NASA's Dawn probe is snapping stunning new views of the dwarf planet Ceres as the spacecraft pushes ever higher above the small world.
In one image, Ceres' huge Occator Crater shows its central bright region, the brightest on Ceres. The crater itself is 57 miles wide (92 kilometers), and 2.5 miles deep (4 km). That makes it 77 times larger than the Barringer Crater in Arizona. Dawn took the picture when it was about 920 miles (1,480 km) above the surface, in early October. [Check out more amazing Ceres photos by Dawn]
Planetary scientists think the bright spots might be from briny material bubbling up during geologic activity; the liquid would sublimate away leaving the salts behind. Another asteroid slamming into Ceres could also cause upwelling, which is what some think happened at Occator Crater.
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