A U.S. spacecraft entered orbit around Ceres, a miniature planet beyond Mars believed to be created during the formation of the solar system, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said Friday. Launched in 2007, the Dawn spacecraft made a 14-month tour of the asteroid Vesta before maneuvering itself toward Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn altered its path to allow itself to be captured by the gravity of Ceres on Friday, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet. The mission, which is costing the U.S. space agency about $473 million, also is the first to include stops at more than one extraterrestrial body. The space probe will spend the next 16 months photographing the icy surface of Ceres. It will spend the first month repositioning itself from its initial orbit about 61,000 kilometers above the dwarf planet to the first survey altitude of 4,400 kilometers. By the time the mission ends in June 2016, Dawn will have flown as low as 375 kilometers.
