DAWN To Enter Orbit of Vesta

DAWN was launched September 2007 and has taken almost four years to reach its first science stop. It is to enter the orbit of the asteroid Vesta today (15 July 2011) and orbit for approximately one year collecting data. The image to the right was obtained this image with its framing camera (which runs RTEMS) on July 9, 2011. It was taken from a distance of about 26,000 miles (41,000 kilometers) away from the protoplanet Vesta. Each pixel in the image corresponds to roughly 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers).

References:

• http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/feature_stories/spacecraft_to_enter_asteroid_orbit.asp
• http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/dawn_vesta_image_070911.asp