High-resolution Ceres HAMO color mosaics derived from Dawn FC images

Abstract

Introduction: NASA’s Dawn spacecraft orbited the dwarf planet Ceres from August to October 2015 in HAMO (High Altitude Mapping Orbit) with an altitude of about 1,500 km to characterize, among others, the geology, topography, and shape of Ceres. Data: The Dawn mission is equipped with a framing camera (FC) which has one broad band clear filter and seven narrow band color filters. The FC took about 4300 color filter images in HAMO with a resolution of about 140 m/pixel. Data Processing: The first steps of the processing chain towards the mosaics are: radiometric calibration and photometric correction of the images followed by ortho-rectification to the proper scale and map projection type. These steps require detailed information of the Dawn orbit, the orientation of the spacecraft, and of the topography of the target. Both, improved orientation and a high-resolution shape model, are provided by the stereo processing of the HAMO clear filter dataset. Ceres' HAMO shape model is used for the calculation of the ray intersection points and the orientation of the surface normals, while the map projection itself is done onto a reference sphere for Ceres. The final step is the controlled mosaicking of all color images to seven global mosaics of Ceres. True color: True color was achieved by scaling FC images acquired through the red, green, and blue filters (effective wavelength 653, 555, and 438 nm) to RGB values calculated from the CIE color matching functions and a Ceres reflectance spectrum. Color ratios: Color ratio image mosaics were calculated using the images of four different narrow band filters; Red channel: 965/749 nanometers (nm); Green channel: 555/749 nm; Blue channel: 438/749 nm. The color ratio image serves to cancel out the dominant brightness variations of the scene (caused by albedo variations and topographic shading) and enhances color differences related to soil mineralogy and, possibly, maturity. Download: All color mosaics will become available to the public through the Small Bodies Node of the Planetary Data System (PDS).