Explore the craters, bright spots, mountains and other features of Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The data for this simulated flyover were gathered by NASA’s Dawn orbiter.

According to Dr Paul Schenk of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, a scientist for the Dawn mission: “the craters we find on Ceres, in terms of their depth and diameter, are very similar to what we see on Dione and Tethys, two icy satellites of Saturn that are about the same size and density as Ceres.”

Occator, the crater containing Ceres’ famed bright spots, is fascinating to Dawn team members.

Named after the Roman agriculture deity of harrowing, the crater has a diameter of 60 miles (90 km) and a depth of two miles (4 km). A new animation simulates the experience of a close flyover of the crater.

In examining the way Occator’s bright spots reflect light at different wavelengths, the Dawn scientists have not found evidence that is consistent with ice. The spots’ albedo is also lower than predictions for concentrations of ice at the surface.

“The science team is continuing to evaluate the data and discuss theories about these bright spots at Occator. We are now comparing the spots with the reflective properties of salt, but we are still puzzled by their source. We look forward to new, higher-resolution data from the mission’s next orbital phase,” said Dr Chris Russell from the University of California, Los Angeles, Dawn’s principal investigator.

What is also fascinating is a prominent mountain with bright streaks on its steep slopes.

The peak’s shape has been likened to a cone or a pyramid. It appears to be about 4 miles (6 km) high, with respect to the surface around it. This means the mountain has about the same elevation as Mount McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska, the highest point in North America.

“This mountain is among the tallest features we have seen on Ceres to date. It is unusual that it’s not associated with a crater. Why is it sitting in the middle of nowhere? We don’t know yet, but we may find out with closer observations,” Dr Schenk said.

An animation of Ceres’ overall geography shows these features in context.

“There are many other features that we are interested in studying further,” said Dr David O’Brien of the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona, Dawn science team member.

“These include a pair of large impact basins called Urvara and Yalode in the southern hemisphere, which have numerous cracks extending away from them, and the large impact basin Kerwan, whose center is just south of the equator.”