4 Vesta

4 Vesta is a large, differentiated asteroid in the main belt, discovered in 1807. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft orbited it from 2011 to 2012.

Asteroid belt: The region between Mars and Jupiter containing most of the Solar System’s known asteroids. Vesta orbits within this region, where its early history unfolded.
Rheasilvia: A giant impact basin near Vesta’s south pole, roughly 500 kilometers across. Its formation excavated deep material and produced a prominent equatorial ridge.
Dawn (spacecraft): A NASA spacecraft that orbited Vesta and Ceres to study their geology and composition. Dawn mapped Vesta’s surface and measured its gravity and elemental composition.
Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers: A German physician and astronomer who discovered Pallas and Vesta and developed a method for calculating comet orbits. Olbers discovered Vesta in 1807 while searching for bodies between Mars and Jupiter.
Howardite–Eucrite–Diogenite meteorite group: A meteorite grouping whose members are widely linked to the asteroid Vesta. This grouping lets laboratory samples test interpretations of Vesta’s surface.
Differentiated asteroid: An asteroid whose interior separated into layers of different composition and density. Vesta’s metallic core and rocky mantle distinguish it from undifferentiated bodies.
Veneneia: A large ancient impact basin beneath and around the younger Rheasilvia basin on Vesta. This earlier collision shows that Rheasilvia was not the only major south-polar impact.
HED meteorites: A group of achondrite meteorites comprising howardites, eucrites, and diogenites. Their chemistry and mineralogy link them to Vesta’s crust and deeper material.
Ceres: The largest object in the asteroid belt and the only dwarf planet located there. Ceres and Vesta were both initially counted among the planets after their discoveries.
Meteorite: A fragment of a meteoroid that survives passage through an atmosphere and reaches a surface. Vesta-derived fragments can be studied directly after falling to Earth.

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