NASA's Dawn craft set for rendezvous with dwarf planet Ceres

SCI-TECH

NASA's Dawn craft set for rendezvous with dwarf planet Ceres

The Associated Press Published Monday, March 2, 2015 7:07AM EST Last Updated Monday, March 2, 2015 7:16AM EST

NASA Dawn craft image of bright spots on Ceres

This Feb. 19, 2015 NASA image of Ceres, taken by the agency's Dawn spacecraft, shows that the brightest spot on Ceres has a dimmer companion. (AP / NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA)

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PASADENA, Calif. -- A NASA spacecraft is preparing to rendezvous with the largest object in the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter.

The Dawn craft is on target to slip into orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres on Friday after a three-year journey. It'll be the second stop for Dawn, which earlier visited the asteroid Vesta.

Dawn has been snapping pictures of Ceres as it nears the object. Sharper images are expected in the coming months as Dawn spirals closer to Ceres' surface.

Launched in 2007 and powered by ion propulsion, Dawn is the first craft to target two space rocks to learn about the solar system's evolution.

Dawn studied Vesta, the second massive object in the asteroid belt, from 2011 to 2012 and beamed back more than 30,000 images.