This artist's concept shows NASA's Dawn spacecraft arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres, the most massive body in the asteroid belt. Dawn is the first mission to visit a dwarf planet -- a round body that orbits the sun but, unlike a planet, does not clear iCeres Seen From NASA's Dawn Spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDAThis image shows infrared views of two craters at the giant asteroid Vesta that NASA's Dawn mission has found to sport the mineral olivine. These craters, Bellicia (left) and Arruntia (right), are in the northern hemisphere, where Dawn scientists didn't eArtist's impression of the Dawn spacecraft. Credit: NASA JPL / http://dawnblog.jpl.nasa.gov
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This artist's concept shows NASA's Dawn spacecraft arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres, the most massive body in the asteroid belt. Dawn is the first mission to visit a dwarf planet -- a round body that orbits the sun but, unlike a planet, does not clear its orbital path of other objects. Image credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechNASA/JPL-Caltech
Ceres Seen From NASA's Dawn Spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDANASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
This image shows infrared views of two craters on the giant asteroid Vesta that NASA's Dawn mission has found to sport the mineral olivine. These craters, Bellicia (left) and Arruntia (right), are in the northern hemisphere, where Dawn scientists didn't expect to find olivine. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/ASI/INAFNASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/ASI/INAF
Artist's impression of the Dawn spacecraft. Credit: NASA JPL / http://dawnblog.jpl.nasa.govNASA JPL
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Mission name: Dawn

Dawn

Dawn provided new information about the early Solar System and formation of rocky planets by visiting protoplanets in the Main Asteroid Belt.

Mission news and discoveries