“Vesta: The Second Largest Object in the Asteroid Belt”

SPACE — The history of the solar system cannot be separated from asteroids, millions of rocks floating in outer space. The remnants of the planet’s formation also orbit the sun in its own belt region.

Asteroids vary in size and the largest in the solar system is Vesta with a diameter of about 329 miles or 530 kilometers. And the smallest asteroids are rocky debris less than 10 meters wide. Of the millions of asteroids that exist, their total mass is less than that of our Moon on Earth.

Vesta was discovered on March 29, 1807 by astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers. At twice the size of California, Vesta is the second largest object in the asteroid belt after the dwarf planet Ceres. The last name was briefly referred to as the largest asteroid, before scientists realized it looked more like a planet.

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Vesta has many unique surface features that scientists are curious about. NASA’s Dawn mission circled Vesta from July 16, 2011 to September 5, 2012. At that time, Dawn headed toward the dwarf planet Ceres.

The giant asteroid is almost spherical, so it is almost classified as another dwarf planet. Unlike most known asteroids, Vesta has separated into its crust, mantle, and core, a characteristic known as differentiated, Earth-like.

Dawn also discovered two colossal basins in the southern region of Vesta, namely the 500 km wide Rheasilvia basin and the 400 km wide Veneneia crater. The two impact basins are clearly visible in this image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Dawn data shows Rheasilvia’s width is 95 percent of Vesta’s average diameter and about 12 miles deep. Its central peak rises 12-16 miles and is more than 100 miles wide, making it slightly smaller than the largest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons on Mars.

Two heavy hits on Vesta sent one percent of its parts flying. The debris, ranging from sand and gravel to chunks of rock and smaller asteroids (Vestoids), was ejected into space and began its own journey through the solar system. Scientists believe that about 6 percent of all the meteorites we find on Earth are the result of ancient collisions in outer space. Source: NASA. GOV