RT Conference Proceedings
T1 Education and outreach activities in the context of the dawn mission
A1 Pino, F.
A1 Madiedo Gil, José María
AB Dawn's main objective is to characterizetwo of the largest bodies in the main asteroidbelt: asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres. This willprovide important information about the conditionsand processes of the solar system's earliest epoch, asthese protoplanets remaining practically intact sincethey were formed.Despite Ceres is only slightly farther from the Sunthan Vesta, these objects have followed a very differentevolutionary path as a consequence of the diversityof processes that operated during the first stages ofsolar system evolution. Thus, although no meteoriteshave been linked to this dwarf planet, the detection ofa possible signature of hydrated minerals reveals thatwater seems to have played an important role in theevolution of Ceres. However, Vesta appears to be adry, differentiated body, with evidence of lava flows.Telescopic observations reveal also the existence of animpact crater with a diameter of about 460 km near itssouth pole. The event that generated this crater mayhave excavated about 1% of Vesta. In fact, this catastrophicevent is believed to be responsible for the existenceon Earth of fragments of Vesta. Thus, althoughno samples of Ceres are currently available, meteoritescoming from Vesta are known to exist. These achondritesare magmatic rocks known as HEDs for theirprincipal constituents: howardites, eucrites and diogenites.The arrival of Dawn to Vesta on July 2011 offersan excellent opportunity for education and outreach.Thus, an exhibition was organized with the aim topromote the public's interest for the Dawn mission andthe role that meteorites play for our knowledge ofVesta and other bodies of the Solar System. This outreachactivity was entitled "Vesta and Ceres: the Originsof the Solar System" (Fig. 1). It took place betweenOctober 2011 and January 2012.
YR 2013
FD 2013
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/9207
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/9207
LA eng
NO Pino, F., Madiedo Gil, J.M.: "Education and outreach activities in the context of the dawn mission".  En: 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (The Woolands, Texas, march 18-22, 2013)
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 14 jul 2026