Occator Ice Crater Ceres

Dawn is the first mission to visit a dwarf planet, and the first to orbit two distinct solar system targets.
It orbited proto planet Vesta for 14 months in 2011 and 2012, and arrived at Ceres on March 6, 2015. Earlier this month, a stunning new 3D flyover of dwarf planet Ceres revealed the planet's mysterious 'white spots' in unprecedented detail. It also highlighted a prominent mountain with bright streaks on its steep slopes. The peak's shape has been likened to a cone or a pyramid, and it appears to be about 4 miles (6km) high. 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've seen on Ceres to date,' said Dawn science team member Paul Schenk, a geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston. The alien spots on Ceres revealed in unprecedented detail As Dawn probe captures stunning new images of mysterious features.  As a rim of Occator crater is almost vertical in some places, where it rises steeply for 1 mile (nearly 2 kilometers) Closest-yet views of Occator crater, with a resolution of 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel . They have captivated and confused astronomers around the world. 

Nasa reveales stunning new close up images of showing the brightest spots on the dwarf planet Ceres gleam with mystery in new views delivered by NASA's Dawn spacecraft.
These closest-yet views of Occator crater, with a resolution of 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel, give scientists a deeper perspective on these very unusual features. An image, made using images taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows Occator crater on Ceres, that home to a collection of intriguing bright spots. Ceres is 590 miles (950 km) across and was discovered in 1801. It is the closest dwarf planet to the sun and is located in the asteroid belt, making it the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system. Ceres is the smallest of the bodies currently classified as a 'dwarf planet'.
It lies less than three times as far as Earth from the sun - close enough to feel the warmth of the star, allowing ice to melt and reform. Nasa's Dawn spacecraft made its way to Ceres after leaving the asteroid Vesta in 2012. There is high interest in the mission because Ceres is seen as being a record of the early solar system. The new up-close view of Occator crater from Dawn's current vantage point reveals better-defined shapes of the brightest, central spot and features on the crater floor. Because these spots are so much brighter than the rest of Ceres' surface, the Dawn team combined two different images into a single composite view - one properly exposed for the bright spots, and one for the surrounding surface. Scientists also have produced animations that provide a virtual fly-around of this crater, including a colourful topographic map. 

Dawn scientists note the rim of Occator crater is almost vertical in some places, where it rises steeply for 1 mile (nearly 2 kilometers).
Views from Dawn's current orbit, taken at an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers), have about three times better resolution than the images the spacecraft delivered from its previous orbit in June, and nearly 10 times better than in the spacecraft's first orbit at Ceres in April and May. 'Dawn has transformed what was so recently a few bright dots into a complex and beautiful, gleaming landscape,' said Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission director based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. 'Soon, the scientific analysis will reveal the geological and chemical nature of this mysterious and mesmerizing extraterrestrial scenery.' The spacecraft has already completed two 11-day cycles of mapping the surface of Ceres from its current altitude, and began the third on Sept. 9. 2015

Dawn will map all of Ceres six times over the next two months. Each cycle consists of 14 orbits.
By imaging Ceres at a slightly different angle in each mapping cycle, Dawn scientists will be able to assemble stereo views and construct 3-D maps.Dawn is the first mission to visit a dwarf planet, and the first to orbit two distinct solar system targets. It orbited proto planet Vesta for 14 months in 2011 and 2012, and arrived at Ceres on March 6, 2015.  Another image shows the unusual shape of the Gaue crater, named after Germanic goddess to who offerings are made in harvesting rye. These images, made using images taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, features a color-coded topographic map of Occator crater on Ceres. Elevations span a range of about 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the lowest places in Occator to the highest terrains surrounding the crater. Blue is the lowest elevation, and brown is the highest. The animation was generated using two components: images of the surface taken during Dawn's High Altitude Mapping Orbit (HAMO) phase, where it viewed the surface at a resolution of about 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel, and a shape model generated using images taken at varying sun and viewing angles during Dawn's lower-resolution Survey phase.

Here is a shape model which has been stretched by 1.5 times to a vertical direction to better illustrate the crater's topography.

'Dawn is performing flawlessly in this new orbit as it conducts its ambitious exploration,' said Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission director. 'The spacecraft's view is now three times as sharp as in its previous mapping orbit, revealing exciting new details of this intriguing dwarf planet.'  At its current orbital altitude of 915 miles (1,470km), Dawn takes 11 days to capture and return images of Ceres' whole surface. Each 11-day cycle consists of 14 orbits, and over the next two months, the spacecraft will map the entirety of Ceres six times.
With a tall, conical mountain on Ceres from a distance of 915 miles (1,470km). The 'pyramid', located in the southern hemisphere, stands 4 miles (6 kilometers) high. Its perimeter is sharply defined, with almost no accumulated debris at the base of the brightly streaked slope. Dawn took this image that shows a mountain ridge, near lower left, that lies in the center of Urvara crater on Ceres. Urvara is an Indian and Iranian deity of plants and fields. The crater's diameter is 101 miles (163km). This view was acquired on August 19, 2015, from a distance of 915 miles (1,470km). The resolution of the image is 450ft (140 metres) per pixel.

Nasa's Dawn spacecraft took this image of Gaue crater, the large crater on the bottom, on Ceres. Gaue is a Germanic goddess to whom offerings are made in harvesting rye. The center of this crater is sunken in. Its diameter is 84 kilometers (52 miles).
The resolution of the image is 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel. The image was taken from a distance of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers) on August 18, 2015. The spacecraft is using its framing camera to extensively map the surface, enabling 3D modelling. Every image from this orbit has a resolution of 450ft (140 metres) per pixel, and covers less than one per cent of the surface of Ceres. At the same time, Dawn's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer is collecting data that will give scientists a better understanding of the minerals found on the icy surface. Engineers and scientists will also refine their measurements of Ceres' gravity field, which will help mission planners in designing Dawn's next orbit, as well as the journey to get there. In late October, Dawn will begin spiralling toward this final orbit, which will be at an altitude of 230 miles (375km).