Ceres Looks Terrifyingly Sinister In NASA's Highest Resolution Image Yet

NASA Captures Astonishing New Pics Of Dwarf Planet Ceres

NASA's Dawn mission has been an eye-opener, not least because of the spacecraft's advanced ion drive that's being tested, but also because of its destinations.

The humble spacecraft will be the first to travel to, and then orbit around, two extraterrestrial targets. Having travelled from the giant asteroid Vesta, Dawn has spent the month on the dark side of Ceres - the dwarf planet that makes up a third of the asteroid belt's entire mass.

Well now Dawn has managed to capture the sunlit poles of Ceres, resulting in the highest resolution images of the dwarf planet ever taken.

In a hauntingly simple gif, Ceres looks almost sinister thanks to the fact so little of it is covered in sunlight.

Thankfully we won't have to wait long to see Ceres in even more detail as it'll enter orbit on 23 April and reduce its current distance of around 21,000 miles to just 8,400 miles.

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