Skip Navigation

Resources

Dawn Spacecraft's Farewell Portrait of Giant Asteroid Vesta

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Published: August 30, 2012

A simulated flyover of the most intriguing landmarks on giant asteroid Vesta, as seen by NASA's Dawn spacecraft.

PREVIEW

Related

Cassini mission planners created this animation to showcase Cassini's final 22 orbits - the mission's Grand Finale.
More
Animation showing 22 orbit plots around Saturn.
Grand Finale Orbits Petal Plot
The four changes of the seasons, related to the position of sunlight on the planet, are captured in this view from geosynchronous Earth orbit by EUMETSAT's Meteosat-9 satellite. 
More
earth from space
Seeing Equinoxes and Solstices from Space
Arrival at Saturn
More
Arrival at Saturn
Arrival at Saturn
This life-like movie sequence captures Saturn's rings during a ring plane crossing--which Cassini makes twice per orbit--from the spacecraft's point of view.
More
The Great Crossing
The Great Crossing
Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
More
Computer simulation of asteroid orbit.
OSIRIS-REx Orbits
On Nov. 30, 2016, NASA's Cassini mission begins a daring set of ring-grazing orbits, skimming past the outside edge of Saturn's main rings.
More
Video describing Cassini's orbits of the F ring.
Cassini's High-Flying, Ring-Grazing Orbits
For 13 years the spacecraft’s incredible, truly otherworldly images have revealed the wonder of Saturn in surprising, often awe-inspiring ways.
More
Cassini at Saturn
Cassini: The Wonder of Saturn (Video)
This data visualization represents twenty years' worth of data showing the abundance of life both on land and in the sea. 
More
Visualization showing ebb and flow of life on Earth.
Earth: Our Living Planet
This colorful spectrogram represents data collected by Cassini's Radio and Plasma Wave Science instrument as it crossed through Saturn's D ring on May 28, 2017.
More
Color image shows rise in sound as Cassini crossed the D-ring.
Cassini's First D-Ring Crossing
In August 2012, a long filament of solar material coalesced in the Sun's atmosphere. 
More
In August 2012, a long filament of solar material coalesced in the sun's atmosphere. For several days it was visible, appearing from Earth's viewpoint to curl up and over the left side of the sun.
Solar Filament Coalesces in Sun's Atmosphere
This movie from Cassini, made possible only as Saturn's north pole emerged from winter darkness, shows new details of a jet stream that follows a hexagon-shaped path and has long puzzled scientists.
More
This movie (still image shown) from Cassini, made possible only as Saturn's north pole emerged from winter darkness, shows new details of a jet stream that follows a hexagon-shaped path and has long puzzled scientists.
Spring Reveals Saturn's Hexagon Jet Stream
This simulated voyage over the surface of Neptune's large moon Triton was produced using topographic maps derived from images acquired by NASA's Voyager spacecraft during its August 1989 flyby, 20 ...
More
This simulated voyage over the surface of Neptune's large moon Triton was produced using topographic maps derived from images acquired by NASA's Voyager spacecraft during its August 1989 flyby, 20 years ago this week.
Flight Over Triton
This short animation created by Cassini's mission planning team shows how a Titan flyby will be used to move the spacecraft's course from orbiting Cassini's outer ring (F ring) to an orbit that tak...
More
Animation showing Cassini's orbit change to dive between the planet and its rings.
Entering Final Orbits: Cassini's Grand Finale
In this movie, strung together from a series of images provided by the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft, we see a full rotation of Vesta, which occurs over the course of roughly five hours. 
More
In this movie, strung together from a series of images provided by the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft, we see a full rotation of Vesta, which occurs over the course of roughly five hours.
Vesta Full Rotation Movie
We are going to the Moon, to stay, by 2024. And this is how. 
More
Short video explaining NASA's plans to send a woman and a man to the Moon by 2024.
We Are Going
This artist's concept shows "tides" on Titan raised by Saturn's gravity, as detected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
More
This artist's concept shows "tides" on Titan raised by Saturn's gravity, as detected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
Squeezing and Stretching Titan
The moon Tethys is joined by two smaller moons in this movie from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
More
The moon Tethys is joined by two smaller moons in this movie from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
Moons in Motion
See highlights from the scene at JPL on April 26-27, 2017, and some of the first raw images the spacecraft sent back from its closest-ever look at Saturn’s atmosphere.
More
Video showing tension and celebration as the mission team learns their spacecraft made the first successful crossing between Saturn and its innermost rings.
Cassini's First Dive Between Saturn and Its Rings
Glowing like a neon lasso, Saturn’s aurora is seen spinning above Saturn’s north pole over the course of most of a Saturn day in this movie made from multiple images taken by the ultraviolet imagin...
More
Saturn’s aurora is seen spinning above Saturn’s north pole over the course of most of a Saturn day
Ultraviolet Aurora Movie
Classic video explaining the history, debate and continuing discussion of the definition of a planet.
More
Classic video explaining the history, debate and continuing discussion of the definition of a planet.
What is a Planet?
This video shows the scientists' best guess to date of what the surface of the protoplanet Vesta might look like.
More
Virtual Vesta
Virtual Vesta
Mark Hofstadter describes the lure of science -- of discovering something new -- and his path to becoming a planetary scientist.
More
Mark Hofstadter describes the lure of science -- of discovering something new -- and his path to becoming a planetary scientist.
Through the Eyes of Scientists - Meet Mark Hofstadter
This animated sequence of images, captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, shows changes in the brightness of the Enceladus plume during a 6.5-hour observation.
More
Enceladus' plume
Changing View of the Enceladus Plume
Six years of exploration through the 'eyes' of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit.
More
Six years of exploration through the 'eyes' of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit.
Spirit of Mars
What can you see in the October sky? Join the global celebration of International Observe the Moon Night on Oct. 5th, then try to catch the ice giant planets Uranus and Neptune.
More
Video describing celestial objects visible in the night sky during the month of October 2019.
What's Up Video: October 2019 Skywatching Tips from NASA

You Might Also Like