NASA Releases Topographic Globe Animation of Ceres
Posted on August 1, 2015
NASA has released a color-coded map showing the topography of the dwarf planet Ceres. The map was constructed using images from the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The map was then projected onto a 3-D model of Ceres. The color-coded map shows the highs and lows on the surface of Ceres.
The left map is centered on terrain at 60 degrees east longitude and the right map is centered on 240 degrees east longitude. You can view a high-res version of the maps here. NASA also released a map showing the name of craters approved by the International Astronomical Union.
The video below contains a rotating Ceres topographic globe. In the video below, the color scale extends 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) below the surface in purple to 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) above the surface in brown. NASA says bright white features do not represent elevation.
Dawn has lowered its altitude to 1,400 miles (2,300 kilometers) above Ceres as of yesterday. The closer it gets to Ceres the more it feels the gravitational pull of the dwarf planet. This requires Dawn to travel faster. NASA says in Dawn is now circling Ceres at 340 mph (550 km/hr).