Dwarf planet Ceres continues to puzzle scientists as NASA's Dawn spacecraft gets closer to being captured into orbit around the object. The latest images from Dawn, taken nearly 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers) from Ceres, reveal that a bright spot that stands out in previous images lies close to yet another bright area.
These images of dwarf planet Ceres, processed to enhance clarity, were taken on Feb. 19, 2015, from a distance of about 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers), by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. Dawn observed Ceres completing one full rotation, which lasted about nine hours.
The battling Gods in the sky started an immediate retreat after 3147 BC, and Saturn and Jupiter eventually moved to their current orbits, although it would take 860 years for Jupiter and may have taken over a thousand years for Saturn and the Titans. As the Gods retreated into the far sky, Jupiter at first continued to bolt objects in the asteroid belt, through which it was moving, as it was receding from the Sun. The displays enter the mythology of the Gods as the magical weapons of the chief God -- the bolt of Zeus that never misses, the hammer of Thor.
On reaching the asteroid belt Jupiter (in circa 2860 BC) would not likely have retained its extensive lower tail and would have reduced even its coma. Entry into the asteroid belt caused a religious crisis in Egypt. The first dynasty was replaced by the second. A large coma would only develop again as Jupiter exited the asteroid belt and was no longer in proximity to the conductive material of asteroids and dust. After about 300 years, Jupiter exited the asteroid belt in about 2550 BC at a distance from the Sun of 3.1 AU.
While Jupiter was in the asteroid belt, its massive mountain-shaped coma was replaced by horizontal streams of plasma from its south pole (as visually seen from Earth), directed left and right into the dust and objects of the asteroid belt. In Egypt Jupiter assumes the image of a God with ram's horns. After clearing the asteroid belt, Jupiter would again develop a mountainous lower plasma outpouring in an attempt to reach equilibrium with the electric field of the Sun in far outer space (between 3.5 and 5.2 AU from the Sun).