                     APOD: 2018 July 19 - Cerealia Facula

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                 2018 July 19
                                      [2]
                               Cerealia Facula
      Image Credit: NASA [3] , JPL-Caltech [4] , UCLA [5] , MPS/DLR/IDA

Explanation: Cerealia Facula, also known as the brightest spot on Ceres [6] ,
is shown in this stunning mosaic close-up view. The high-resolution image [7]
data was recorded by the Dawn spacecraft, in a looping orbit, from altitudes
as low as 34 kilometers (21 miles) above the dwarf planet's surface [8] .
Cerealia Facula is about 15 kilometers wide, found in the center of 90
kilometer diameter Occator crater [9] . Like the other bright spots (faculae)
scattered around Ceres, [10] Cerealia Facula is not ice, but an exposed salty
residue with a reflectivity like dirty snow. The residue is thought to be
mostly sodium carbonate and ammonium chloride from a slushy brine within or
below the dwarf planet's crust. Driven by advanced ion propulsion on an
11-year mission, Dawn explored main-belt asteriod Vesta before traveling on to
Ceres. But sometime between this August and October, the interplanetary
spacecraft is expected to finally run out of fuel for its hydrazine thrusters,
with the subsequent loss of control of its orientation, losing power and the
ability to communicate with Earth. Meanwhile Dawn will continue to explore
Ceres in unprecedented detail, and ultimately retire in its orbit around the
small world [11] .

                  Tomorrow's picture: teapots in space [12]

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1807/CerealiaFaculaPIA21924.jpg
  [3] http://www.nasa.gov/
  [4] http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
  [5] http://dawn.igpp.ucla.edu/
  [6] https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php?id=1516
  [7] https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21924
  [8] https://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/
  [9] ap151211.html
  [10] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/
dusk-for-dawn-mission-of-many-firsts-to-gather-more-data-in-home-stretch
  [11] https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/blog/columns/dawn-journal/
  [12] ap180720.html
  [13] ap180718.html
  [14] archivepix.html
  [15] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [16] lib/aptree.html
  [17] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
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  [22] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180719
  [23] ap180720.html
  [24] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [25] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [26] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
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