As NASA's Dawn spacecraft quickly approaches its target dwarf planet, Ceres, it's now maneuvering in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter before its historic rendezvous. It's zooming in closer and capturing some more close-up photos of the small planet.

NASA just released another set of Ceres images Tuesday and these are the closest and sharpest yet. When these photos were taken last week, Dawn was just 52,000 miles away from the biggest object in the asteroid belt.

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The photos reveal details of the planet's craters and crags in even higher definition. Ceres' mysterious white spots appear to be brighter and showing with greater detail.

Dawn is equipped with numerous scientific instruments that enable the probe to conduct a series of scientific missions. Researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech now eagerly anticipate learning more about the dwarf planet's composition and turbulent atmosphere. But what scientists are really interested in is Ceres' bizarre splotchy formations that look like mirrors.

According to Chris Russell, the principal investigator of the Dawn mission, this is the stage in the mission where scientists expect to be surprised. Scientists, however, are growing more puzzled by its features.

The last observations shows Ceres possess a significant amount of water on its surface. Images suggest water vapor plumes appear to be escaping from the dwarf planet's thick, icy shell. The white shiny spots on the planet could probably be geysers, scientists say.

Astronomers will have to wait a little longer before Dawn's rendezvous with Ceres on March 6 to confirm these mysterious, reflective spots.

TagsNew NASA Photos: Dawn Captures Closest Look Yet of Mysterious Dwarf Planet Ceres, NASA, dawn mission, ceres dwarf planet, photos ceres dwarf planet dawn