749 replies to this topic

[sickfish]

Around March 6th the probe goes into orbit around Ceres we will learn more then I guess.

[Rick Woods]

There should be better pictures already.

[dyslexic nam]

There should be better pictures already.

 

Should I get my tin foil?

[Ugljesa]

It is someone's huge reflector setup pointed at our probe (the smaller dot is just it's more "portable" companion:-))

 

Maybe the more detailed Dawn imagery, in the future, can catch a hint of central obstruction there...

 

And if the images show more dots, that means they are gathering a Crater Valley Star Party, to welcome our lil' ship.

Edited by Ugljesa, 27 February 2015 - 01:08 PM.

[Napersky]

 

There should be better pictures already.

 

Should I get my tin foil?

 

Tin Foil is much too early as wearing Faraday Hats are the provenance of abductees.

[Qwickdraw]

There should be better pictures already.

 

 

My thoughts also. Perhaps there are but not for the general public?

[Starman1]

Since it goes into orbit Friday Mar. 6, I would imagine the telemetry and mission engineers are kind of busy

making sure that happens. Pictures may be taking a back seat.

 

But that bright spot better not look like THIS

Edited by Starman1, 28 February 2015 - 11:07 AM.

[Qwickdraw]

It s in the middle of a crater.  To much to be a coincidence.  I'm going with volcanoes.  Which would be crazy cool. Where would the energy possibly come from?   But I'm routing for alien outpost lol..

 

 

I cant go with volcanism at all. To me Ceres is too small. Perhaps if it was orbiting a massive planet, I could consider this possibility. For now I would have to go with an ice formation possibly the result of a large meteor impact which broke in two before impact both breaking through the thin outer crust of Ceres and causing the inner ice core to melt to the surface which refroze and caused a very reflective area. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

[llanitedave]

There should be a closest approach before orbital capture, after which the spacecraft will increase its distance again on the way out to apo-"cereium"(?).  The bright spot might not be visible at that moment, but a nice image would be nice.

 

Not sure how long it will take the orbit to circularize and settle down.

[maugi88]

This is what I was talking about when I mentioned NASA speculated the spots may have a volcanic origin.

 

http://www.nasa.gov/...mmer-companion/

[Larry Geary]

This is what I was talking about when I mentioned NASA speculated the spots may have a volcanic origin.

 

http://www.nasa.gov/...mmer-companion/

 

If these were volcanoes, specifically water/ice volcanoes, then we should see lots of water/ice on the surface, and a much younger, craterless surface than we are seeing. Think Io. I think they're patches of ice, though the sun angle doesn't look right.

[maugi88]

I think they are craters from impacts. Even on our moon some of the effects of impact craters are very bright.

 

I would be shocked, and awed, if they can prove volcanic activity made these features.

Edited by maugi88, 28 February 2015 - 10:02 PM.

[llanitedave]

One seems to be on a crater's central peak, and the smaller one next to it may be on the inward-facing rim slope.  Maybe landslide exposures?

[Dartguy]

The very cool part of this whole discussion is we get to find out shortly!  That rarely happens.

[rcooley]

Isn't it obvious?  This is where Philae really ended up!

[Mister T]

Isn't it obvious?  This is where Philae really ended up!

so it bounced quite a bit farther the last bounce.

[sickfish]

NASA has update at 12:00 noon today, Monday.

Streaming online

[sickfish]

No new images til April

[Jim4321]

Occam's razor... a big ol' sheet of mica. 

 

Jim H.

[Rick Woods]

This is a little unsettling: Dawn is going into orbit in a couple of days. There is a very mysterious, anomalous, unexplained feature on the planet. There has to have been several opportunities to reimage that area, even given that they were only taking 9 pictures on the approach. Why isn't anyone commenting on this? Not even a single attempt at a close-up until April? Has there been any explanation for this?

(I'm not crying "conspiracy"; but, is there something being withheld pending more investigation?)

[sickfish]

It is going to get grabbed by the gravity then start to swing back toward Ceres.

It is on the dark side until April.

The update today was very informative. I am sure there is a replay.

They said the next transmission will be on Friday afternoon, that will say that it has made it into orbit or not.

[Jim4321]

And if that scheduled transmission doesn't occur, we might have some reason to start worrying......

 

Jim H.

 

"I wake up every day in a good mood. Then idiots happen."

[groz]

This is a little unsettling: Dawn is going into orbit in a couple of days. There is a very mysterious, anomalous, unexplained feature on the planet. There has to have been several opportunities to reimage that area, even given that they were only taking 9 pictures on the approach. Why isn't anyone commenting on this? Not even a single attempt at a close-up until April? Has there been any explanation for this?

(I'm not crying "conspiracy"; but, is there something being withheld pending more investigation?)

 

The sequence events leading up to orbit insertion will have been well documented and simulated during the leadup to the event.  No way in hades the flight folks are going to deviate from the planned event sequence at the last minute, far to much risk of some accidental side effects.  The science boffins will get opportunities to point cameras at 'target of opportunity' once orbits are confirmed, but for now, they can sit back and watch while the engineers get the job done.

 

And as much as you are trying to say otherwise, yes, you are claiming conspiracy.  I'm sure lots of others are too.  But that's just because folks dont understand the reality of how a spaceship will be dealt with, during a critical mission phase where there is one, and only one opportunity to 'get it right'.  There will be no devaitions from the planned script, until the critical phase is complete.

Edited by groz, 02 March 2015 - 09:19 PM.

[Rick Woods]

Well, you appear to have had a change of heart from earlier when you "liked" my post. (Not sure how that was withdrawn, but it's still in my notification list - for now, anyway.)

 

I understand what you're saying. But, surely you're not suggesting that orbital insertion is progressing without a single image being taken from closer than 52,000 miles? AFAIK, two approach images (out of nine scheduled) have been published. Is this according to the planned script? Keep in mind that the Dawn team has stressed their desire to share all findings with the public immediately. And, approach images have been standard since Mariner 6 & 7.

Edited by Rick Woods, 02 March 2015 - 11:40 PM.

[groz]

Well, you appear to have had a change of heart from earlier when you "liked" my post. (Not sure how that was withdrawn, but it's still in my notification list - for now, anyway.)

 

I understand what you're saying. But, surely you're not suggesting that orbital insertion is progressing without a single image being taken from closer than 52,000 miles? AFAIK, two approach images (out of nine scheduled) have been published. Is this according to the planned script? Keep in mind that the Dawn team has stressed their desire to share all findings with the public immediately. And, approach images have been standard since Mariner 6 & 7.

 

The like was an accident of pushing on the wrong button, haven't been around here much since all the software changes happened so I mistook that for the 'reply' button.  Learned something tho, after you push it by accident, it changes to 'unlike' and one can fix the mistake.

 

As for specifically what shots are planned while inbound, I dunno, but it would not surprise me if some of them are in different directions for orientation purposes, and dont even have the destination in field.