A NASA spacecraft launched in 2007 that is visiting the dwarf planet Ceres and asteroid Vesta to map their surfaces, measure their size, shape, and composition, and take close-up images of a pair of bright spots on Ceres. Being relics from the early days of the Solar System, these objects should contain evidence of the conditions present during the birth of the planets. Dawn reached Vesta in 2011 and orbited it for 14 months. Dawn then moved on to Ceres, reaching it in December 2014 and entered its orbit in March 2015. Primary operations at Ceres ended on 30 June 2016 before the mission was extended on 1 July 2016. In October 2017, NASA officials decided that Dawn should remain at Ceres until it ran out of fuel, in October 2018. In March 2018, Dawn detected recent variations in the surface of Ceres, revealing that it is a dynamic body that continues to evolve and change.