Mar. 21, 2016

PSI Senior Scientist David O’Brien has worked on a number is images taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft since it arrive at Ceres a year ago. The latest are these two taken by Dawn during its low-altitude mapping orbit 240 miles (385 kilometers) above the surface.
Above, Ceres' mysterious mountain Ahuna Mons is seen in this mosaic of images from Dawn in December 2015. The resolution of the component images is 120 feet (35 meters) per pixel. On its steepest side, this mountain is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) high. Its average overall height is 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). These figures are slightly lower than what scientists estimated from Dawn's higher orbits because researchers now have a better sense of Ceres' topography. The diameter of the mountain is about 12 miles (20 kilometers). Researchers are exploring the processes that could have led to this feature's formation.
Below, a side-perspective view of Ceres' mysterious mountain Ahuna Mons taken by Dawn in low-altitude mapping orbit.