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Relative locations of Earth, Sun, and Dawn (April 2015)

Relative locations of Earth, Sun, and Dawn (April 2015)
Relative locations of Earth, Sun, and Dawn (April 2015) Illustration of the relative locations (but not sizes) of Earth, the sun, Dawn and Ceres on April 12, 2015. (Earth and the sun are at that location every April 12.) The distance from Earth to Dawn is the same as the distance from the sun to Dawn. The images are superimposed on the trajectory for the entire mission, showing the positions of Earth, Mars, Vesta, and Ceres at milestones during Dawn’s voyage. Compare this to the arrangement in December, when Earth and Dawn were on opposite sides of the sun. NASA / JPL-Caltech