Ceres Surface Images

Detailed images of Ceres' surface showcasing varied cratered terrains, impact ejecta, and smooth materials captured by NASA's Dawn spacecraft.

Regolith Patterns in Mendel-Rydberg

Crater Close-up Captured!

July 8, 2009. Hahn crater on the bottom left, and Gauss in the upper right.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft captured this scene, showing southern mid-latitudes on Ceres, on Oct. 18, 2015, from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers). It has a resolution of 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel.

Arsia Mons Western Flows

Tupo Crater, named for the Polynesian god of turmeric, is shown at upper left in this view of Ceres from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. Just below the crater, a line of narrow troughs parallels the rim of Tupo.

This daytime 2001 Mars Odyssey THEMIS infrared image clearly shows the multitude of channels dissecting the rim of Lipik Crater.

Rim Riddle Revealed!

This scene captured by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on Oct. 21, 2016, from Ceres' northern hemisphere shows part of the rim of Dantu Crater, at top right. Rao Crater is the largest crater in the bottom left corner of the image.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft taken on June 13, 2016, shows terrain at the equator of Ceres. The image is centered at 0 degrees latitude, 291 degrees east longitude.

The Kuiper Quadrangle was named in memory of Dr. Gerard Kuiper, an imaging team member, and well-known astronomer, of NASA's Mariner 10 Venus/Mercury. The Kuiper crater is seen left of center in this image.

This view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows terrain in the northern hemisphere of Ceres, near Jarovit Crater. This image was taken on June 2, 2016, at a distance of about 240 miles (385 kilometers) above the surface.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft of asteroid Vesta shows the characteristic undulating surface of Vesta's southern hemisphere and many small craters, some of which make up secondary crater chains.

This picture from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows craters near the equator of Ceres. Faint patches and streaks of bright material can be seen in various parts of the scene. The two largest craters have streaks of material on their walls.

This image of Ceres is part of a sequence taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on May 22, 2015, from a distance of 3,200 miles (5,100 kilometers) with a resolution of 1,600 feet (480 meters) per pixel.

Fresh Crater on Oceanus Procellarum

This image mosaic from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft shows an unnamed ridge in the northern volcanic plains of Mercury. Wrinkle ridges like this are interpreted to be tectonic in origin and are usually only found in volcanic plains.

Down, Down, Down

MESSENGER Gathers Unprecedented Data about Mercury's Surface

This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows a portion of the northern hemisphere of dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers). Jarovit crater, named for the Slavic god of fertility and harvest, is seen at lower left.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft of asteroid Vesta shows Urbinia and Sossia craters, located in Vesta's Urbinia quadrangle. Urbinia is the large crater, and Sossia is the small crater surrounded by dark material in the bottom of the image.

Mercury's Geological Architecture

Taken about 40 minutes before NASA's Mariner 10 made its close approach to Mercury on Sept. 21,1974, this picture shows a large double-ringed basin (center of picture) located in the planet's south polar region

This image was obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on May 30, 2018 from an altitude of about 465 miles (750 kilometers). The center of this picture is located at about 3 degrees south in latitude and 11 degrees east in longitude.

Final Eros Images: Range 250 meters (820 feet)

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the center of Datan Crater on Ceres. Datan measures about 40 miles (60 kilometers) in diameter.

This region on Ceres, located in the vicinity of Toharu Crater, presents two small craters Juling at top (12 miles, 20 kilometers in diameter) and Kupalo at bottom (16 miles, 26 kilometers in diameter). Both craters are relatively young, as indicated by their sharp rims. These features are located at about the same latitude (about 38 degrees south) as Tawals Crater and show similar crater shapes and rugged terrain. These features may reflect the presence of ice below the surface. Subtle bright features can be distinguished in places. These likely were excavated by small impacts and landslides along the slopes of the crater rims. This suggests that a different type of material, likely rich in salts, is present in the shallow subsurface. Juling is named after the Sakai/Orang Asli spirit of the crops from Malaysia, and Kupalo gets its name from the Russian god of vegetation and of the harvest. NASA's Dawn spacecraft acquired this picture on August 24, 2016. The image was taken during Dawn

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows part of the ejecta deposit surrounding the 'snowman' craters, the largest of which has been named Marcia.

Impact melt material inside of the crater Gassendi A.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the interior of the crater Datan, which is superimposed on the northwestern rim of the larger crater Geshtin. The area at right, above the rim of Datan, is within Geshtin.

Hole in One

A Crater in Closeup

This image of Lepida AV-L-14, from the atlas of the giant asteroid Vesta, was created from images taken as NASA's Dawn mission flew around the object, also known as a protoplanet.

A crater in the Mare Frigoris Constellation Region of Interest.

Kepler Crater - Central Peak

This image, from NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft which launched in 1974, shows several scarps, which appear to be confined to crater floors. The scarp in the crater at the upper left of the image has been diverted by the central peaks.

Scarred Surface

The cone-shaped central peak of a Cerean crater casts a long shadow in this view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft taken on May 28, 2016 from its low-altitude mapping orbit above Ceres at a distance of about 240 miles (385 kilometers) above the surface.

These views of Ceres, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on December 10, 2015, shows an area in the southern mid-latitudes of the dwarf planet. They are located around a crater chain called Gerber Catena.

Central Peak/Mare Boundary

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows a sharp, fresh crater rim of a large crater that is only partly in the bottom right corner of this image and is located in Vesta's Numisia quadrangle, near asteroid Vesta's equator.

This image, taken on June 25, 2015 by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows a portion of the southern hemisphere of dwarf planet Ceres. The large crater with a central peak at bottom is Zadeni crater.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft views Kupalo Crater in this view of Ceres. Kupalo, which measures 16 miles (26 kilometers) across and is located at southern mid-latitudes, is named for the Slavic god of vegetation and harvest.

A Sideways Glance

The brightest spots on dwarf planet Ceres are seen in this image taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on June 6, 2015.

The rim of Dantu Crater (78 miles, 125 kilometers wide) is seen in this view of Ceres from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. Dawn took this image on June 2, 2016, from its low-altitude mapping orbit, at a distance of about 240 miles (385 kilometers) above the surface. The image resolution is 120 feet (35 meters) per pixel. http //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20938

Not your Average Complex Crater

A Late Holloween

This image of Paulina AV-L-15, from the atlas of the giant asteroid Vesta, was created from images taken as NASA's Dawn mission flew around the object, also known as a protoplanet.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft took this image on June 13, 2016, showing the limb of Ceres from above an equatorial region east of Kirnis Crater.

The Moon in very close-up during its gibbous phase. On the left is the famous Clavius crater.

Heavily Cratered Surfaces

After decades of uncertainty, the Apollo 16 S-IVB impact site on the lunar surface has been identified. S-IVBs were portions of the Saturn V rockets that brought astronauts to the moon. The site was identified in imagery from the high-resolution LROC Narrow Angle Camera aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Beginning with Apollo 13, the S-IVB rocket stages were deliberately impacted on the lunar surface after they were used. Seismometers placed on the moon by earlier Apollo astronauts measured the energy of these impacts to shed light on the internal lunar structure. Locations of the craters that the boosters left behind were estimated from tracking data collected just prior to the impacts. Earlier in the LRO mission, the Apollo 13, 14, 15 and 17 impact sites were successfully identified, but Apollo 16's remained elusive. In the case of Apollo 16, radio contact with the booster was lost before the impact, so the location was only poorly known. Positive identification of the Apoll

Light and Shadow

Part of the vast pyroclastic deposit located on the Aristarchus plateau is visible in this image taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft of asteroid Vesta shows Rubria and Occia craters. Both Rubria and Occia contain dark and bright material and both have reasonably sharp, well-defined and regularly shaped rims.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft of asteroid Vesta shows Antonia crater. Antonia's rim has two different states of freshness: the bottom left one-third of the rim is very degraded but the other two-thirds of the rim is reasonably fresh.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft of asteroid Vesta shows Eusebia crater on the right. The smaller crater, offset from the center of the image, with a smaller crater on its rim is Tuccia crater.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft of asteroid Vesta shows Drusilla crater, which is the irregularly shaped crater offset from the center of the image.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows Cornelia crater on asteroid Vesta with a sharp, fresh rim. Cornelia crater has a spectacular internal structure, which consists of bright and dark material.

Two landslide deposits are located on the southern side of Columbus Crater in Terra Sirenum.

Mercury as Seen in Both Narrow and Wide Views

Apollinaris, Gusev, and Spirit

This view of Ceres from NASA's Dawn spacecraft on May 29, 2016, shows craters just south of the large impact basin named Ghanan.

Highest Point on the Moon

This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows the surface of dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers). The image, with a resolution of 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel, was taken on August 25, 2015.

New close-up images of a region near Pluto's equator reveal a giant surprise: a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body. This image is from NASA's New Horizon's spacecraft.

Forked Impact Melt Flows at Farside Crater

Dark Halo Crater in Orientale

Apollo 15 - Moon Craters and Rilles

Ridge and Trough System on Mercury

Bowditch Lava Terraces

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