[Zen00]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ria Misra
Returned from the lowest cruising altitude over the dwarf planet yet, these shots of Ceres are incredibly detailed-and could even show us some surprises.

As NASA's Dawn spacecraft and its cameras approach Ceres, photos are getting more revealing. A few weeks back, a closer look showed that those mysterious bright spots that we've been seeing were probably made of salt. Now, the cameras have gotten to the lowest point they're ever going to reach: 240 miles above the surface.

These Are the Closest Photos We'll See of Ceres. Ever.



Nice, though Ceres seems to be much less feature-full than Pluto was. What's amazing is that we were able to send this probe out with such accuracy that we were able to get a 240 mile fly-by after traveling billions of miles!

 

[inedenimadam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zen00

What's amazing is that we were able to send this probe out with such accuracy that we were able to get a 240 mile fly-by after traveling billions of miles!

I always am amazed that we shoot a bullet at a target and hit it with remarkable accuracy 8 years in the future.

 

[Mand12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zen00

Nice, though Ceres seems to be much less feature-full than Pluto was. What's amazing is that we were able to send this probe out with such accuracy that we were able to get a 240 mile fly-by after traveling billions of miles!

Well, they do nudge it along the way. It's not like they fire it off once and hope it gets there.
Quote:

Originally Posted by inedenimadam

I always am amazed that we shoot a bullet at a target and hit it with remarkable accuracy 8 years in the future.

The weirdest part about that is that that's the easiest part about interplanetary travel.