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back to article NASA: Check out this TWIRLY SPACE DWARF – and NEVER moan about our budget

NASA has released a series of pictures showing a high-res twirly view of the dwarf planet Ceres, jewel of the asteroid belt. The US space agency's Dawn spacecraft recently flew in to grab a closer look at the dwarf planet, flying within 90,000 miles of its surface to snap the photos NASA later released as a GIF. Dwarf Planet …

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  1. frank ly
    Coat

    "... photos NASA later released as a GIF."

    Why not use Flash?

    0 1 Reply
    1. Gray
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      Thumb Up

      Re: "... photos NASA later released as a GIF."

      They done flushed Flash.

      3 0 Reply
    2. Chairo
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      Re: "... photos NASA later released as a GIF."

      Because Flash is busy at Mongo?

      19 0 Reply
      1. Richard Ball
        Reply Icon

        Re: mongo

        Candygram

        0 0 Reply
        1. Fungus Bob
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          Re: candygram

          Landshark

          0 0 Reply
    3. Peter 26
      Reply Icon

      Re: "... photos NASA later released as a GIF."

      It must have been about 1996 I remember thinking to myself, only a few years and nobody will know what GIF is and we will all be using PNG... Screw Compuserve!

      IE screwed us over on that one in the early days, but it's 2015 ! I really don't get why people still use GIF, I can't think of a single app/device that can't handle PNG.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Ragarath
        Reply Icon

        Re: "... photos NASA later released as a GIF." @Peter 26

        Did PNG's suddenly get cross browser animation capability? As far as I am aware only GIF is the low cost file format that can do this.

        http://apngs.com/

        3 0 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
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          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "... photos NASA later released as a GIF." @Peter 26

          Umm - see http://animatedsvgs.com/

          0 0 Reply
    4. Simon Harris
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      Re: "... photos NASA later released as a GIF."

      It'd have to be a damn powerful flash to work from a distance of 90,000 miles!

      6 0 Reply
  2. Mark 85

    Wonderful

    I'm looking forward to more from this.

    5 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Archival footage from Ed Wood version of moon landing.

    That's what the lizard people tell me.

    2 0 Reply
  4. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Alien

    If the Barney and Betty Hill drawing interpretation as the solar neighborhood is right, surprises await!

    0 0 Reply
  5. MacroRodent

    Hope the cruise continues

    >The probe is scheduled to continue studying Ceres through the end of its primary mission in July.

    It would be neat if they still had enough propellant after that for even more asteroid-prospecting. After all, the solar-powered ion engine has a great mileage.

    1 0 Reply
    1. Simon Harris
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      Re: Hope the cruise continues

      Dawn should be using 3 of its 4 reaction wheels to stabilise it, but it's lost 2 of them, so it'll be relying on its hydrazine thrusters as well as the 2 remaining wheels to keep it pointing in the right direction - running out of hydrazine will most likely signal the end of its mission.

      1 0 Reply
  6. Esskay
    Thumb Up

    This is where the fun starts...

    It's amazing to think that these are the most detailed photos ever taken of the dwarf planet at the outer reaches of our solar system... and if all goes well, they'll continue to get better as the lil ship gets closer. And we've still got Pluto to come!

    It's been a good 12 months for long distance probes!

    0 0 Reply
    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: This is where the fun starts...

      > at the outer reaches of our solar system

      YOU HAVE COME TO THE WRONG NEIGHBORHOOD, MOON.

      2 0 Reply
  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I can't decide whether it looks like a golf ball or a deathstar.

    0 0 Reply
    1. VinceH
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      That's no moon golf ball.

      4 0 Reply
    2. Tom 7
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      If you look closely theres another white dot on the other side

      which means its where the string went through!

      This is discarded air freshener from a rather large craft.

      0 0 Reply
      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
        Reply Icon
        Happy

        Re: If you look closely theres another white dot on the other side

        its where the string went through!

        This is discarded air freshener from a rather large craft.

        What a foolish argument.

        It's obviously been used in an intergalactic game of conkers...

        4 0 Reply
    3. AbelSoul
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      I can't decide whether it looks like a golf ball or a deathstar.

      Death ball?

      Golf star?

      Ceres-gio Garcia?

      I know, I know.... pass my coat please.

      0 0 Reply
  8. Tromos
    Joke

    Are they planning...

    ...to investigate that mysterious discontinuity in its spin?

    0 0 Reply
  9. Little Mouse
    Alien

    Aieee

    The giant space insect crawling over the surface had me worried for a moment, until it flew off my screen.

    6 0 Reply
    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Aieee

      Are you sure? Wasn't Ceres where the bugger base was in Ender's Game?

      I wonder why they changed their name for the film?

      0 0 Reply
      1. CarbonLifeForm
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        Re: Aieee

        If I had to guess, it's us damn Yanks' fault.

        Buggers sounds like "boogers", which is how Americans refer to "bogies".

        So, "the buggers" would sound a lot like "the bogies" to American moviegoing audiences, causing legions of immature movie goers to snicker uncontrollably.

        At least, that's my guess.

        0 0 Reply
  10. Awil Onmearse
    Alien

    I see

    Clangers!

    4 0 Reply
  11. Frosted Flake

    Note to NASA

    My pocket camera is better than your spacecraft camera. What's up with that?

    0 2 Reply
    1. Simon Harris
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      Re: Note to Frosted Flake

      Has your camera been in space for almost 8 years, can it see into the infra-red, and survive being hit by high energy particles? Err... thought not.

      3 0 Reply
  12. Captain DaFt

    A bit interesting

    The two planets that were demoted (Ceres demoted to asteroid, then up to dwarf planet, and Pluto, which was demoted straight to dwarf planet) are finally being explored, almost simultaneously.

    It's like they teamed up and got an publicity agent. :)

    5 0 Reply
    1. CarbonLifeForm
      Reply Icon

      Re: A bit interesting

      The next dwarf planet we find should be named Gimli.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Richard 12 Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: A bit interesting

        Don't tell the Elf.

        1 0 Reply

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