Back 4 Vesta Afrikaans (4) Vesta ALS 4 فيستا Arabic 4 فيستا (كويكب) ARZ 4 Vesta AST (4) Vesta Azerbaijani (4) Веста Byelorussian Вэста (астэроід) BE-X-OLD 4 Веста Bulgarian (4) Vesta Breton

4 Vesta

This article is about the asteroid. For the Roman goddess, see Vesta (mythology). For other uses, see Vesta (disambiguation).

4 Vesta
True color image of Vesta taken by Dawn. The massive Rheasilvia Crater dominates Vesta's south pole.
Discovery
Discovered byHeinrich Wilhelm Olbers
Discovery date29 March 1807
Designations
(4) Vesta
Pronunciation/ˈvɛstə/[1]
Named after
Vesta
Main belt (Vesta family)
Adjectives
  • Vestan
  • Vestian[a]
Symbol⚶ (historically astronomical, now astrological)
Orbital characteristics[6]
Epoch 13 September 2023
(JD 2453300.5)
Aphelion2.57 AU (384 million km)
Perihelion2.15 AU (322 million km)
2.36 AU (353 million km)
Eccentricity0.0894
3.63 yr (1325.86 d)
19.34 km/s
169.4°
Inclination7.1422° to ecliptic
5.58° to invariable plane[7]
103.71°
26 December 2021[8]
151.66°
SatellitesNone
Earth MOID1.14 AU (171 million km)
Proper orbital elements[9]
2.36151 AU
0.098758
6.39234°
99.1888 deg / yr
3.62944 yr
(1325.654 d)
Precession of perihelion
36.8729 (2343 years) arcsec / yr
Precession of the ascending node
−39.5979 (2182 years) arcsec / yr
Physical characteristics
Dimensions572.6 km × 557.2 km × 446.4 km[10]
525.4±0.2 km[10]
Flattening0.2204
(8.66±0.2)×105 km2[b][11]
Volume7.4970×107 km3[10]
Mass(2.590271±0.000058)×1020 kg[12]
Mean density
3.456±0.035 g/cm3[10]
Equatorial surface gravity
0.25 m/s2 (0.025 g0)
Equatorial escape velocity
0.36 km/s
0.2226 d (5.342 h)[6][13]
Equatorial rotation velocity
93.1 m/s[c]
29°
North pole right ascension
20h 32m[d]
North pole declination
48°[d]
0.423[15]
Temperaturemin: 75 K (−198 °C)
max: 250 K (−23 °C)[16]
V[6][17]
5.1[18] to 8.48
3.20[6][15]
0.70″ to 0.22″

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).[10] It was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers on 29 March 1807[6] and is named after Vesta, the virgin goddess of home and hearth from Roman mythology.[19]

Vesta is thought to be the second-largest asteroid, both by mass and by volume, after the dwarf planet Ceres.[20][21][22] Measurements give it a nominal volume only slightly larger than that of Pallas (about 5% greater), but it is 25% to 30% more massive. It constitutes an estimated 9% of the mass of the asteroid belt.[23] Vesta is the only known remaining rocky protoplanet (with a differentiated interior) of the kind that formed the terrestrial planets.[24][25][26] 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.[27][28] Debris from these events has fallen to Earth as howardite–eucrite–diogenite (HED) meteorites, which have been a rich source of information about Vesta.[29][30][31]

Vesta is the brightest asteroid visible from Earth. It is regularly as bright as magnitude 5.1,[18] at which times it is faintly visible to the naked eye. Its maximum distance from the Sun is slightly greater than the minimum distance of Ceres from the Sun,[e] although its orbit lies entirely within that of Ceres.[32]

NASA's Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around Vesta on 16 July 2011 for a one-year exploration and left the orbit of Vesta on 5 September 2012[33] en route to its final destination, Ceres. Researchers continue to examine data collected by Dawn for additional insights into the formation and history of Vesta.[34][35]

  1. ^ "Vesta". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference PlanetarySociety was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference DawnMissionSearch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference MPS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ E.g in Meteoritics & planetary science (volume 42, issues 6–8, 2007) and Origin and evolution of Earth (National Research Council et al., 2008).
  6. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference jpldata was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Souami_Souchay_2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Horizons2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Vesta-POE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference Russell2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference surfacecalc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Konopliv2014103 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference lc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference SkyLive4Vesta was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference iras was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mueller01 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference tax was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Pasachoff1983 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ "In Depth - 4 Vesta". NASA Solar System Exploration. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference NASADawnMission was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference CambridgeSS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference Russell2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pitjeva05 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hubble was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference Vestainterior was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference lastofkind was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jutzi2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cook2014a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ Cite error: The named reference McSween2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  30. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kelley2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  31. ^ Cite error: The named reference nasa2011-vesta was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  32. ^ Cite error: The named reference GravitySim was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  33. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dawnstatus was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  34. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ammannito2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  35. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cook2014b was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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