Dawn's departing view of Vesta's shadowy north pole

Filed under pretty pictures, asteroids, asteroid 4 Vesta, Dawn

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This image is a polar stereographic projection of five images taken by Dawn on August 26, 2012, as it prepared to depart Vesta. The season had been changing throughout Dawn's mission, and spring was just arriving at the north pole as Dawn left.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA

The black-and-white mosaic is composed of five images obtained by Dawn's framing camera on Aug. 26, 2012, while Dawn was at an altitude of about 6,000 kilometers. In the mosaic, two large impact craters can be seen. One is relatively fresh with no smaller impacts on its floor. There is also a second larger and older crater with many smaller impacts on its floor. The mosaic, which is a stereographic projection, extends out to about 30 degrees of latitude south of the north pole.