(Image source: NASA)

BY STEVEN SPARKMAN

A NASA probe is getting up close and personal with one of the largest asteroids in our solar system. And this week it’s sending back its highest-resolution photos ever for scientists to study. Euronews has the story.

“NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has sent the closest images it will take of the Vesta asteroid. The pictures were snapped less than 210 km from the surface. Dawn has been orbiting the asteroid since July, sending back thousands of other pictures. Vesta is the second-largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.”

The goal of the mission is to learn more about the asteroid belt, and by extension, the early history of our solar system. Scientists say Vesta is best thought of as a proto-planet. Its hodgepodge of materials and its mountain higher than Everest are just some of its planet-like features. (Image source: NASA)

The Dawn probe launched back in 2007. It took almost four years to get to its destination, and will spend around 10 months total orbiting Vesta. A writer for Wired tells us what’s next.

“Dawn will keep imaging the rock until May 2012, at which point it'll use its innovative ion drive to whizz on over to Ceres -- another asteroid in the belt and the largest in the solar system. It will arrive there in 2015.”

And in case views of a barren landscape don’t seem to fit the season, one of the images sent back by Dawn has a more festive flair.

Three huge craters strung together in a line have been compared to a snowman. The folks at Dawn even let you make the image into greeting cards, like this masterpiece hosted on the mission website. (Image source: NASA)

Vesta and Ceres are the largest objects in the asteroid belt, making up nearly half of the belt’s total mass.