You can watch live streaming images of the planet coming from the probe on two websites. If you missed the broadcast you can now replay it in full at the same links.
The video source site is the Slooh astronomic observatory and the live images are accompanied by fascinating commentary and interviews from experts. The link is Slooh live
Alternatively, you can also watch the events as they happen on Space.com
The possibility of life on Ceres is not ruled out. It is doubtful that we will be met by an intelligent race of Ceresians, but scientists do believe that there is a definite possibility of some sort of life forms on the dwarf planet.
In this respect, the Dawn probe will be able to confirm or deny a number of questions;
Does the planet have a moist, warm atmosphere, as suspected?
Is there water and are the plumes, which have been seen, coming from water near the surface or through volcanic activity?
And also, as we all want to know – including NASA – what are the strange lights shinning out from its surface.
Unlike other probes, Dawn will not be carrying out a crash landing. Instead, it will do all its investigating through a gradually descending orbital sweep of the surface.
As Time magazine explained,
“it will orbit the dwarf planet at an altitude of about 8,000 miles (12,900 km) to start with, then descend to under 3,000 (4,800 km). Ultimately, the probe will image Ceres from less than 250 miles (402 km) up, taking not only photos but also scientific measurements that should finally lay bare the secrets of this most un-asteroidlike body.”
Space.com says that the team,
“will be bulking up as the spacecraft slowly circles into its science orbit, the altitude from which the onboard instrumentation can do optimal work.”
Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator for the Dawn mission said
“Right now, the team is about 40 people, not including the science team,” Raymond added. “The science team has about two dozen, and we are about to get a few new investigators from NASA. We also have large teams in Europe associated with the German camera and the Italian spectrometer [two instruments on Dawn].”
“It’s just thrilling,” Raymond said. “This is truly the highlight of my career.”