame, taken by the NASA - Dawn Spacecraft on August, 26, 2015, shows us, among other interesting things, an Ancient and extremely Complex Unnamed Impact Crater (which seems to be characterized by the presence of an unusually-looking - we would say, as IPF, "columnarly-shaped", maybe? - Central Peak) that is located near the Terminator Line of the Dwarf Planet named 1-Ceres.
If you will pay attention to the frame, you might agree on the fact that the long shadows - which are very well visible all over the picture - make the whole scene - with its deeply complex Surface Details - even more suggestive.
The picture 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, was taken on August 21, 2015.
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 19898 - Dawn HAMO Image 20) has been additionally processed, extra-magnified to aid the visibility of the details, contrast enhanced and sharpened, Gamma corrected and then colorized (according to an educated guess carried out by Dr Paolo C. Fienga-LXTT-IPF) in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a normal human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Dawn Spacecraft and then looked ahead, towards the Surface of 1-Ceres), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team.MareKromium
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015-Ceres_and_Vesta.jpg4-Vesta and 1-Ceres from HST (natural colors)59 visiteThese Hubble Space Telescope images of Vesta and 1-Ceres show two of the most massive asteroids in the Asteroid Belt, a Region between Mars and Jupiter.
The images are helping astronomers plan for the Dawn spacecraft’s tour of these hefty asteroids. On July 7, 2007, NASA is scheduled to launch the spacecraft on a 4-year journey to the Asteroid Belt. Once there, Dawn will do some asteroid-hopping, going into orbit around Vesta in 2011 and Ceres in 2015. Dawn will be the first spacecraft to orbit two targets. At least 100.000 asteroids inhabit the Asteroid Belt, a reservoir of leftover material from the formation of our Solar-System planets some 4,6 Billion Years (BY) ago.MareKromium
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024-Vesta.jpg4-Vesta58 visite4-Vesta (o anche solo Vesta) è uno dei tanti asteroidi conosciuti da tantissimo tempo e che sembra, di quando in quando, avvicinarsi (in senso cosmico...) in maniera "perigliosa" al nostro pianeta.
Ma lo sanno tutti - gli Scienziati per primi - che, un giorno o l'altro, da oggi a fra qualche milione di anni nel futuro, qualche "roccia vagante" finirà con l'incrociare la sua orbita con quella della Terra e, quindi, con il produrre - con ogni probabilità - una catastrofe di dimensioni globali la quale sarà causa di sostanziali cambiamenti dell'intero ecosistema.
E' inevitabile, si sa.
Così come si sa che, quando questo momento arriverà, gli ultimi a prenderne atto saranno proprio quelli che, questo Pianeta, lo abitano...
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