Vesta

Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Realm / Physical / Universe / Solar System / Asteroid Belt / Vesta
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Vesta, minor-planet designation 4 Vesta, is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of 525 kilometres (326 mi). Vesta is the second-most-massive and second-largest body in the asteroid belt after the dwarf planet Ceres, and it contributes an estimated 9% of the mass of the asteroid belt. Vesta is the only known remaining rocky protoplanet (with a differentiated interior) of the kind that formed the terrestrial planets. Numerous fragments of Vesta were ejected by collisions one and two billion years ago that left two enormous craters occupying much of Vesta’s southern hemisphere. Debris from these events has fallen to Earth as howardite–eucrite–diogenite (HED) meteorites, which have been a rich source of information about Vesta. — Wikipedia

Vesta (Encyclopædia Britannica)

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Inspiration

Ride aboard NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on a virtual flyover of giant asteroid Vesta. Mission data was used to create the topography you see. Waypoints include: Divialia Fossa; Marcia crater, part of the “snowman” feature; and Aricia Tholus. — NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (YouTube Channel)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Official Website)

NASA’s Eyes is a freely available suite of computer visualization applications created by the Visualization Technology Applications and Development Team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to render scientifically accurate views of the planets studied by JPL missions and the spacecraft. — Wikipedia

Vesta (NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System, NASA’s JPL & Cal Tech)

Solar System Treks are online, browser-based portals that allow you to visualize, explore, and analyze the surfaces of other worlds using real data returned from a growing fleet of spacecraft. You can view the worlds through the eyes of many different instruments, pilot real-time 3D flyovers above mountains and into craters, and conduct measurements of surface features. Vesta Trek is a portal for exploration of Vesta, one of the largest asteroids in the Solar System. This portal showcases data collected by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft which was launched in 2007. — Vesta Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)

Vesta Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)

Cracking a Mystery about Vesta, Our Solar System’s Second Largest Asteroid (Robby Berman, Big Think)

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Innovation

Science

Dawn was a space probe that was launched by NASA in September 2007 with the mission of studying two of the three known protoplanets of the asteroid belt: Vesta and Ceres. Dawn entered orbit around Vesta on July 16, 2011, and completed a 14-month survey mission before leaving for Ceres in late 2012. — Wikipedia

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (YouTube Channel)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Official Website)

ScienceAtNASA (YouTube Channel)
NASA Science (Official Website)

Dawn (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, YouTube Playlist)

Dawn Mission: Vesta (JPL, NASA)
Dawn at Vesta (Paul Schenk, Lunar & Planetary Institute)

Legacy of NASA’s Dawn, Near the End of its Mission (NASA/JPL)
Dawn (JPL, NASA)

Vesta (Minor Planet Center, International Astronomical Union)

Vesta (Wolfram Alpha)
Minor Planets (Wolfram Alpha)

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Preservation

History

Heinrich Olbers discovered Pallas in 1802, the year after the discovery of Ceres. He proposed that the two objects were the remnants of a destroyed planet. He sent a letter with his proposal to the British astronomer William Herschel, suggesting that a search near the locations where the orbits of Ceres and Pallas intersected might reveal more fragments. Olbers commenced his search in 1802, and on 29 March 1807 he discovered Vesta in the constellation Virgo—a coincidence, because Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta are not fragments of a larger body. Because the asteroid Juno had been discovered in 1804, this made Vesta the fourth object to be identified in the region that is now known as the asteroid belt. Because Olbers already had credit for discovering a planet (Pallas; at the time, the asteroids were considered to be planets), he gave the honor of naming his new discovery to German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, whose orbital calculations had enabled astronomers to confirm the existence of Ceres, the first asteroid, and who had computed the orbit of the new planet in the remarkably short time of 10 hours. Gauss decided on the Roman virgin goddess of home and hearth, Vesta. — Wikipedia

On This Day in Space – March 29: Heinrich Olbers Discovers Asteroid Vesta (VideoFromSpace, YouTube Video)

Discovering Asteroid Vesta: The Story of the Celestial Police (Emily Winterburn, BBC Sky At Night Magazine)

Library

DDC: 523.43 Vesta (Library Thing)

Subject: Vesta (Open Library)

LCC: QB 651 vesta (Library of Congress)
Subject: Vesta (Library of Congress)

Subject: Vesta (WorldCat)

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Participation

Education

Small Solar System Bodies Learning Resources (National Air and Space Museum)
Dwarf Planets Learning Resources (National Air and Space Museum)

Community

Organization

Minor Planet Center (International Astronomical Union)
Asteroids & Remote Planets Section (British Astronomical Association)

News

Vesta (Nova Research Highlights, American Astronomical Society)
Vesta (EurekaAlert, AAAS)
Vesta (Astronomy Magazine)
Vesta (JSTOR)
Vesta (Science Daily)
Vesta (Phys.org)

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