# 4 Vesta <!-- SOLSIM:BEGIN g31 — Solar System explorer state (hand-built on wt-core, specs/solar/); do not hand-edit inside --> **Microsim — three.js (Wikitube framework):** *4 Vesta in the Solar System explorer* <div class="wt-sim" data-src="https://wikitube-3d-microsims.netlify.app/solar/Solar_System.html?obj=Vesta&embed=1" data-title="4 Vesta in the Solar System explorer"></div> *The Solar System explorer locked on this article's state (`?obj=Vesta`); every object and population of the [[PORTAL_Solar_System|Solar System portal]] has its own state in the same scene.* <!-- SOLSIM:END --> *Try: press l to label the bodies and find Vesta in the inner belt with Ceres just beyond it; set the speed to 1 year/s and watch Vesta complete an orbit in a little over three and a half seconds while Ceres needs about four and a half, so that Vesta slowly pulls ahead; switch the scale to true to see how close the two orbits lie compared with the gap out to Jupiter.* **Vesta** (minor-planet designation **4 Vesta**) is the second-largest body in the [[Asteroid_belt|asteroid belt]] after the [[Dwarf_planet|dwarf planet]] [[Ceres_(dwarf_planet)|Ceres]], with a mean diameter of 525 km, and the brightest [[Asteroid|asteroid]] seen from [[Earth]].[^russell2012][^nasa-vesta] Heinrich Olbers discovered it on 29 March 1807, and Carl Friedrich Gauss named it after the Roman goddess of the hearth.[^lynn1907][^schmadel2003] It is slightly larger than [[2_Pallas|Pallas]] but considerably more massive, and it carries roughly a tenth of the belt's mass.[^carry2010][^pitjeva2005] Vesta is a differentiated body with an iron core, a rocky mantle and a basaltic crust, the only known intact survivor of the rocky protoplanets from which the [[Terrestrial_planet|terrestrial planets]] were assembled.[^russell2012][^amos2012] Two giant impacts in the past two billion years excavated overlapping basins across its southern hemisphere; fragments from them form the Vesta family of asteroids and, after further collisions, reach Earth as the howardite–eucrite–diogenite (HED) meteorites.[^schenk2012][^mcsween2013] NASA's Dawn spacecraft orbited Vesta from July 2011 to September 2012 and confirmed that link in detail.[^vega2011][^nasa2012dep] The explorer at the top of this page is locked on Vesta, shown on its catalogued orbit in the inner belt at a semi-major axis of 2.36 [[Astronomical_unit|AU]]; its disc, 525 km across, is enlarged by the log size law.[^jpl-vesta][^jpl-sbdb] ## History ### Discovery After finding [[2_Pallas|Pallas]] in 1802, Olbers suggested that it and [[Ceres_(dwarf_planet)|Ceres]] were pieces of a single broken planet, and that more fragments should pass through the two points of the sky where their orbits crossed, in Cetus and Virgo.[^littmann2004] He watched those regions for five years, and on 29 March 1807 found a new moving object in Virgo; he announced it in a letter to Johann Schröter two days later.[^lynn1907] The location fitted his prediction, but only by coincidence: Ceres, Pallas and Vesta are not fragments of one body. Juno had been found in 1804, so Vesta was the fourth object known in the region.[^lynn1907] Olbers, who already had one discovery to his name, left the naming to Gauss, whose rapid orbit calculations had made the recovery of Ceres possible and who is reported to have computed Vesta's orbit in about ten hours.[^dunnington2004] Gauss chose Vesta, the virgin goddess of home and hearth.[^schmadel2003] ### Name and symbol As the fourth asteroid discovered, Vesta carries the number 4. Like Ceres, Pallas and Juno, it was first treated as a planet and given a planetary symbol, designed by Gauss, which showed the altar of Vesta with its sacred flame.[^vonzach1807][^bala2023] No further asteroids were found for 38 years, and during that time the Solar System was often described as having eleven planets.[^wells1851] When discoveries resumed in 1845 and the list grew quickly, Benjamin Apthorp Gould proposed in 1852 that each asteroid be marked by its discovery number in a circle; this became the designation (4) Vesta, and the individual symbols fell out of astronomical use.[^gould1852][^hilton2001] ### Early measurements Vesta was the first asteroid to have its mass measured. Its [[Gravity|gravity]] perturbs the smaller asteroid 197 Arete, which passes within about 0.04 AU of it every 18 years, and from that encounter Hans Hertz obtained, in work published in 1968, a mass of 1.20 × 10⁻¹⁰ solar masses.[^hertz1968] Later encounters, such as those with 17 Thetis, gave 1.31 × 10⁻¹⁰, and Dawn's tracking fixed the value at 1.3029 × 10⁻¹⁰ masses of the [[Sun]], about 2.59 × 10²⁰ kg.[^kovacevic2005][^russell2012] Estimates of its size were far less consistent. Values from the nineteenth century to the 1980s ranged from under 400 km to over 600 km, until speckle interferometry in 1989 measured a profile varying between about 498 and 548 km as Vesta rotated.[^hughes1994] An occultation of the star SAO 93228 in January 1991, timed from 14 sites in the eastern United States and Canada, gave an elliptical outline of about 550 × 462 km, which Dawn later confirmed.[^povenmire2001] Photometry from Harvard in the 1880s onward was used to derive the rotation period, although early results were complicated because Vesta's brightness varies with both shape and albedo.[^mcfadden2008] ## Orbit Vesta moves in the inner belt, inside the [[Kirkwood_gap|Kirkwood gap]] at 2.50 AU, with a semi-major axis of 2.36 AU and a period of 3.63 years.[^jpl-vesta] Its [[Orbit|orbit]] is inclined 7.1° to the [[Ecliptic|ecliptic]], close to [[Mercury_(planet)|Mercury]]'s 7°, and has an eccentricity of 0.09, similar to [[Mars]]'s.[^jpl-vesta][^nasa-fs] Its distance from the [[Sun]] therefore ranges from about 2.15 to 2.57 AU (derived), and its farthest point lies just beyond Ceres's closest approach to the Sun, even though its orbit as a whole sits inside that of Ceres.[^jpl-vesta][^jpl-ceres] Because Vesta completes an orbit in 3.63 years and Ceres in 4.6, Vesta overtakes Ceres about every 17 years (derived from 1/(1/3.63 − 1/4.60)).[^flanders2012] Like Ceres, Vesta is massive enough to hold a few small asteroids in temporary 1:1 co-orbital resonances; Christou and Wiegert identified about forty, held for up to two million years or more, and decametre-sized objects seen near Vesta by Dawn may be of this kind rather than true moons.[^christou2000][^christou2012] ## Rotation Vesta turns once every 5.342 hours, quickly for an asteroid of its size, in the prograde sense.[^thomas1997] Hubble images of the 1990s placed its north pole in Cygnus, at right ascension 20 h 32 min and declination +48°, with an uncertainty of about 10°, which gives an axial tilt of about 29°.[^thomas1997] Dawn's tracking refined the spin pole and rotation period.[^konopliv2014] The tilt gives Vesta seasons about eleven months long; when Dawn arrived, the southern hemisphere was in late summer.[^mcrel2010] ## Coordinate systems Two longitude systems have been used for Vesta, with prime meridians 150° apart. The International Astronomical Union's 1997 system, based on Hubble images, ran the prime meridian through Olbers Regio, a dark feature about 200 km across.[^hand2012] Once Dawn arrived, its team found that the pole assumed by that system was about 10° off, so that the grid drifted across the surface, and that Olbers Regio could not be pinpointed at close range. The team adopted a corrected pole and a new meridian near the small crater Claudia, and all NASA maps of Vesta use it.[^hand2012][^li-pds] The IAU's Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements then recommended the corrected pole with longitudes shifted by 150° to restore the Olbers Regio meridian; that system was accepted by the IAU, although it cuts across the quadrangles the Dawn team had laid out.[^usgs-wgccre][^hand2012] ## Physical characteristics Vesta holds about 28% of [[Ceres_(dwarf_planet)|Ceres]]'s mass (derived from the Dawn masses) and is the most massive body that probably formed within the belt, since Ceres may have originated farther out.[^russell2012][^baer2008] Its bulk density, about 3.46 g/cm³, is lower than those of the [[Terrestrial_planet|terrestrial planets]] but higher than those of most asteroids.[^russell2012] It is only slightly larger than [[2_Pallas|Pallas]] in mean diameter, 525.4 km against about 512 km, but some 25% more massive.[^russell2012][^carry2010] Vesta is roughly an oblate spheroid, but the huge depression at its south pole spoils the symmetry. Because of that shape, and a mass below the 5 × 10²⁰ kg threshold discussed in the 2006 draft definition, it was never automatically counted among the candidate [[Dwarf_planet|dwarf planets]].[^iau2006draft] Analysis of Dawn's shape and [[Gravity|gravity]] data shows that it is not in hydrostatic equilibrium today: its figure appears to preserve an earlier, faster spin, frozen in before the giant impacts reshaped it.[^fu2013][^asmar2012] Infrared observations from the Infrared Space Observatory in 1996, near perihelion, gave estimated surface temperatures of about −20 °C with the Sun overhead, falling to about −190 °C at the winter pole, with typical day and night values of −60 °C and −130 °C.[^mueller2001] ## Surface features Hubble and adaptive-optics telescopes on [[Earth]] such as Keck had already resolved some large features before Dawn arrived, but only the spacecraft revealed the surface in detail.[^zellner2005][^jaumann2012] ### Rheasilvia and Veneneia Two giant impact basins dominate the southern hemisphere. Rheasilvia, about 500 km across and centred near the south pole, overlies the older Veneneia, about 400 km across.[^schenk2012] Rheasilvia's width is about 95% of Vesta's mean diameter. Its central peak rises about 22 km above the basin floor, among the tallest mountains known in the Solar System, and has a base about 180 km wide.[^schenk2012][^ivanov2013] Modelling indicates that a peak of this kind can form only on a body with enough gravity and a layered interior, where the transient crater collapses and deeper material rebounds.[^ivanov2013] Crater counts on the basin floor and ejecta give Rheasilvia an age of about a billion years, making it young compared with Vesta itself; Veneneia is dated to roughly two billion years.[^marchi2012][^schenk2012] The impact removed about 1% of Vesta's volume, enough to supply the Vesta family of asteroids, the V-type asteroids that share its spectrum, and the HED meteorites.[^schenk2012][^mcsween2013] Dawn's mapping spectrometer found eucrite-like basalt at shallower levels and diogenite-like orthopyroxenite exposed deeper in the basin, a layered crust that matches the meteorites.[^desanctis2012][^mcsween2013] The stresses of these impacts are thought to have produced the troughs that encircle the equator.[^buczkowski2012] ### Other craters Several older, degraded basins approach Rheasilvia and Veneneia in size, among them the 270 km Feralia Planitia; fresher, sharper craters reach 158 km (Varronilla) and 196 km (Postumia).[^garry2012][^usgs-vesta] In the northern hemisphere, three adjacent craters named Marcia, Calpurnia and Minucia form the "snowman". Marcia is the youngest and cuts across Calpurnia.[^williams2014m] Smooth dust ponds, formed from impact melt or from dust moved by electrostatic forces, have been identified in about ten equatorial craters.[^parekh2022] ### Troughs Much of the equatorial region of the [[Asteroid|asteroid]] is scored by a set of parallel troughs, Divalia Fossae; the largest is 10–20 km wide and 465 km long. A second system inclined to the equator farther north, Saturnalia Fossae, includes a trough about 40 km wide and more than 370 km long.[^buczkowski2012][^jaumann2012] Buczkowski and colleagues interpret them as graben, fault-bounded valleys formed in response to the Rheasilvia and Veneneia impacts, a response that requires a differentiated interior.[^buczkowski2012] Hirata has proposed instead that the equatorial troughs are chains of secondary craters made by Rheasilvia ejecta.[^hirata2023] ### Surface composition Measurements from Dawn's visible and infrared spectrometer, its gamma-ray and neutron detector and its framing camera all show a surface consistent with HED material.[^desanctis2012][^prettyman2012][^reddy2012] The Rheasilvia region is richest in diogenite, as expected for an impact that dug deep. Olivine, the mineral expected to dominate the mantle, was a surprise: instead of turning up in the south-polar basins, it appears in scattered patches in the northern hemisphere.[^ammannito2013][^palomba2015] Both basins excavated to depths of roughly 60–100 km, well below the crust thickness predicted before Dawn, so either the crust is thicker than models assumed or the olivine was delivered by impactors.[^palomba2015][^jutzi2013] ### Features associated with volatiles Pitted terrain occurs on the floors of Marcia, Cornelia, Numisia and Licinia and is interpreted as the result of volatile-bearing material degassing after being heated by impacts.[^denevi2012] Curved gullies in Marcia and Cornelia, ending in lobate deposits, have been explained as the result of brief flows of liquid water released when buried ice was melted by impacts.[^scully2014] Hydrated minerals are widespread and associated with dark material, which is thought to be carbonaceous chondrite debris delivered by impacts.[^desanctis2012h][^reddy2012][^mccord2012] ## Geology More than 1,200 HED meteorites have been catalogued, giving an unusually large sample of a single asteroid.[^mpg2011] From them, and from Dawn's gravity data, Vesta is thought to have an [[Iron|iron]]–[[Nickel|nickel]] core, an olivine-rich mantle and a crust of HED-like rock. Estimates of the core size differ: the gravity field first gave about 220 km in diameter, while a 2025 analysis of Dawn data by Park and colleagues argues for a much smaller core.[^russell2013][^park2025] The thermal history implied by the meteorites is compressed into the first few million years of the Solar System. Taking the formation of calcium–aluminium-rich inclusions, about 4.567 billion years ago, as the starting point, accretion was complete within about 2–3 million years; heat from the [[Radioactive_decay|decay]] of [[Aluminium|aluminium]]-26 then melted the interior almost completely within 4–5 million years, letting metal sink to form the core; and the molten mantle crystallised while the remaining melt rose to form the crust as lava flows or a short-lived magma ocean.[^ghosh1998][^righter1997][^drake2001] Deeper crustal layers cooled slowly into coarse-grained plutonic rocks, the sources of cumulate eucrites and diogenites, while surface basalts were buried and metamorphosed by later flows.[^takeda1997] This sequence, preserved in an intact body, is why Vesta is often called a protoplanet.[^jpl2011proto] The two southern impacts struck after Vesta had cooled too much to relax back to an equilibrium shape. The resulting distortion is one reason Vesta is not treated as a dwarf planet.[^jutzi2013][^fu2013] ### Regolith Vesta's regolith differs from lunar soil. Micrometeorite impacts on Vesta are too slow to melt and vaporise much rock, so the nanophase iron that darkens lunar soil is largely absent. Instead the soil evolves by brecciation and the mixing of bright and dark components.[^pieters2012] The bright material is the native basaltic soil; the dark component is thought to come from carbonaceous material that fell onto Vesta.[^mccord2012] ## Fragments The Vestoids, members of the Vesta family in the [[Asteroid_belt|asteroid belt]], and the HED meteorites, which reached Earth as [[Meteoroid|meteoroids]], are the best-known fragments. The V-type asteroid 1929 Kollaa has a composition resembling cumulate eucrites, suggesting that it came from deep within Vesta's crust.[^kelley2003] Vesta is one of only a few Solar System bodies from which scientists hold physical samples; the others are Earth, [[Mars]] and the [[Moon]] (from meteorites and returned samples), [[Comet|comet]] Wild 2 and the asteroids Itokawa, Ryugu and Bennu, all sampled by spacecraft.[^nasa-vesta2011] ## Exploration Vesta was the preferred target of several proposals in the 1980s. ESA's AGORA concept would have flown past large asteroids using either a Mars gravity assist or a small ion engine, and a joint NASA–ESA study considered an orbiter; none of these, nor French, German, Italian and American proposals of the same decade, was approved.[^ulivi2008] A Soviet–European mission that included a Vesta flyby and penetrator was cancelled with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[^ulivi2008] ### Observations from Earth orbit Hubble produced the first maps of Vesta in the 1990s. Its 1994 images resolved albedo patterns and revealed the large south-polar depression, and spectral data suggested that the basin had exposed deep layers.[^binzel1997][^thomas1997] These observations helped build the case for a spacecraft visit.[^savage1995] ### Observations from Dawn NASA's Discovery Program endorsed an ion-propelled mission to the asteroid belt in the 1990s, and Dawn passed its critical design review in 2004.[^russell2007] It launched on 27 September 2007, took its first image of Vesta from 1.2 million km on 3 May 2011 and entered orbit on 16 July 2011, when the southern hemisphere, including Rheasilvia, was in late summer.[^cook2011][^vega2011][^mcrel2010] Dawn mapped Vesta from a survey orbit, from high altitude at 60–70 m per pixel and from low altitude at about 20 m per pixel, producing atlases and digital terrain models; tracking of the spacecraft also yielded Vesta's precise mass and gravity field.[^russell2013][^roatsch2012][^roatsch2013] It left for [[Ceres_(dwarf_planet)|Ceres]] on 5 September 2012.[^nasa2012dep] ## Visibility Its size and bright surface make Vesta the brightest [[Asteroid|asteroid]] in [[Earth]]'s sky. At favourable oppositions it can reach about magnitude 5.1, faintly visible to the naked eye under dark skies, and even at conjunction it stays near magnitude 8.5, within reach of binoculars.[^menzel1983][^james2008] In May and June 2007 it reached +5.4, its brightest since 1989, because opposition and perihelion fell only weeks apart; the opposition of June 2018 was brighter still at about +5.3.[^bryant2007][^harrington2010] ### 2010–2011 Vesta reached opposition in Leo on 17–18 February 2010 at about magnitude 6.1, a binocular object but generally too faint for the unaided eye, and again on 5 August 2011 in Capricornus at about 5.6.[^jpl-horizons] ### 2012–2013 At the opposition of 9 December 2012 Vesta was near magnitude 6.6, fading to about 8.4 by May 2013. Through that winter and spring it passed within about 6° of [[Ceres_(dwarf_planet)|Ceres]] in the sky.[^flanders2012] ### 2014 Ceres and Vesta came within a degree of each other in the night sky in July 2014.[^flanders2012] ## See also - [[Asteroid_belt]] · [[Asteroid]] - [[Ceres_(dwarf_planet)]] · [[2_Pallas]] · [[10_Hygiea]] - [[Kirkwood_gap]] - [[Meteoroid]] - [[Terrestrial_planet]] ## Notes Derived values (perihelion and aphelion from a and e, the mass in kilograms from the Dawn value in solar masses, the Vesta-to-Ceres mass ratio, and the 17.4-year synodic period from the two orbital periods) are computed from the cited data and rounded. ## References [^russell2012]: Russell, C. T.; Raymond, C. A.; Coradini, A.; et al. (2012). "Dawn at Vesta: testing the protoplanetary paradigm". *Science* 336: 684–686. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1219381 [^nasa-vesta]: NASA Solar System Exploration (10 November 2017). "4 Vesta: in depth". https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/asteroids/4-vesta/in-depth/ [^lynn1907]: Lynn, W. T. (1907). "The discovery of Vesta". *The Observatory* 30: 103–105. Bibcode 1907Obs....30..103L. [^schmadel2003]: Schmadel, L. D. (2003). *Dictionary of Minor Planet Names*, 5th ed. Springer, p. 15. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. [^carry2010]: Carry, B.; Dumas, C.; Kaasalainen, M.; et al. (2010). "Physical properties of (2) Pallas". *Icarus* 205: 460–472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2009.08.007 [^pitjeva2005]: Pitjeva, E. V. (2005). "High-precision ephemerides of planets—EPM and determination of some astronomical constants". *Solar System Research* 39: 176–186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11208-005-0033-2 [^amos2012]: Amos, J. (11 May 2012). "Asteroid Vesta is 'last of a kind' rock". BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-18027933 [^schenk2012]: Schenk, P.; O'Brien, D. P.; Marchi, S.; et al. (2012). "The geologically recent giant impact basins at Vesta's south pole". *Science* 336: 694–697. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1223272 [^mcsween2013]: McSween, H. Y.; Binzel, R. P.; De Sanctis, M. C.; et al. (2013). "Dawn; the Vesta–HED connection; and the geologic context for eucrites, diogenites, and howardites". *Meteoritics & Planetary Science* 48: 2090–2104. https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.12108 [^vega2011]: Vega, P.; Brown, D. (16 July 2011). "NASA's Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around asteroid Vesta". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/dawn20110716.html [^nasa2012dep]: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (5 September 2012). "Dawn has departed the giant asteroid Vesta". http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/dawn20120905.html [^jpl-vesta]: JPL Solar System Dynamics. "Small-Body Database Lookup: 4 Vesta" (elements fetched 2026-09-18). https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=4 [^jpl-ceres]: JPL Solar System Dynamics. "Small-Body Database Lookup: 1 Ceres" (elements fetched 2026-09-18). https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=1 [^jpl-sbdb]: JPL Solar System Dynamics. "Small-Body Database Lookup" (elements fetched 2026-09-18). https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html [^littmann2004]: Littmann, M. (2004). *Planets Beyond: Discovering the Outer Solar System*. Courier Dover Publications, p. 21. ISBN 978-0-486-43602-9. [^dunnington2004]: Dunnington, G. W.; Gray, J.; Dohse, F.-E. (2004). *Carl Friedrich Gauss: Titan of Science*. Mathematical Association of America, p. 76. ISBN 978-0-88385-547-8. [^vonzach1807]: von Zach, F. X. (1807). *Monatliche Correspondenz zur Beförderung der Erd- und Himmels-Kunde*, p. 507. https://books.google.com/books?id=_Rw4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA507 [^bala2023]: Bala, G. J.; Miller, K. (18 September 2023). "Unicode request for historical asteroid symbols". Unicode Consortium, L2/23-207. https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2023/23207-historical-asteroids.pdf [^wells1851]: Wells, D. A. (1851). "The planet Hygiea". *Annual of Scientific Discovery for the Year 1850*; quoted in spaceweather.com archives, 13 September 2006. http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=13&month=09&year=2006 [^gould1852]: Gould, B. A. (1852). "On the symbolic notation of the asteroids". *The Astronomical Journal* 2: 80. https://doi.org/10.1086/100212 [^hilton2001]: Hilton, J. L. (2001). "When did the asteroids become minor planets?". US Naval Observatory. https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/minorplanets [^hertz1968]: Hertz, H. G. (1968). "Mass of Vesta". *Science* 160: 299–300. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.160.3825.299 [^kovacevic2005]: Kovačević, A. (2005). "Determination of the mass of (4) Vesta based on new close approaches". *Astronomy & Astrophysics* 430: 319–325. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20035872 [^hughes1994]: Hughes, D. W. (1994). "The historical unravelling of the diameters of the first four asteroids". *Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society* 35: 331–344. Bibcode 1994QJRAS..35..331H. [^povenmire2001]: Povenmire, H. (2001). "The January 4, 1991 occultation of SAO 93228 by asteroid (4) Vesta". *Meteoritics & Planetary Science* 36 (Supplement): A165. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2001.tb01534.x [^mcfadden2008]: McFadden, L. A.; Emerson, G.; Warner, E. M.; Onukwubiti, U.; Li, J.-Y. (2008). "Photometry of 4 Vesta from its 2007 apparition". *39th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference*, abstract 2546. Bibcode 2008LPI....39.2546M. [^nasa-fs]: NASA NSSDCA. "Planetary Fact Sheet". https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/ (fetched 2026-09-18). [^flanders2012]: Flanders, T. (2012). "Ceres and Vesta: July 2012 – April 2013". *Sky & Telescope*. [^christou2000]: Christou, A. A. (2000). "Co-orbital objects in the main asteroid belt". *Astronomy & Astrophysics* 356: L71–L74. Bibcode 2000A&A...356L..71C. [^christou2012]: Christou, A. A.; Wiegert, P. (2012). "A population of main belt asteroids co-orbiting with Ceres and Vesta". *Icarus* 217: 27–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2011.10.016 [^thomas1997]: Thomas, P. C.; Binzel, R. P.; Gaffey, M. J.; et al. (1997). "Vesta: spin pole, size, and shape from HST images". *Icarus* 128: 88–94. https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.1997.5736 [^konopliv2014]: Konopliv, A. S.; Asmar, S. W.; Park, R. S.; et al. (2014). "The Vesta gravity field, spin pole and rotation period, landmark positions, and ephemeris from the Dawn tracking and optical data". *Icarus* 240: 103–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2013.09.005 [^mcrel2010]: McREL (27 September 2010). "Dawn mission: mission". Dawn Journal, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/journal_09_27_10.asp [^hand2012]: Hand, E. (2012). "Space missions trigger map wars". *Nature* 488: 442–443. https://doi.org/10.1038/488442a [^li-pds]: Li, J.-Y.; Mafi, J. N. "Body-fixed coordinate systems for asteroid (4) Vesta". NASA Planetary Data System. https://sbn.psi.edu/archive/dawn/fc/DWNVFC2_1A/DOCUMENT/VESTA_COORDINATES/VESTA_COORDINATES_131018.PDF [^usgs-wgccre]: USGS Astrogeology Science Center (15 November 2013). "IAU WGCCRE coordinate system for Vesta". https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/details/Docs/WGCCRE/IAU-WGCCRE-Coordinate-System-for-Vesta/pdf [^baer2008]: Baer, J.; Chesley, S. R. (2008). "Astrometric masses of 21 asteroids, and an integrated asteroid ephemeris". *Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy* 100: 27–42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10569-007-9103-8 [^iau2006draft]: International Astronomical Union (August 2006). "The IAU draft definition of 'planet' and 'plutons'" (press release iau0601). http://www.iau.org/public_press/news/detail/iau0601 [^fu2013]: Fu, R. R.; Hager, B. H.; Ermakov, A. I.; Zuber, M. T. (2013). "Early viscous relaxation of asteroid Vesta and implications for late impact-driven despinning". *44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference*, abstract 2115. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/2115.pdf [^asmar2012]: Asmar, S. W.; Konopliv, A. S.; Park, R. S.; et al. (2012). "The gravity field of Vesta and implications for interior structure". *43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference*, abstract 2600. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2012/pdf/2600.pdf [^mueller2001]: Müller, T. G.; Metcalfe, L. (2001). "ISO and asteroids". *ESA Bulletin* 108: 38. http://www.esa.int/esapub/bulletin/bullet108/chapter4_bul108.pdf [^zellner2005]: Zellner, N. E. B.; Gibbard, S.; de Pater, I.; et al. (2005). "Near-IR imaging of asteroid 4 Vesta". *Icarus* 177: 190–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2005.03.024 [^jaumann2012]: Jaumann, R.; Williams, D. A.; Buczkowski, D. L.; et al. (2012). "Vesta's shape and morphology". *Science* 336: 687–690. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1219122 [^ivanov2013]: Ivanov, B. A.; Melosh, H. J. (2013). "Two-dimensional numerical modeling of the Rheasilvia impact formation". *Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets* 118: 1545–1557. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgre.20108 [^marchi2012]: Marchi, S.; McSween, H. Y.; O'Brien, D. P.; et al. (2012). "The violent collisional history of asteroid 4 Vesta". *Science* 336: 690–694. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1218757 [^desanctis2012]: De Sanctis, M. C.; Ammannito, E.; Capria, M. T.; et al. (2012). "Spectroscopic characterization of mineralogy and its diversity across Vesta". *Science* 336: 697–700. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1219270 [^buczkowski2012]: Buczkowski, D. L.; Wyrick, D. Y.; Iyer, K. A.; et al. (2012). "Large-scale troughs on Vesta: a signature of planetary tectonics". *Geophysical Research Letters* 39: L18205. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL052959 [^garry2012]: Garry, W. B.; Sykes, M.; Buczkowski, D. L.; et al. (2012). "Geologic mapping of Av-10 Oppia quadrangle of asteroid 4 Vesta". *43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference*, abstract 2315. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2012/pdf/2315.pdf [^usgs-vesta]: USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. "Vesta: craters". https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/SearchResults?target=VESTA&featureType=Crater,%20craters [^williams2014m]: Williams, D. A.; Denevi, B. W.; Mittlefehldt, D. W.; et al. (2014). "The geology of the Marcia quadrangle of asteroid Vesta: assessing the effects of large, young craters". *Icarus* 244: 74–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.01.033 [^parekh2022]: Parekh, R.; Otto, K. A.; Matz, K.-D.; et al. (2021). "Formation of ejecta and dust pond deposits on asteroid Vesta". *Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets* 126. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JE006873 [^hirata2023]: Hirata, N. (2023). "Secondary cratering from Rheasilvia as the possible origin of Vesta's equatorial troughs". *Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets* 128: e2022JE007473. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JE007473 [^prettyman2012]: Prettyman, T. H.; Mittlefehldt, D. W.; Yamashita, N.; et al. (2012). "Elemental mapping by Dawn reveals exogenic H in Vesta's regolith". *Science* 338: 242–246. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1225354 [^reddy2012]: Reddy, V.; Nathues, A.; Le Corre, L.; et al. (2012). "Color and albedo heterogeneity of Vesta from Dawn". *Science* 336: 700–704. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1219088 [^ammannito2013]: Ammannito, E.; De Sanctis, M. C.; Palomba, E.; et al. (2013). "Olivine in an unexpected location on Vesta's surface". *Nature* 504: 122–125. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12665 [^palomba2015]: Palomba, E.; Longobardo, A.; De Sanctis, M. C.; et al. (2015). "Detection of new olivine-rich locations on Vesta". *Icarus* 258: 120–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2015.06.011 [^jutzi2013]: Jutzi, M.; Asphaug, E.; Gillet, P.; Barrat, J.-A.; Benz, W. (2013). "The structure of the asteroid 4 Vesta as revealed by models of planet-scale collisions". *Nature* 494: 207–210. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11892 [^denevi2012]: Denevi, B. W.; Blewett, D. T.; Buczkowski, D. L.; et al. (2012). "Pitted terrain on Vesta and implications for the presence of volatiles". *Science* 338: 246–249. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1225374 [^scully2014]: Scully, J. E. C.; et al. (2014). "Sub-curvilinear gullies interpreted as evidence for transient water flow on Vesta". *45th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference*, abstract 1796. https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2014/pdf/1796.pdf [^desanctis2012h]: De Sanctis, M. C.; Combe, J.-P.; Ammannito, E.; et al. (2012). "Detection of widespread hydrated materials on Vesta by the VIR imaging spectrometer on board the Dawn mission". *The Astrophysical Journal Letters* 758: L36. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/758/2/L36 [^mccord2012]: McCord, T. B.; Li, J.-Y.; Combe, J.-P.; et al. (2012). "Dark material on Vesta from the infall of carbonaceous volatile-rich material". *Nature* 491: 83–86. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11561 [^mpg2011]: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (6 January 2011). "A look into Vesta's interior". https://www.mpg.de/877913/Vesta_asteroid [^russell2013]: Russell, C. T.; Raymond, C. A.; Jaumann, R.; et al. (2013). "Dawn completes its mission at 4 Vesta". *Meteoritics & Planetary Science* 48: 2076–2089. https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.12091 [^park2025]: Park, R. S.; Ermakov, A. I.; Konopliv, A. S.; et al. (2025). "A small core in Vesta inferred from Dawn's observations". *Nature Astronomy* 9: 824–834. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02533-7 [^ghosh1998]: Ghosh, A.; McSween, H. Y. (1998). "A thermal model for the differentiation of asteroid 4 Vesta, based on radiogenic heating". *Icarus* 134: 187–206. https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.1998.5956 [^righter1997]: Righter, K.; Drake, M. J. (1997). "A magma ocean on Vesta: core formation and petrogenesis of eucrites and diogenites". *Meteoritics & Planetary Science* 32: 929–944. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.1997.tb01582.x [^drake2001]: Drake, M. J. (2001). "The eucrite/Vesta story". *Meteoritics & Planetary Science* 36: 501–513. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2001.tb01892.x [^takeda1997]: Takeda, H. (1997). "Mineralogical records of early planetary processes on the howardite, eucrite, diogenite parent body with reference to Vesta". *Meteoritics & Planetary Science* 32: 841–853. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.1997.tb01574.x [^jpl2011proto]: Cook, J.-R. C. (29 March 2011). "When is an asteroid not an asteroid?". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/dawn20110329.html [^pieters2012]: Pieters, C. M.; Ammannito, E.; Blewett, D. T.; et al. (2012). "Distinctive space weathering on Vesta from regolith mixing processes". *Nature* 491: 79–82. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11534 [^kelley2003]: Kelley, M. S.; Vilas, F.; Gaffey, M. J.; Abell, P. A. (2003). "Quantified mineralogical evidence for a common origin of 1929 Kollaa with 4 Vesta and the HED meteorites". *Icarus* 165: 215–218. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-1035(03)00149-0 [^nasa-vesta2011]: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (12 July 2011). "Vesta". Dawn mission. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/ceresvesta/index.html [^ulivi2008]: Ulivi, P.; Harland, D. M. (2008). *Robotic Exploration of the Solar System, Part 2: Hiatus and Renewal, 1983–1996*. Springer, pp. 117–125. ISBN 978-0-387-78904-0. [^binzel1997]: Binzel, R. P.; Gaffey, M. J.; Thomas, P. C.; et al. (1997). "Geologic mapping of Vesta from 1994 Hubble Space Telescope images". *Icarus* 128: 95–103. https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.1997.5734 [^savage1995]: Savage, D.; Jones, T.; Villard, R. (19 April 1995). "Asteroid or mini-planet? Hubble maps the ancient surface of Vesta". HubbleSite. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1995/20/image/c [^russell2007]: Russell, C. T.; Capaccioni, F.; Coradini, A.; et al. (2007). "Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres". *Earth, Moon, and Planets* 101: 65–91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11038-007-9151-9 [^cook2011]: Cook, J.-R. C.; Brown, D. C. (11 May 2011). "NASA's Dawn captures first image of nearing asteroid". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-138 [^roatsch2012]: Roatsch, T.; et al. (2012). "High resolution Vesta High Altitude Mapping Orbit (HAMO) atlas derived from Dawn framing camera images". *Planetary and Space Science* 73: 283–286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2012.08.021 [^roatsch2013]: Roatsch, T.; et al. (2013). "High-resolution Vesta Low Altitude Mapping Orbit atlas derived from Dawn framing camera images". *Planetary and Space Science* 85: 293–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2013.06.024 [^menzel1983]: Menzel, D. H.; Pasachoff, J. M. (1983). *A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets*. Houghton Mifflin, p. 391. ISBN 978-0-395-34835-2. [^james2008]: James, A. (2008). "Vesta". *Southern Astronomical Delights*. http://www.southastrodel.com/PageVesta000.htm [^bryant2007]: Bryant, G. (2007). "See Vesta at its brightest!". *Sky & Telescope*. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/7297386.html [^harrington2010]: Harrington, P. S. (2010). *Cosmic Challenge: The Ultimate Observing List for Amateurs*. Cambridge University Press, p. 75. ISBN 978-1-139-49368-0. [^jpl-horizons]: JPL Solar System Dynamics. "Horizons ephemeris: 4 Vesta". https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/ ## Bibliography - Russell, C. T.; Raymond, C. A. (eds.) (2012). *The Dawn Mission to Minor Planets 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres*. Springer. ISBN 978-1-4614-4902-7. - Keil, K. (2002). "Geological history of asteroid 4 Vesta: the 'smallest terrestrial planet'". In Bottke, W. F.; Cellino, A.; Paolicchi, P.; Binzel, R. P. (eds.), *Asteroids III*. University of Arizona Press, pp. 573–584. ## External links - NASA Science. "4 Vesta". https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/asteroids/4-vesta/ - NASA Solar System Treks. "Vesta Trek". https://trek.nasa.gov/vesta/ - NASA Science. "Dawn" mission. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/dawn/ - UCLA. "Dawn public data". http://dawndata.igpp.ucla.edu/ ## Wikipedia : Wikitube **Strict pair:** [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Vesta) : [Wikitube](https://en.wikitube.io/wiki/4_Vesta) · pinned revision [1373231124](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373231124) · 2026-09-18 ## Previous hub tags Hubs: `Life_Physics`. Portals: [[PORTAL_Solar_System]]. --- *Solar System portal child articles, wave 1 · 2026-09-18 · drafted · row SOL-049 · explorer state `?obj=Vesta`.* <!-- hub_tags: Life_Physics · PORTAL_Solar_System -->