Ceres gets a closeup in NASA's latest images of Texas-sized dwarf planet
Since arriving at its destination in March, NASA's Dawn spacecraft has circled Ceres six times, sending back to Earth the most high definition images of the largest object in the solar system's asteroid belt.
What exactly Ceres is has been long debated by scientists since its discovery in 1801. Ceres' classification has jumped from comet, to planet, to asteroid and finally to what it is today, a dwarf planet.
The Dawn spacecraft spent the first eight months of its orbiting journey studying Ceres from a distance of 240 miles, an altitude that NASA notes is closer than the International Space Station is to Earth. But starting in August, Dawn moved further and further away from Ceres.
As of early November, Dawn was 4,5000 miles above Ceres, which has led to some stunning photographs that help convey the dwarf planet's mighty size.
Read more and view more photos: http://www.chron.com/news/science-environment/article/NASA-s-latest-images-of-Ceres-make-the-dwarf-10628823.php
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