NASA released new photos of various craters on the dwarf planet Ceres taken from its Dawn space probe, currently in its lowest orbit at an altitude of 385 kilometers (240 miles). From there, Dawn is making the most detailed mapping of Ceres and is providing really interesting details of craters that had already attracted the attention of scientists such as Haulani and Oxo.

The large white spots at the center of Occator Crater are the geological features of Ceres that have caught the greatest attention of scientists but also of common fans. However, on this dwarf planet there are also other areas where there are bright materials which can be different in the various areas. For these reasons, they are the object of intense studies and occasionally also of headache for scientists who are trying to solve some mysteries.

Haulani Crater, with a diameter of about 34 kilometers (21 miles), is in some ways a typical relatively recent impact crater because its floor is almost free from traces of other impacts and there’s a noticeable color contrast with the older parts of the surface. However, generally these craters have an almost circular shape while Haulani has a polygonal shape, formed by straight lines. It’s not the only case of Ceres: those craters are created by stress and fault lines already existing under the surface.

The enhanced false color image allows to better understand the characteristics of the soil inside but also around Haulani Crater. The bluish color indicates materials ejected from the crater and is a color that has been associated with Ceres’ young features, a new clue that Haulani could be recent.

Oxo Crater is smaller with its approximately 10 kilometers (6 miles) diameter but it’s the second brightest feature of Ceres after the big white spots in the middle of Occator Crater. Oxo is also interesting because on this crater’s rim many materials dropped below the surface. The minerals on Oxo’s floor seem different from those found elsewhere on Ceres so their detections are also the subject of study by scientists.

The announcement made a few weeks ago that in Oxo Crater traces of water were detected using the Dawn space probe’s VIR spectrometer makes it even more interesting. It’s for these reasons that Chris Russell, the mission principal investigator, stated that it could provide a big contribution to understanding the upper crust of Ceres.

The Dawn space probe is now in the last phase of its mission, which will continue for at least a few months. The data that is collecting confirm that the dwarf planet Ceres is a really interesting small world that can also give us new information about the history of the solar system.