558MB photo provides nearly complete view of dwarf planet Ceres

A 558MB tif file contains virtually everything there is to see on the dwarf planet Ceres, which orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter. The photo comes from the NASA spacecraft Dawn, which the Americans sent to the dwarf planet.

The image of dwarf planet Ceres, 945 kilometers in diameter, is spherical: a 2D representation of the spherical shape. On it, NASA shows the dusty exterior of the dwarf planet, under which ice lies on a metal core.

It’s not the only photo of Ceres released by NASA. The space agency also has closeups of the two bright spots visible on the surface. Despite speculation that the spots indicated that Ceres is in fact the Death Star from Star Wars, it appears to be craters. It is still unknown why those craters appear so bright.

NASA sent spacecraft Dawn to Ceres in 2007. In addition to Ceres, Dawn was investigating Vesta a few years ago. After the mission ends, the spacecraft is believed to remain in orbit around the dwarf planet.