Get up close with Ceres 'weird Pyramid' and bright spots in new NASA photos. The closer we get to Ceres, the more perplexing the dwarf planet grows.
The intriguing brightest spots on Ceres lie in a crater named Occator, which is about 60 miles (90 kilometers) across and 2 miles (4 kilometers) deep.
Among the highest features seen on Ceres so far is a mountain about 4 miles (6 kilometers) high, which is roughly the elevation of Mount McKinley in Alaska's Denali National Park.
It's unusual that it's not associated with a crater. Why is it sitting in the middle of nowhere?
Ceres is the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn will resume its observations of Ceres in mid-August from an altitude of 900 miles (less than 1,500 kilometers), or three times closer to Ceres than its previous orbit.
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