Monday, June 13, 2011

Video Approaching Vesta


The DAWN spacecraft took this video on June 1 as it approached asteroid Vesta at a distance of 483,000 kilometers. At 100 km in diameter, this is the second largest asteroid after Ceres. We are fortunate to have samples from Vesta thanks to the Camel Donga meteorite found in Australia during 1984. This is the only asteroid to have a basaltic surface formed by volcanic processes. How asteroid Vesta could have been hot is a mystery. Even a small world like Vesta could conceivably be home to a tiny Black Hole.

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