A new, close-up view of Ceres shows the pock-marked surface of the dwarf planet as seen by the first probe to ever orbit the cosmic body.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft took the new photo when it was flying about 3,200 miles, about 5,100 kilometers, from the surface of Ceres -- the largest object in the main belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter -- on May 23. The craft is now using its ion engine to move closer to the dwarf planet to continue mapping it and collecting data, according to NASA.
The new orbit will bring Dawn to about 2,700 miles (4,400 km) from Ceres when it reaches that orbit on June 3, NASA added.
The May 23 image doesn't shed new light on the origin of the bright spots located in another crater on Ceres, but scientists expect to learn more about the mysterious reflective patches as the mission continues.
Some scientists have suggested that the bright spots are caused by ice deposits, but NASA wants to know what the public at large thinks about them. NASA is asking people around the world to vote for their favorite explanations for the bright spots in an online poll.