Well I just 'liked' it, anyway.

tek_604, you appear to be on the Framing Camera team, right? SFJCody's response is flippant, but to ask more seriously and politely, can you explain to us why the team has chosen not to release any images since the first one? I sent a question about this to Chris Russell and he said it was part of the Dawn mission's plan not to release any more images but didn't really provide a satisfactory explanation of why you would want to keep the public in the dark about your approach to Vesta.

I think it's a great shame we're not seeing more pictures. The front page of the DAWN mission's website declares the mission is all about "Exploring New Worlds". Sorry, but this lack of approach images is akin to Columbus locking all the Santa Maria's crew below decks and refusing to let them see The "New World" until they were within spitting distance of the beach...

I can confirm that I am on the (MPS) Framing Camera team (I guess it was only a matter of time before someone worked it out!).

I am but a small cog in a large machine (!), and as such, I do not know why the mission has chosen not to release any further images.

You had it right to contact Chris Russell, and his answer would be the final (and best!) one.

Good analogy. Here's another. We are approaching the New World in the belly of a whale.

They clearly have a policy that we would like to see changed, a policy that we did not know about until now. Too late for Vesta maybe but can anything be done to change their minds before the Ceres approach? Any ideas?

Seriously what are you guys expecting at this point from another image? For Vesta to go from a fuzzy dot to a slightly bigger fuzzy dot? Yes, it would be nice if additional images are released once its shape is discerned and again when you can start picking out surface features, but I don't see why everyone is in a rush to see more pictures at this point.

Yes it would! But on present form I think people suspect they are 'guarding the science' and may sit on everything until they have something like an approach movie to present, with analysis, in a press release or conference slot. If everything so far is pre-scientific pixels what possible purpose is served by withholding the images and denying enthusiasts a little bit of fun?

Steve Squyers was recently challenged by a committee of politicians who told him they would like to do more planetary exploration but asked him "Where is your community?"

Well, here we are, and we have to stand up.

I don't think it's so much now about hoping/expecting to see anything new on images, as it is about being made to feel a part part of the mission, of the adventure, of being "taken along on the ride". True, Vesta would just be a slightly bigger blurred...pixelly...blob... but that's not the point. The point is the view would have changed, DAWN would be a bit nearer, and we were being shown that progress. Not that we have a god-given right to be (especially non US taxpayers), I'm not saying that, but the culture has changed now. Thanks to the rapid and generous release of images by the MER and CASSINI teams space enthusiasts and the public now like - and, yes, ok, expect - to be told, and shown, what's going on, just because it's the right thing to do.

I'm sure the DAWN people think they have a good reason for not being so free with their images, and yep, there's not a lot new to see on any new images, but they can't trumpet the fact that DAWN is "exploring new worlds" ansd seeing these worlds and features for the first time, then say"...but actually, we're not going to show you the pictures we're taking, because they're too sciency, you wouldn't understand them." That's the old ESA attitude. And that was kicked into touch eventually.

Besides, it HAS to be more fun and more exciting for a mission's team to know that their work is being seen and appreciated by lots of people "out here", and to get feedback from them. I just think they're missing an opportunity, that's all.

My guess is that the Dawn team planned image releases strictly from the viewpoint of impacting the general audience and not satisfying space geeks. The plan was set who-knows-how-long ago and I guess it's not about to change. But it would be nice at least to know what it is.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see more images released from this mission, but I still don't understand the uproar at THIS point. I understand what you are saying about wanting to follow Dawn's journey to Vesta, but quite frankly, from my understanding the pictures taken now wouldn't look all that different from the one they already released. Now of course, once Dawn gets much closer and features are resolved, I would clambering right along with you guys to see more.

But I think that for the time being, patience is needed with the camera team. Nothing wrong with voicing your desire to see more images because that helps to arm the E/PO folks on the mission with ammunition to take to the mission leads of the public interest in the project, though.

As Phil Stooke pointed out earlier space geeks can act as an ampifier, increasing the impact on the general audience at no expense to the project. This applies equally to image magicians and educators. They are missing a trick, no doubt about it. Centsworth: I don't agree that minds can't be changed by sympathetic criticism.

I don't think this is "uproar"... this is a low, frustrated, Aslan growl of discontent...

"Uproar" will come if we don't get to see surface detail when someone's figured out it should be visible... but I'm sure that won't happen.

And if any of the DAWN team are looking in, we're not having a go at you. We love you really. We just want to celebrate this amazing time with you.

i am in agreement with the few above this
At this point there IS NOTHING to be discerned from images that are 12x12 ,16x16,24x24,36x36

there is no useful info in those ( true the processing that was done for Pluto could) but why use up the cpu cycles .
wait for a bit .

[attachment=24418:ast.png]
is as good as it gets right now

volcanopele, would your point of view change if I told you that the Dawn team plans to release no further images until July 3?

I'd still like to show them to my students each morning and let them decide that.