Unusual Polygonal Crater On Ceres Looks Like Stop Sign

First Posted: Apr 21, 2016 07:20 AM EDT

A stop sign seems to have made an appearance as a crater on Ceres. The unusual form may be a warning for spacecraft not to land on the dwarf planet's surface.

The rim of the crater Haulani -- named after Hawaiian goddess of plants -- is composed of straight lines, giving it the appearance of a stop sign. The photos captured by NASA's Dawn Probe showed the crater with a polygonal look, which is extremely unusual considering that most of them that are seen on many planetary bodies, including earth, are usually circular.

Processed and colorized image of Ceres' Haulani Crater
Full-res: https://t.co/ZneOMItwwC #Ceres #Dawn #Haulani #NASA pic.twitter.com/KHHA5lXlWQ

— New Horizons v2.0 (@NewHorizonsIMG) April 19, 2016

NASA noted that the straight edges of the Ceres crater may have been the result of pre-existing stress patterns and faults beneath the planet's surface. Dawn has been orbiting the body since March 2015, and over the past 13 months, it was able to study Ceres in a series of closer-in orbits. The probe was able to reach the final orbit, which was positioned just 240 miles from the dwarf planet's surface in December.

Christian Science Monitor noted that the newly released images were captured from this particular low altitude, and was snapped just 916 miles from the surface. The photos showed Haulani with a straight-edge nature, and in an enhanced color view, bluish material has been ejected from the recent impact that created such strange shape. False-colored photos showed that bright material on the floor of the

The crater, which according to CNet has a 21-mile diameter, also showed landslides rolling off its rim. The theory that Haulani was created only recently is clear upon studying its properties -- the crater's floor is clear of impacts and contrasts sharply in color from other parts of the surface, which are considerably older. Dawn was noted as the only probe to ever orbit a dwarf planet, not to mention it is the only one to have orbited two celestial bodies other than the earth and moon's systems.