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Lovely pic of a recent crater on Vesta
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/10/11 08:28 CDT
Lovely pic of a recent crater on Vesta
Some first impressions of EPSC-DPS meeting
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/10/03 11:55 CDT
Some first impressions of EPSC-DPS meeting
Dawn Journal: Fourth year in space, and arrival in HAMO
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2011/09/29 08:12 CDT
Dawn's fourth anniversary of being in space is very different from its previous ones. Indeed, those days all were devoted to reaching the distant destination the ship is now exploring. Celebrating its anniversary of leaving Earth, Dawn is in orbit around a kindred terrestrial-type world, the ancient protoplanet Vesta.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/09/16 08:44 CDT
Video: Zooming around Vesta
Dawn's cryptic image release titles
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/09/14 04:44 CDT
Dawn's cryptic image release titles
Dawn Journal: Spiraling down from Survey Orbit
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2011/09/02 11:39 CDT
Dawn Journal: Spiraling down from Survey Orbit
Dawn Journal: In Survey Orbit (belatedly)
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2011/08/29 09:11 CDT
Dawn Journal: In Survey Orbit (belatedly)
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/08/16 09:26 CDT
Vesta's wacky craters
Guest Post: Pablo Gutierrez-Marques: Vesta, a revelation
Posted by Pablo Gutierrez-Marques on 2011/08/09 12:19 CDT
Guest Post: Pablo Gutierrez-Marques: Vesta, a revelation
Dawn Journal: Dawn has arrived!
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2011/07/26 11:55 CDT
After covering 2.8 billion kilometers (1.7 billion miles) on its own, after traveling for nearly four years through the lonely emptiness of interplanetary space, after being bound by the gravity only of the sun, Dawn is finally in orbit around Vesta.
Vesta does a Hyperion impression
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/07/21 06:25 CDT
Maybe it's my own peculiar variant of pareidolia, but every time I see a new image of Vesta I'm reminded of some different other lumpy body in the solar system. In the image released just now by the Dawn team, taken from 10,500 kilometers away, I'm seeing Hyperion.
Dawn Journal: Closing in on Vesta
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2011/06/27 11:19 CDT
Dawn Journal: Closing in on Vesta
Dawn Journal: Vesta to choose Dawn's arrival time
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2011/05/30 12:52 CDT
Dawn Journal: Vesta to choose Dawn's arrival time
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/05/11 12:23 CDT
It's hard to convey just how excited I am to see Dawn's first image of asteroid Vesta.
Dawn's Vesta phase timeline, a summary
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/05/03 01:18 CDT
Now that Dawn has finally begun its science mission at Vesta, I thought it'd be useful to go back through Marc Rayman's Dawn Journals to collect a summary of the plans for Vesta.
Dawn Journal: On the threshold of a new world
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2011/05/03 01:13 CDT
Dawn is on the threshold of a new world. After more than three and a half years of interplanetary travel covering in excess of 2.6 billion kilometers (1.6 billion miles), we are closing in on our first destination. Dawn is starting its approach to Vesta.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/05/02 11:26 CDT
Space.com has taken advantage of the infinitely scrollable nature of Web pages to produce a really cool infographic on the scales of orbital distances in the solar system.
Dawn Journal: Calibrating instruments and thrusters on Vesta approach
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2011/04/07 03:14 CDT
Three and a half years after launch, Dawn continues its travels around the Sun, maneuvering to take the same orbital path as Vesta. The spacecraft has spent most of the past month gently thrusting with its ion propulsion system. Some of the thrusting this month, however, was not designed to propel Dawn to Vesta.
365 Days of Astronomy Podcast: What's up in the second quarter of 2011
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/04/07 11:16 CDT
Regular readers of this blog will find the content of today's 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast familiar, because it's an update on what the solar system exploration spacecraft are up to, based on my monthly "what's up" updates.
What's up in the solar system in April 2011
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/03/31 03:59 CDT
April 2011 will see MESSENGER begin the science phase of its orbital mission at Mercury, and should, I think, also see the start of Dawn's approach observations of Vesta. At Mars, Opportunity is back on the road again, rolling inexorably toward Endeavour. At Saturn, Cassini will continue its focus on Saturn and Titan science.
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