LAMO, aka Low Altitude Mapping Orbit Options

[dilo]

I think is time to start this new topic, now that Dawn is more than half-way in the transition from HAMO to LAMO (as showed in the plot below).

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[ElkGroveDan]

Good thing we aren't calling it a "Low Mapping Altitude Orbit."

I get the feeling that many more surprises await us in finer detail as the surface resolution improves.

[dilo]

Another way to show the progress from HAMO to LAMO is the following updated plot where points colors reflects engine status:

I tried to interpolate average height with a blue line. Time gaps are due in part to me (not continuous monitor) and in part to Mystic simulator black-outs.

EDIT: plot updated to Nov,15

[dilo]

And finally, we are below 300km height... not far from final target!

[Phil Stooke]

Hopefully the daily image releases will resume shortly!

Phil

[stevesliva]

Hopefully the daily image releases will resume shortly!

You mean images rather than other data products? Or images specifically from LAMO?

Pace hasn't slackened... now here:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imageo...h=2011-November

Last two were HAMO images, though.

[Tunglere]

Images from Nov. 10-13 don't currently show up on the Dawn Image of the Day page (November), but they do show up on Photojournal.

[Phil Stooke]

The latest four images were posted on the same day... I check every day, believe me. We had a minibreak. But these are spectacular!

Phil

[dilo]

Updated situation, all plots:

Engines are now silent and average height is around 270 km...

[dilo]

Now that we have an improved simulator (better Vesta digital model and, especially, more frequent screen updates) I am frequently monitoring the simulated height of the probe; in the last 24 hours, engines were off but orbit isn't completely stable:

The interpolated sinusoidal curve correspond to a 5.1 hours average period between 235 and 285 km height. The reason of slight phase/amplitude variations sould be the irregular gravity field of Vesta. In fact, as explained in the last Mission Status, the purpose of these thrust stops is a natural or passive orbit adjustment (especially the orientation).

Edit: slightly modified previous text and updated plot (no orbit decay)

[dilo]

New update after two long simulator black-outs:

Based on today's status report, "The spacecraft thrusts occasionally with its ion propulsion system, but most of the time it coasts, letting Vesta's gravity reorient its orbit."
Note also that last two published images were taken 15 days ago from an intermediate distance of 480km:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imageo...p?date=20111123 http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imageo...p?date=20111122

[dilo]

Further update:

Dawn is almost there!

[dilo]

Now short engine burns are frequent:

[Phil Stooke]

"Dawn image EDR data will be publicly released to the science community by the PDS within 90 days after each acquisition phase. Therefore, raw Vesta approach images will be available in November 2011. Raw images for other acquisition phases including survey, high altitude (HAMO) and low altitude (LAMO) mapping orbits will be delivered throughout 2012"

"However, radiometrically calibrated PDS images (RDRs) will be publicly released six months after Vesta departure"

... from Jeffery Anderson's AGU poster abstract.

Exciting!

Phil

[elakdawalla]

Time for us to lurk on the Small Bodies Node website.....that is where they'll likely be hosted, right?

[Phil Stooke]

This link...

http://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/data_...ase_sched.shtml


... suggests a later date.

Phil

[dilo]

This link... suggests a later date.

...and suggests also a new Vesta departure date (shifted from July 2012 to Jan 2013), probably in order to study also North Pole region!

[SFJCody]

...and suggests also a new Vesta departure date (shifted from July 2012 to Jan 2013), probably in order to study also North Pole region!

I believe that's the PDS data release date, not the spacecraft event date.

[angel1801]

I did a Solar System Simulator run for Vesta and I worked out that equinox for Vesta will be on or about July 27, 2012.

You can work this out by choosing the "from above" viewpoint for Vesta and finding the date when the phase angle is 90 degrees. This is when the sun's terminator is exactly over the North Pole.

I got this idea from doing this for Mercury where the phase angle as viewed directly from either pole is always 90 degrees.

[Greg Hullender]

I think shifting the Vesta departure date would require a change to the laws of celestial mechanics--I don't think there's funding for that. :-)

--Greg

[algorimancer]

...require a change to the laws of celestial mechanics...

I think that with the ion drive, the laws of celestial mechanics allow a bit more leeway than otherwise. That said, I'd rather move on to Ceres sooner rather than later -- that's a much larger and more interesting world. Of course, I'd also like to see real-time data releases :/

[Explorer1]

Yeah, Dawn's launch was delayed three months, but the ion drive gives so much leeway it didn't matter in the end (compared with a conventional launch to Mars for example, that has a very specific window).

[stevesliva]

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/vesta_dawn_gallery.asp
Has this new 3D video goodness:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/feature_stories/d..._over_vesta.asp

[stevesliva]

New Dawn Journal:

There is always a tug downward, but because of Vesta's heterogeneous interior structure, the product of its complex geologic history, sometimes there is also a slight force to one side or another. With their knowledge of the gravity field, the team plotted a course that took advantage of these variations to get a free ride. This is akin to experienced sailors not only relying on their ships' engines but also following routes that use known currents to let nature do some of the work. Of course, sailors benefit from knowledge of currents measured by those who plied the waters before them. Dawn is the first, venturing boldly into mysterious seas never visited before. But the measurements of the gravity field in HAMO, even though it was at a higher altitude, gave navigators enough information about what lay ahead on the horizon that our vessel could safely and productively ride the gravitational currents. The flight plan from HAMO to LAMO then is a complex affair of carefully timed thrusting and equally carefully timed coasting. Under ion thrust, the spacecraft flies to a certain location in a certain orbit at a certain time, waits a certain interval as Vesta propels it to the next waypoint, and then it resumes thrusting.

Amazing.

[Greg Hullender]

Yeah, Dawn's launch was delayed three months, but the ion drive gives so much leeway it didn't matter in the end (compared with a conventional launch to Mars for example, that has a very specific window).

Supposedly that delay was running up against the window from Vesta to Ceres, so I suspect there may not be much more leeway to stay at Vesta. Perhaps someone who knows for sure will chime in.

--Greg

[PDP8E]

The Dawn Journal and Dr. Marc Rayman should get some sort of award for 'modern science literature'. It is always a fascinating read.

[dilo]

I agree, PDP8E.

[dilo]

After last burns, nominal LAMO height (200km above average radius) was just reached:

However, now orbit needs to become circular...

[dilo]

No burns in last hours, orbits is now around 185x245km:

Curiously, most of last burns occurred around apoastron and this reduced periastrum distance only, increasing eccentricity...

[machi]

Interesting news via Emily's twitter:

"Russell: pole position for Vesta measured by Dawn differs from astronomically determined value. #AGU11 (1 hour ago)"
"Russrll: spring will return to dark north pole later than thought, so they will need to delay Vesta departure in order to image it. #AGU11 (1 hour ago)"

[stevesliva]

Several updates here:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/vesta_dawn_gallery.asp

Dated Dec. 5th, but I think they showed up more recently.

[claurel]

Now that Robert Gaskell's shape model of Vesta is available, I used it to create a movie comparing Vesta to two other Solar System bodies: Phoebe and Mimas. The movie contrasts the sizes, shapes and rotation states of the three objects. Though I'm familiar with the numbers, it's still impressive to see just how quickly Vesta spins (though I suppose contrasting it with a synchronously rotating moon isn't the fairest comparison.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSGh_JHNFSI...eature=youtu.be

Enjoy!

--Chris

[ElkGroveDan]

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

[Sarunia]

With the shape from Dr. Robert Gaskell (and providing by NAIF), I make this video, projecting some pictures from Survey Orbit to the shape.


And there's the bumpMap (simple cylindrical projection). It can be used with Celestia.

[Phil Stooke]

Nice! This can be turned into a shaded relief map simply by using the 'emboss' filter in Photoshop, or its equivalent. Here's one version - varying the illumination direction makes drastic changes to the appearance of the map. The two distinct sets of troughs show up very well here.

Phil

[Bill Harris]

And Nice! ^2, Phil. You can see a lot of history there.

--Bill

[dilo]

Beautiful simulated views in this video, Sarunia! About the bumpMap, do you know which basic shape should I use with software other than Celestia?
(if is an ellipsoid, I would like to know axes lenghts...)

[scalbers]

Videos of numerous AGU talks on Vesta from this past week are available online here (three separate sessions). I saw just a few of them in person - mainly about the large south polar crater.

http://sites.agu.org/fallmeeting/scientifi...and-6-december/

[dilo]

After long hiatus (related to safe mode event one week ago) the simulator is up again! Yesterday, several short engine burns put Dawn on a 209 km average height but, interestingly, now eccentricity is increasing due to Vesta gravitational field:

The yellow curve is my rough attempt to interpolate trend through a sinusoid with 4.3 hours period and increasing amplitude (8 km/day) - anyway, remember that simulator is based on a nominal orbit design, not real time data!
[I would like to thank Dr Rayman for additional info through private communications!]

[Sarunia]

Thanks, dilo.
For the bump projection, a tri-axial ellipsoid 289x280x229 km (recommended values by NAIF) is used. So a spheroid (289x229) works fine.

EDIT: correct wrong value: 229 instead of 219.

[djellison]

Did my own conversion from the greyscale map into something a bit more funky

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[stewjack]

Videos of numerous AGU talks ( on Vesta ) from this past week are available online here

As an interested amateur, the following AGU video appears to be a good summary of what has been discovered about Vesta so far. It is 2 hours long and I have only viewed 40% of it, but the quality has been very good up till now, and I understood most of it. It is HD and if you download it be prepared for a 900 MB file.

Here is the link: U21B Dawn Explores Vesta
http://vimeo.com/33317236
Note:This is not a link to the AGU page with the embedded player. It is a direct link to the hosting site VIMEO. Registered members can download file from here.

AGU page: Sessions on Demand (No downloads)
http://sites.agu.org/fallmeeting/scientifi...and-8-december/

Jack

[claurel]

Now that Robert Gaskell's shape model of Vesta is available, I used it to create a movie comparing Vesta to two other Solar System bodies...

For Celestia users, here's an add-on that replaces Celestia's default low-resolution Vesta model with the Gaskell model:
http://www.shatters.net/~claurel/celestia/models/vesta.zip

The model contains less than 50,000 triangles, so it should display well on any system. It uses a normal map to supply the extra detail from the original high-resolution shape model.

--Chris

[Sarunia]

Thank you, I was just preparing a conversion for celestia but now i know that it's not necessary and it save my time

[stevesliva]

First (?) image from near LAMO?
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/dawn_o..._over_vesta.asp

Taken from 230km.

[dilo]

First (?) image from near LAMO?

Almost. Picture was taken before the two last main burns which reduced average height from 240 to 211 km, last week:

the purple arrow indicate the exact time/height when (I guess) the picture was snapped...

[stevesliva]

And now the image of the day is stalled again. Let's see some boulders!

[dilo]

Let's see some boulders!

Steve, based on last Mission Status, The Dawn "image of the day" will take a break until Jan. 9.
We have to wait next year!

[stevesliva]

Doh. Thanks for pointing that out, it'll save some clicks on my part. That one photo is such a tease.

[Jaheira]

Is it just me, or does that sharp, young crater in the top right of the image below have gullies in its walls that look remarkably similar to those in craters on Mars? The debate has been raging for some years now whether Martian crater gullies are formed by dry flow or by the flow of brine. I'm not suggesting for one moment that there's liquid flowing on the surface of Vesta, but the similarity of gullies here might suggest that most, if not all, Martian gullies formed via a dry mechanism.

[Marz]

Is it just me, or does that sharp, young crater in the top right of the image below have gullies in its walls that look remarkably similar to those in craters on Mars? The debate has been raging for some years now whether Martian crater gullies are formed by dry flow or by the flow of brine. I'm not suggesting for one moment that there's liquid flowing on the surface of Vesta, but the similarity of gullies here might suggest that most, if not all, Martian gullies formed via a dry mechanism.

I noticed that same feature and assumed it was a landslide triggered by the same mechanism that created the apparent fault above the rim. As to what caused the fault, I'm not sure.

I believe the "dry flow" mechanism for small scale flows of sediment on craters of Mars requires dry ice as the volatile that sublimates and then causes unweathered sediment to be exposed, making a dark band. I don't think the landslide on Vesta pictured here would be applicable to those discussions.

[stevesliva]

Five LAMO images have appeared here:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/vesta_dawn_gallery.asp

[volcanopele]

14 more names have been approved for use on Vesta, including the other two craters in the "snowman"
http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/HotTopics/ind...s-on-Vesta.html

I've updated my labeled Vesta map to include these new names

[Greg Hullender]

Supposedly that delay was running up against the window from Vesta to Ceres, so I suspect there may not be much more leeway to stay at Vesta. Perhaps someone who knows for sure will chime in.

--Greg

Sure enough, I got the following from Marc Rayman, which he invited me to share here:

We have quite a bit of technical flexibility to shift the Vesta departure. You're correct that we launched relatively late in the multiyear launch period for reaching both Vesta and Ceres, but that does not impose a significant constraint now. You may recall that our prelaunch model for the solar array power as a function of heliocentric range was demonstrated in flight to be conservative. Thanks to the ion propulsion system, we translated that power margin into the more operationally and scientifically useful resource of residence time at Vesta. But there has always been another constraint, and that is funding. Our mission timeline includes reaching Ceres in February 2015 not for reasons of celestial mechanics but because that is the schedule upon which the budget was formulated. The celestial mechanics is such that the time to travel from Vesta to Ceres is pretty insensitive to the departure date for up to ~ 0.5 years later than July 2012. But leaving later would mean an extension to the primary mission, and that is not budgeted. The simple reality, which I know you recognize, is that funding is extremely (perhaps even uniquely) tight these days.

As soon as we determined the Vesta pole during the approach phase, we knew what it meant for seeing the north pole, but our plan to depart in July 2012 has not changed. Our agreement with NASA HQ (formalized in our level 1 requirements) has always been that we would image at least 80% of the surface of Vesta at 100 m/px in our panchromatic channel and at least three color filters. We have already done better than that, so it is not obvious that we have to see farther north, much as one might consider it to be neat to do so.

In case this appears to be inconsistent with Emily's tweet about what Chris Russell said here at the AGU, let me be be explicit about it. It is correct that we would need to delay departure in order to see all the way to the north pole. That is not the same as saying we will delay departure.

While plans may change, we remain scheduled for departure in July. We already have fabulous data on Vesta, and we certainly will have even more by then. It certainly would be nice to see the entire surface, but even if we don't, there's no doubt that what we will have seen at Vesta will be exceptionally valuable.

Hope everyone has a happy (and interesting) New Year!

--Greg

[Holder of the Tw...]

Thanks Greg.

I'd be interested to know how far north the project scientists think that the antipode(s) of the one or two giant southern impacts are, and the chances of them being observed before the end. Or perhaps they've already been spotted?

[algorimancer]

Spacedaily has an article up today (http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Space_Mountain_Produces_Terrestrial_Meteorites_999.html) that states with regard to Dawn's Vesta mission that "no one expected a 13-mile high mountain, two and a half times higher than Mount Everest". Considering the earlier Hubble results, they probably should have fact-checked that line -- or were they mislead by a press release?

[Greg Hullender]

New Dawn Journal: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/journal_12_30_11.asp

Nice info about the challenges of maintaining such a low orbit around such an irregular body. Also nice to learn that they haven't had to use even one day of their 40-day reserve. (The buffer in the science schedule to allow for things to go wrong.) If I'm interpreting that right, they essentially get a 40-day extended mission at Vesta for free, which is kind of cool.

By the way, this is my 1,000th post at UMSF, which is also kind of cool.

--Greg

[stevesliva]

What a tease to link to the image of the day after discussing the wonderful LAMO images... because none of them are there yet.

[Phil Stooke]

No... they are here instead:

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/feature_stories/v...tude_images.asp

Phil

[stevesliva]

I know there are some kicking around. Just hoping for the image of the day to start up again.

[pablogm1024]

I know there are some kicking around. Just hoping for the image of the day to start up again.

They are expected to restart on Monday, January 9th.

pablogm

[pablogm1024]

They are expected to restart on Monday, January 9th.

Indeed, IOTD has restarted here, even if the gallery page does not seem to be updating properly.
Enjoy,
pablogm

[stevesliva]

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imageo...p?date=20120116

Interestingly shaped pit or crater lower left.

[Marz]

Today's image is a nice 3-D anaglyph of impact craters from a binary asteroid impact:

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imageo...p?date=20120124

[stevesliva]

Three releases on the multimedia page that would seem to indicate there will be a release / NASA news item about long-lived ice on Vesta.

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/vesta_global_map.asp
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/vesta_temperatures.asp
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/vesta_south_pole.asp

Ah, yes, this release:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-024

Also, today's image:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imageo...p?date=20120126

... Finally, boulders, as requested.

[Phil Stooke]

Some pretty clear flows on Vesta in the latest image:

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images...TD-148-full.jpg

Probably the clearest I've seen so far.

Phil

[Marz]

Three releases on the multimedia page that would seem to indicate there will be a release / NASA news item about long-lived ice on Vesta.

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/vesta_global_map.asp
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/vesta_temperatures.asp
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/vesta_south_pole.asp

Ah, yes, this release:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-024

Also, today's image:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imageo...p?date=20120126

... Finally, boulders, as requested.

Comparing Vesta's axial tilt of 27 to Ceres with 3, would Ceres be much more likely to retain ice at the poles. Could vapor sublimating from the equatorial regions on Ceres be deposited as layers of frost at the poles, perhaps forming ice caps, or is the surface gravity far too low for this to occur?

[ngunn]

Good question. I hope you get an answer from someone better informed than I am but I'll have a go. I think there's plenty of ice there. There certainly is on Mars although it's a warmer place. Surfaces exposed to the vacuum of space get dessicated but you don't have to dig far below the surface to find the stuff as Phoenix proved on Mars. Will we see it on the surface of Ceres? I don't know. It may have sublimed off all lit surfaces. You might need an impactor (or a hand torch for a walk in the dark).

Why do I always get attracted to OT discussions ?

Ceres: somebody start a topic - we're almost on the way.

[Greg Hullender]

I see that we've got four more months at Vesta, but we're three years away from Ceres.

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/timeline.asp

I suppose I knew that the main mission plan ends abruptly at Ceres, but I was surprised to see that it calls for only five months of observations. That barely seems like enough time to get into LAMO. I hope the Vesta results are compelling enough to get an extended mission approved because it seems like they'll need it before they actually have much in the way of solid results from Ceres.

--Greg

[Phil Stooke]

The short time at Ceres in the primary mission is the main reason that any extended mission will stay at Ceres rather than going on somewhere else. They will need lots of extra time for global high resolution mapping.

Phil

[scalbers]

Here's the released map with feature names put on top warped according to the map projection. Of course the credit info in the lower left wouldn't fit this warping scheme...



Steve

[stevesliva]

Two interesting image releases on Aricia Tholus last week:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imageo...p?date=20120222
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imageo...p?date=20120221

[john_s]

My impression, especially from those new images, is that calling it a "tholus" was premature- it looks like just a random hill that happens to have a dark-rayed impact crater superposed on it. Of course there still must be *something* special about it to produce those dark rays...

John

[Gsnorgathon]

But doesn't "tholus" just mean hill, with regard to how it formed? The topo image sure makes it look like a hill.

[john_s]

That might be technically true, but "tholus" on other bodies has typically been used to denote what appears to be a volcanic construct (e.g. Inachus Tholus on Io, Hecates Tholus on Mars). Are there any counter-examples, of other non-volcanic "tholi"?

John

[Gsnorgathon]

Umm... how about Lucaria Tholus? OK, yeah. That's what I thought. But according to the planetary names folks, they are playing by the rules: Tholus, tholi (TH) - Small domical mountain or hill. Maybe they need a new feature name. What's Latin for "bump"?

[pablogm1024]

...But according to the planetary names folks, they are playing by the rules: Tholus, tholi (TH) - Small domical mountain or hill...

Early on in the Vesta orbital phase, the Framing Camera operations team, far more concerned about correct orientation of the images and meaningful navigation than about scientific or toponymic soundness, concocted a series of informal names that mainly served the purpose of designating easily identifiable features. One of these nicknames was "The Snowman", which has now become part of the popular culture about Vesta. Another one was "Dark Volcano".
Cheers.

[Phil Stooke]

"tholus" on other bodies has typically been used to denote what appears to be a volcanic construct


True! But these names are supposed to be purely descriptive, not carrying any genetic implications. I agree the term is mainly used for smaller volcanic hills, but it doesn't have to be. Possible counter-example: Scandia Tholi, Mars, a rag-tag collection of hills that don't look like volcanic shields or cones to me.


Also - new names added on Tuesday:

http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/vesta.pdf


Phil

[Astro0]

40 extra days at Vesta!
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-107

[Phil Stooke]

Yes, and they have now released over 200 pictures of the day.

Phil

[charborob]

In LAMO, Dawn seems to be taking only nadir-pointing images. At least, those that were published are of this type, unless I missed something. Do they sometimes slew the spacecraft in order to take oblique images?

[Phil Stooke]

LAMO is all about the composition-mapping instrument, with imaging just riding along. They have to look down pretty much all the time, I think.

Phil

[pablogm1024]

LAMO is all about the composition-mapping instrument, with imaging just riding along. They have to look down pretty much all the time, I think.

I can confirm Phil's comment. As Marc Rayman has mentioned several times on his blog, the Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector (GRaND) is the prime instrument in this phase. This instrument will provide the elemental composition of the surface (up to 1 meter depth) thanks to the nuclear emissions induced by the background cosmic radiation. The problem is that these emissions are very weak, and even with a detector as finely tuned as GRaND it requires an extremely large amount of integration time to get above the noise.
The off-nadir imaging, which is critical for the stereographic reconstruction of the surface, will continue in the second HAMO phase later this year.
Regards,
pablogm

[Juramike]

A really nice "uber"-image release today, with lots of neat related image and caption releases:

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/feature_stories/a...ts_revealed.asp

A gorgeous shot of Aquilia: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/aquilia_area_color.asp

Vibidia Crater: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/vibidia_crater_color.asp
(obviously the result from a Pocket Tanks Chaos Grenade)

[Hungry4info]

NASA to Hold News Conference on Asteroid Mission Results

[Mariner9]

I suspect that the news conference is timed to coincide with DAWN results being printed in this week's upcoming issue of Science. I went to the lecture at Caltech last week and Carol Raymond mentioned the publication, and artfully dodged at least one question from the audience that apparently would have prematurely revealed something that will be included in the articles.

I have been collecting the "special issues" of Science on the planetary missions for the last 20 years. The articles are a bit of a tough read compared to something more mainstream like Scientific American, but it just makes me feel a bit closer to the real discovery process.

For anyone not aware of it, you can locate back issues at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/by/year.
And, after a lot of searching, you can find how to order issues at: http://www.sciencemag.org/site/help/readers/order.xhtml

For some reason I have had mixed sucess with the online forms, sometimes I get acess and can do it online, and sometimes end up with a hard copy PDF file instead. When that happens I just call the toll free number and do it the old fashion "talk to someone" way.

[Holder of the Tw...]

News conference set to start in one hour twenty minutes from this posting.

NASA TV Link

[Floyd]

About to start, 98+ viewers

[Explorer1]

Starting now...

[Paolo]

meanwhile, papers have appeared in Science http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6082.toc (behind the paywall)

[ElkGroveDan]

Can we go now? I want to see Ceres.

[Holder of the Tw...]

So, I guess I'll go ahead and hang on to my little diogenite samples. A bit more confidence in their source.

[DrShank]

Can we go now? I want to see Ceres.

No need to worry! staying longer at Vesta wont change our arrival time at Ceres.
p

[dilo]

Interesting conference, though I see less than a dozen people in the room (some of them appear annoyed too!)...

[DrShank]

Interesting conference, though I see less than a dozen people in the room (some of them appear annoyed too!)...

a lot of reporters like to do this sort of thing remotely now. or simply call beofre or after. kinda weird talking to a half empty room sometimes . . .

[Paolo]

Can we go now? I want to see Ceres.

a quick remark on the conference: I noticed that the speakers pronounced Ceres as something like "series". the correct pronunciation should be something like "Che-reh-ss". it's Latin, it's not American-English!

[centsworth_II]

It is interesting to know the correct Latin pronunciation but I don't think that makes the American-English pronunciation incorrect.

[charborob]

FWIW, in French, we write "Cérès" and pronounce it "say-ress" (short "say" and stress on "ress").

Edit: In classical Latin, the letter "C" was pronounced "K", but I don't think anybody would want to pronounce "kay-ress".

[elakdawalla]

Interesting conference, though I see less than a dozen people in the room (some of them appear annoyed too!)...

I've noticed that conferences held at HQ are particularly poorly attended physically, though there are clearly quite a lot of people on the phone. I prefer following briefings on the phone because that way I can study the released images as I listen to the scientists talk about them. I think it's kind of a waste of both money and of busy people's time to fly all those people to HQ for briefings when they could conduct them perfectly well remotely.

Though this time I wasn't on the phone at all, as I was playing in the desert with rovers instead

[Phil Stooke]

Dawn isn't in LAMO now, it's moved back upstairs, but there are still lots of great pics from lower down on the website. Today's image shows a crater with a shadow and detail in the shadow brought out by special processing. Here I have combined the two versions of their image.

Phil