Ceres may be the smallest dwarf planet, but it's giving Dawn some big discoveries from its new orbit 915 miles above the surface of the largest world in the asteroid belt, including this icy mountain shining on. The team is calling it the "lonely mountain," a four mile peak that has no range around it.
It's the latest stark image in a line of pictures that have revealed an ancient, puzzling, icy world lying in the midst of the asteroid belt. The mysteries may only deepen as Dawn performs more maneuvers to arrive in an orbit just 225 miles above Ceres in October, which will provide amazing resolution and investigation the lonely mountain and those lights on Ceres that are probably aliens ice.
John Wenz
Writer
John Wenz is a Popular Mechanics writer and space obsessive based in Philadelphia. He tweets @johnwenz.
