Dawn approaches Vesta, Approach phase, 3 May to 16 July 2011 Options

[Stu]

Image #0109 sharpened up/generally messed about with a bit...



I know, I know... careful when sharpening too much...artefacts... I'mjust doing it for fun...

But that's gotta be a little round crater there, right?

[tedstryk]

BTW:
All images of Vesta released to date are quite a bit blurry. Is that the result from to much magnification or what?

Yes, they are greatly magnified, which is why they appear blurry.

[ugordan]

I'm hoping some of those brightness differences (like that bright-ish crater near the center in the latest sequence) turn out to be albedo differences. There doesn't appear to be many of those so far. I'd hate to see Vesta turn into another dull monochrome body.

The other thing that kind of caught me by surprise is how the imaging spectrometer can also actually resolve Vesta now. With the framing camera's resolution substantially lower than the likes of Galileo SSI, Cassini NAC, etc., there's not that big of a gap between resolutions as one would expect for a spectrometer.

[Phil Stooke]

I wouldn't worry yet - think of these images as being like Voyager images of Helene, Janus, Epimetheus etc. We have a long way to go yet, and we already know there is spectral variability from the previous HST and other mapping.

Phil

[Stu]

I've been saving something until today...

Anyone want to see what Vesta looks like up-close? It's just, well, I have a bit...

In his opening comments, PI Mr Russell showed a very impressive slice of a Vesta meteorite, mounted in a plexiglass frame. He mentioned that you can buy pieces of the meteorite, unlike Moon rocks. Which is true. A few years ago a friend of mine in Australia bought me a piece of the "Millibillie" meteorite for my birthday... just a wee bit, 2.5cm across, but it's a Euctrite, a class of meteorite which is thought to originate from... Vesta...

So, here's my little piece of Vesta.

[ElkGroveDan]

Here's one that was on display in the JPL Visitors Center two weeks ago. It's a Polymict Eucrite found at Lewis Cliff, Antarctica.

more on the composition here -> http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=12773

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[tedstryk]

Here is my take on the last four frames, aligned with the last frame.

[Astro0]

Stu said: So, here's my little piece of Vesta.

All the best things are found in Australia

[ElkGroveDan]

All the best things are found in Australia

Agreed, and let's all toss back a Fosters in honor of Wally Gale today.

[belleraphon1]

This is the first mid-sized rocky world we have visited.

I well remember the anticipation of the Voyager 1 Saturn encounter. We had just been wowed by the Jupiter planet sized moons. At Saturn we would see mid sized (that was the term used) icy moons for the first time. Now that wild assortment of satellites has become lovingly familiar yet still capable of surprise.

I love that journey from unknown to known to familiar. Mental equivalent of drinking a vintage wine. Take a sip. Roll around the pallet before the swallow. The burst of inner warmth. Take another sip, an image a bit finer in resolution, just as the taste explores a finer nuance. The bottle is not finished untill we have reached familiar. Yet pick up a bottle of the same vintage... and be surprised again.

Exploration is great because the discovery, as the wine, never ends or gets stale.

Love this.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Did they elaborate on any planned image release policy. Or is it really 2 images a week?

[machi]

Fantastic images! Continuously better and better.

I love that journey from unknown to known to familiar. Mental equivalent of drinking a vintage wine. Take a sip. Roll around the pallet before the swallow. The burst of inner warmth. Take another sip, an image a bit finer in resolution, just as the taste explores a finer nuance. The bottle is not finished untill we have reached familiar. Yet pick up a bottle of the same vintage... and be surprised again.

Now I know who I am. Planetary drunkard.

[Explorer1]

Two images a week at first, but getting more frequent; the animation posted earlier shows this clearly as they get closer and closer.

[belleraphon1]

Now I know who I am. Planetary drunkard.
[/quote]


I ask... what could be better!!!!

[tedstryk]

Now I know who I am. Planetary drunkard.

I know what you mean. This is the first world in its class that we have seen. I am incredibly excited. After Ceres, we will have seen the two most massive rocky worlds that we haven't yet seen (assuming we don't find some ejected rocky world out beyond Neptune somewhere).