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DAWN - image of the day - Juni 2012

29.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Teia crater

The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Teia crater (indicated by the white arrows) is in the left side of the image and is roughly 7 kilometers (4 miles) in diameter. The shape of Teia’s rim resembles that of a heart, which is upside down in this image. Slumping of material possibly caused this unusual shape. The bright part of Teia is a slump of material covered by boulders. The bottom rim of Teia covers an older, more degraded, crater and streaks originate from many sides of Teia. The topography image shows that Teia crater hit the bottom part of a hill, which is colored white and red.

28.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Helena and Laelia craters

3 July 2012
The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Helena crater is the center crater in the vertical line of three craters in the center of the image. Laelia crater is in the right corner of the image. There are small patches of dark and bright material around the rim of Helena crater and a mound of material in the center of the crater, which was deposited after material cascaded down the side of the crater. There is an elongate depression to the left of Helena, which shows up clearly in the topography image. The topography image also shows that Helena crater formed on a strongly sloping part of Vesta’s surface.

27.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Laelia crater

The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Laelia crater is the middle-sized crater, surrounded by dark material, slightly below the center of the image. Dark material crops out of the rim of Laelia crater and cascades towards its center. There is also dark material around the crater, which has mostly been excavated by small craters. The topography image shows that Laelia is a reasonably shallow crater, in a region of relatively low topography.

26.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Laelia and Sextilia craters

26 June 2012
The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Laelia crater is the crater surrounded by dark material offset to the left of the center of the image. Sextilia crater is the large crater in the top of the images with bright material around its rim. In the apparent brightness image it is clear that some of the dark material associated with Laelia crater crops out from its rim and slumps towards its center and that some has been excavated by smaller craters surrounding Laelia. The bowl shape of Sextilia crater is seen in the topography image.

25.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Justina crater

The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Justina crater is the middle-sized crater in the right of the images. Justina is surrounded by bright material, some of which forms rays, on all of its sides apart from the right side. In the topography image it can be seen that the area without bright material is the highest area around Justina crater. So perhaps there is no bright material in this area because as the material was thrown out of Justina crater it did not have sufficient energy to get high enough to cover this topographically high area.

22.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Fabia crater

22 June 2012
The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Fabia crater is the large crater in the bottom right part of the images, with bright material along the left side of its rim. There are many features associated with mass movement of material into the center of Fabia crater. The topography image shows that the deepest part of Fabia crater (colored yellow) is offset to the right of its center. This may be due to the mass movement or slumping that occurred in this crater. This region of Vesta is reasonably heavily cratered and there are many other craters visible in the images.

21.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Tuccia and Eusebia craters

The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Tuccia crater is the small crater with the bright rays and is offset from the center of the images. Eusebia crater is the large crater roughly in the center of the right of the images. Both Tuccia and Eusebia are located in the ridged and grooved areas of Vesta’s southern hemisphere. These ridges and grooves are seen in the bottom half of these images, most distinctly in the topography image.

20.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Eusebia crater

20 June 2012
The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Eusebia crater is the large crater roughly in the center of the images. Tuccia crater is the much smaller crater centered on the top left edge of the images. It is clear in the topography image that the bottom side of Eusebia crater is quite shallow. This may be due to mass movement or slumping of material into the crater. The bowl shape of Tuccia crater is seen in the topography image and the bright rays surrounding it are clear in the apparent brightness image. There is a large ridge running horizontally across the bottom of the images. Such ridges are common in Vesta’s southern hemisphere.

19.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Drusilla crater

The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Drusilla crater is the large crater in the center of the images. In the apparent brightness image it is clear that Drusilla has a fresh, irregularly shaped rim and a pile of material in its center, which is probably the result of some sort of mass movement or slumping into the crater. The topography image shows that Drusilla is quite a deep crater: its rim is in the green part of the color-coded topography and its base in the dark blue part.

18.06.2012 - Cratered surface of Vesta

19 June 2012
This Dawn framing camera (FC) image of Vesta shows many craters of different sizes and states of preservation on Vesta’s surface. In the top of the image there are four large, very degraded craters that have diameters of around 5 kilometers (3 miles). On account of their very degraded state these craters are probably some of the oldest craters in the image. There are many younger, much fresher craters that are generally less than 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) in diameter. There are also many linear features in this image. A number of grooves and ridges run diagonally across the image, from the top left to bottom right. And more feint, smaller scale grooves run in the opposite direction, from the top right to bottom left.

15.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Canuleia and Sossia craters

The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Canuleia is the large crater in the top right of the images and Sossia crater is the large crater offset to the left of the center of the images. In the apparent brightness image it is clear that rays of bright material surround Canuleia. There is also one band of dark material on Canuleia’s left side. Sossia has rays of dark material originating from it, mostly on its left side. The topography image shows that both craters have a bowl-like shape and that Canuleia’s dark band runs along a topographically low area (colored blue).

14.06.2012 - Surface covered with regolith and craters

19 June 2012
This Dawn framing camera (FC) image of Vesta shows a part of Vesta’s surface that is covered by heavily cratered regolith. Regolith is the fine-grained material that covers most of Vesta’s surface. It falls onto the surface after it is ejected during the formation of impact craters. The regolith has a characteristic smooth appearance in these images because it is fine-grained. There are many linear features running diagonally across the regolith, which may be due to movement of the regolith. The regolith is also heavily cratered: there are craters that range from being very fresh to very degraded. Some craters have been buried by the regolith and are only just visible as shallow, circular depressions.

13.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Canuleia crater

The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Canuleia crater is a relatively large crater in the top left of the images. In the brightness image there are many streaks of bright material clearly visible around the crater. There is also one streak of dark material on the left side of the crater. The topography image highlights the bowl shape of Canuleia and the ridges and grooves that run diagonally across the bottom part of the image. These ridges and grooves are characteristic of Vesta’s southern hemisphere.

12.06.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Antonia crater

12 June 2012
The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Antonia crater is the relatively large crater offset to the right of the center of the image. The top rim of Antonia crater is reasonably fresh and the bottom rim is relatively degraded. In the topography image it is clear that the side of the crater with the more degraded rim has a shallow slope because it is only color-coded in one color: green. The opposite side has a much steeper slope because it is color-coded in many colors. The degraded rim and shallower slope on one side of the crater are thought to have been formed by a landslide or a similar process.

11.06.2012 - A part of Vesta’s shadowed northern hemisphere

This Dawn framing camera (FC) image of Vesta shows a very shadowed region in Vesta’s northern hemisphere. Roughly the upper one third of Vesta’s northern hemisphere is currently in shadow. This is because this part of Vesta is currently tilted away from the Sun, making it the vestan winter in this area. The continual darkness at Earth’s pole during our winter is due to the north pole being tilted away from the Sun, which is the same mechanism that is operating on Vesta. Currently, the illumination from the Sun is gradually creeping up towards Vesta’s north pole because Vesta is moving into its springtime. The rims of a number of craters are visible in this image but to get much scientific information about this area it will be necessary to wait until the area is better lit by the Sun. By the time the Dawn spacecraft leaves Vesta the north pole will be illuminated.

08.06.2012 - Patterns in Vesta’s regolith

12 June 2012
This Dawn framing camera (FC) image of Vesta shows linear grooves and ridges in Vesta’s regolith. These linear features generally run diagonally across the image from the top left to the bottom right. They are less than 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) in width and some have lengths that extend across the entire image. The grooves and ridges are not perfectly linear and most are slightly curve in one or more areas. These linear features have formed in Vesta’s covering of fine particles, called the regolith. The regolith is reasonably easy to identify because it has a smooth texture in the framing camera images. It has a smooth texture because it is made of fine-grained particles, much like the sand on a beach looks smooth from a distance. The origin of these grooves and ridges is currently being investigated.

07.06.2012 - Cratered terrain

This Dawn framing camera (FC) image of Vesta shows a part of the heavily cratered terrain in Vesta’s northern hemisphere. There are a variety of craters in this image. They range from diameters of less than 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) to roughly 7 kilometers (4 miles). Some of the craters have fresh, sharp rims, which suggests that they are reasonably young. But most of the craters have degraded, rounded rims, which suggests that they are older. There is a cluster of small craters to the right of the center of the image. These craters may be secondary craters, which are formed by debris ejected out of larger impact craters during their formation. The northern hemisphere of Vesta contains more craters than the southern hemisphere, which indicates that the surface in the northern hemisphere is older than the surface in the southern hemisphere. This is because an older surface has more time to accumulate craters than a younger surface.

	06.06.2012 - Colored animation of Vesta 11 June 2012 This colored animation of Vesta is made from a mosaic of Dawn Framing Camera (FC) color composite images wrapped around the shape model of Vesta. The shape model is a 3-D representation of the topography of Vesta, which is calculated from images observed from different viewing angles.
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05.06.2012 - Escarpment on Vesta

This Dawn Framing Camera (FC) image of Vesta shows an escarpment near Vesta’s south pole. An escarpment is a cliff or steep slope and the escarpment in this image runs diagonally from the top to the bottom of the image. It is identified by the dark shadow that it casts to its left side. Roughly 25 kilometers (16 miles) of the escarpment is visible in this image, but its total length is more than this because it extends off the top and bottom of the image. The shape model of Vesta is necessary to find an accurate height of the escarpment. The formation mechanism of escarpments on Vesta is currently being investigated. There are many smaller scale grooves also running diagonally across the image on either side of the escarpment.

04.06.2012 - Subdued and fresh craters

4 June 2012
This Dawn Framing Camera (FC) image of Vesta shows a part of a large subdued crater in the top left of the image. A lot of this crater is in shadow but a part of its rather degraded and rounded rim can be distinguished because of the shadow that it casts inside of the crater. In contrast, in the bottom left of the image a part of a large fresh crater can be seen. The rim of this crater is much sharper because it is younger and has not been around long enough for its rim to become as rounded as the rim of the degraded crater. There are also many smaller craters visible in this image. Some of these small craters in the bottom right of the image appear to be arranged into chains of craters.

01.06.2012 - Vesta’s partly shadowed northern regions

This Dawn Framing Camera (FC) image of Vesta shows a part of Vesta’s surface reasonably far north into the northern hemisphere. This image has a somewhat washed out appearance because it has been stretched to make features visible that would otherwise be too dark to see. The black areas in this image are regions that are still very dark even after the stretching. The most northerly part of Vesta’s northern hemisphere is in shadow because the Sun is not currently shining on it. This is similar to the way that Earth’s north pole is continually in darkness during the Earth’s winter. But, Vesta is currently moving into its springtime so the Sun’s light is gradually creeping further and further north and consequently illuminating more of Vesta’s surface.

Juni 2012

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