DAWN GRAND MAP CERES IRON MAP V1.0: Global Iron Concentration on Asteroid Ceres

A global map of iron concentration within the regolith of asteroid 1 Ceres, provided on twenty-degree quasi-equal-area pixels. Iron concentrations were determined from gamma ray data acquired by NASA's Dawn spacecraft in a low altitude mapping orbit about 385 km from the surface. The methods used to determine iron concentration are described by PRETTYMANETAL2017.

Use Cases

• Modeling the geological history of Ceres based on global iron distribution.
• Correlating surface composition with other spectral data based on the gamma-ray-derived iron map.
• Validating or calibrating remote sensing instruments for planetary science based on the described GRaND methodology.

Strengths

• Data sourced from NASA's Dawn spacecraft mission, an authoritative scientific source.
• Spatial resolution is defined as about 600-km full-width-at-half-maximum of arc length on the surface.
• Concentrations are representative of the bulk regolith to depths up to a few decimeters.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset uses a 'other-license-specified' license; specific terms require verification.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Gamma ray counting data acquired by Dawn's Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector (GRaND) in a low altitude mapping orbit.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 18:13:36.316071; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage of asteroid 1 Ceres.