astro picture for the day/first images of Ceres

Image Credit: 

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI

 

Ceres, the largest asteroid of our solar system is finally going to be get properly imaged and analysed in the coming months. I'm really not sure how long they plan on staying there.  The spacecraft orbiting and studying Ceres previously studied Vesta.  Vesta turned out to be more interesting than even the scientists thought. Tomorrow promises to be even more exciting!

 

For those who might not know; Pluto is about to get imaged in may/June time period as well!  Pluto happens to have like five moons!  Including a substantially large one - Charon! 

 

I remember when the ill fated Galileo spacecraft imaged Gaspra, the first asteroid image back in like 1992.  Asteroids have proven exciting ever since!  Astronomers have found lots of Neptunians in Uranus/Neptune lagrangians.  Lagrangians are stable points of gravitation.  There, objects can stay in one place. 

 

Another recent finding, but not likely to be imaged for awhile is an asteroid with boulder rings around it.  It's out in the Neptune range of our solar system.

 

Astronomers have also theorized that there maybe two or more Earth sized objects way out in the far Kuiper belt of comets. These maybe the Nemesis object, or as it turns out Nemesis objects!

Found this Dawn documentary, narrated by Star Trek's Spock, or Leondard Nimoy!