NASA ’s Dawn spacecraft made account at 4:39 a.m. PST Friday morning when it reached Ceres and became the first human being - made physical object to orbit a dwarf planet .
According to NASA , the objective of the Dawn delegacy is to “ canvas the asteroid Vesta and nanus planet Ceres , celestial bodies believed to have accrete early in the history of the solar organization . The missionary post will characterize the former solar arrangement and the processes that dominate its organization . ”
Dawn was launched from Cape Canaveral in September 2007 , with an ultimate destination of the asteroid belt that lie down between Mars and Jupiter . Dawn ’s first target in the asteroid belt was Vesta . Dawn get in there in 2011 and pass 14 months studying the protoplanet . Since leaving Vesta , Dawn has had a flight for its second and final destination : Ceres . No other spacecraft has ever orbit two separate targets .
" Since its uncovering in 1801 , Ceres was known as a planet , then an asteroid and later a nanus planet , " Dawn ’s chief engineer Marc Rayman from Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in apress handout . " Now , after a journey of 3.1 billion miles ( 4.9 billion km ) and 7.5 days , Dawn calls Ceres , home . ”
Image : Path adopt by Dawn from launching , to Vesta , to Ceres . cite : NASA
Due to the current placement of the spacecraft , picture from Dawn will not be taken in full light until mid - April . Once it is face the side straighten out by the sun , Dawn will begin to come back in high spirits - settlement image .
Dawn ’s basal science mission will continue through July of 2015 . During this fourth dimension , the ballistic capsule will analyze Ceres using a camera that images in visible wavelengths , spectroscopy mapping in seeable and infrared , as well as a gamma ray and neutron mass spectrometer .
Researchers will be able to compare data from Dawn with what was taken from Vesta in regards to their respective internal structures , gravitational fields , and other feature film . By pick up more about the largest objects in our asteroid belt , scientist will advance insight into the formation of the planets in our solar arrangement .
" We palpate inebriate , " said principal investigator Chris Russell of the University of California , Los Angeles ( UCLA ) . " We have much to do over the next year and a one-half , but we are now on station with sizable reserves , and a rich architectural plan to obtain our science objectives . "
