Stellary Starry Universe

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has provided researchers with the first orbital analysis of the giant asteroid Vesta, yielding new insights into its creation and relation to the terrestrial planets and Earth’s moon.

NASA will host a news conference on Thursday, May 10, at 2 p.m. EDT to present a new analysis of the giant asteroid Vesta using data from the agency’s Dawn spacecraft.

Findings from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft reveal new details about the giant asteroid Vesta, including its varied surface composition, sharp temperature changes and clues to its internal structure.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has revealed unexpected details on the surface of the giant asteroid Vesta.

This image, taken December 6, 2011, combines two separate views of the giant asteroid Vesta obtained by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. The images were taken by Dawn’s framing camera. The far-left image uses near-infrared filters where red is used to represent 750 nanometers, green represents 920 nanometers and blue represents 980 nanometers. The image on the right is an image with colors assigned by scientists, representing different rock or mineral types on Vesta, revealing a world of many varied, well-separated layers and ingredients. The fresh impact craters in this view are located in the south polar region, which has been partly covered by landslides from the adjacent crater. This would suggest that a layer of loose material covers the Vesta surface. Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, UCLA, MPS, DLR, IDA