{"id":10512,"date":"2011-12-21T12:11:06","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T12:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/gregladen\/2011\/12\/21\/dawn-obtains-first-low-altitud\/"},"modified":"2011-12-21T12:11:06","modified_gmt":"2011-12-21T12:11:06","slug":"dawn-obtains-first-low-altitud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/21\/dawn-obtains-first-low-altitud\/","title":{"rendered":"Dawn Obtains First Low Altitude Images of Vesta"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblogs.com\/gregladen\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/472\/files\/2012\/04\/i-acf8215933d754bac7419ee83b074808-pia15220-43.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblogs.com\/gregladen\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/472\/files\/2012\/04\/i-ccc992edad4a859fc6f475e3730be087-pia15220-43-thumb-500x375-71487.jpg?w=604\" alt=\"i-ccc992edad4a859fc6f475e3730be087-pia15220-43-thumb-500x375-71487.jpg\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>This image, one of the first obtained by NASA&#8217;s Dawn spacecraft in its low altitude mapping orbit, shows an area within the Rheasilvia basin in the south polar area of the giant asteroid Vesta. Image credit: NASA\/ JPL-Caltech\/ UCLA\/ MPS\/ DLR\/ IDA <\/em><\/div>\n<blockquote><p>NASA&#8217;s Dawn spacecraft has sent back the first images of the giant asteroid Vesta from its low-altitude mapping orbit. The images, obtained by the framing camera, show the stippled and lumpy surface in detail never seen before, piquing the curiosity of scientists who are studying Vesta for clues about the solar system&#8217;s early history.<\/p>\n<p>At this detailed resolution, the surface shows abundant small craters, and textures such as small grooves and lineaments that are reminiscent of the structures seen in low-resolution data from the higher-altitude orbits. Also, this fine scale highlights small outcrops of bright and dark material.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Those ripples almost look like the result of conchoidal fracturing, but can&#8217;t be.  Compression? Early melting?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/news\/news.cfm?release=2011-391&#038;cid=release_2011-391\">Read all about it here. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This image, one of the first obtained by NASA&#8217;s Dawn spacecraft in its low altitude mapping orbit, shows an area within the Rheasilvia basin in the south polar area of the giant asteroid Vesta. Image credit: NASA\/ JPL-Caltech\/ UCLA\/ MPS\/ DLR\/ IDA NASA&#8217;s Dawn spacecraft has sent back the first images of the giant asteroid &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/21\/dawn-obtains-first-low-altitud\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Dawn Obtains First Low Altitude Images of Vesta<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[191],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5fhV1-2Jy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}