NASA’s incredible Ceres flyby shows the dwarf planet in unprecedented detail

Stunning animation has been made up of real images taken by the robotic space probe Dawn

NASA has released a video showing an incredible flyby of mysterious dwarf planet Ceres.

The highly-detailed animated footage has been built up using real images taken from NASA’s robotic Dawn mission.

The result is an out-of-this-world view of the planet, including glimpses of the unexplained “alien lights” shining on the surface.

NASA’s Dawn probe has been taking images from a distance of 8,400 miles away – the closest a spaceship has EVER been to the tiny planet.

The “mysterious bright spots” on Ceres have puzzled scientists, who have used the new pictures to put forward the theory the shining areas are glittering pieces of ice.

Ceres is a large asteroid located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. At 963 kilometres across, it’s the largest object in the asteroid belt.