Starship Asterisk*

I am the author of "THE HARMONY OF EVOLUTION AND CREATION" A view to link evolution with Devine creation by modern discovery and the scriptures of four major faiths.

On page 80 of my book I credited APOD for the composit picture of Pallas, Vesta, Juno, and Ceres. Therein, the shape of Ceres is distinctly oblong as it has been known to be from about the time Giuseppe Piazzi discovered it, 1801.

Suddenly we are told and shown pictures of Ceres as being spherical. And almost concurrently with that, the many pictures of the "OLD" shape of Ceres have disappeared from the APOD "SEARCH" feature. Only ten pics--ALL SPHERICLE, came up awhile ago when I saught the picture I placed in my book. No more pics of the oblong Ceres.

Would an athority for APOD kindly explain how the Society managed to change the shape of Ceres?

Cordially,
Bill Phelps

Hi Bill,

I'm not an APOD authority, but I believe that the visual 30km resolution Hubble imagery that was captured in 2003-04 pretty much nails it down:

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... s/2005/27/

Sincerely,

Richard Fredrick

Bill, I am not an APOD authority either but from doing an internet search I came across this article with images dated September 12, 2005 which shows the rotation of Ceres. The shape of Ceres is not spherical as some tend to imply.

Astronomy magazine, An icy interior for Ceres? September 12, 2005