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Hubble Follows the Rotation of the Asteroid Vesta
This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope series of 24 images showing the full 5.34-hour rotation of the 325-mile diameter (525 kilometer) asteroid Vesta.
Hubble resolves features as small as 50 miles across, allowing astronomers to map Vesta's geologically diverse terrain. The surface is a complex record of Vesta's four billion-year history. Features include ancient lava flows, and a gigantic impact basin that is so deep, it exposes the asteroid's subsurface, or mantle.
This sequence was taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 between November 28 and December 1, 1994, when Vesta was at a distance of 156 million miles from Earth.
When combined with ground-based data, astronomers will be able to make the first geochemical map of Vesta's surface.
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.Vesta
- Release DateApril 19, 1995
- Science ReleaseAsteroid or Mini-Planet? Hubble Maps the Ancient Surface of Vesta
- CreditB. Zellner (Georgia Southern University) and NASA
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This meteorite is a sample of the crust of the asteroid Vesta, which is only the third solar system object beyond Earth where scientists have a laboratory sample (the other extraterrestrial samples are from Mars and the Moon). The meteorite is unique because it is made almost...
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
