When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An image of Vesta captured as NASA's Dawn spacecraft retreated ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. For decades, scientists thought that Vesta was a protoplanet rather than an asteroid. NASA's Dawn ...

A robotic probe currently studying the giant asteroid Vesta is going into bonus rounds in the asteroid belt, with NASA clearing the spacecraft to spend 40 extra days gleaning more of the space rock's ...

For years, astronomers treated Vesta as more than just an asteroid. With its rocky surface, distinct layers, and volcanic history, it seemed to be a miniature version of Earth—something between a rock ...

Asteroid Vesta is currently the second largest asteroid in the solar system, having been studied in-depth by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft between July 2011 and September 2012. But a recent study published ...

For more than a decade, scientists have debated the true identity of asteroid Vesta, a 500-kilometer-wide body that sits in a gray area between asteroid and planet. Too complex to be considered a ...

Vesta, one of the two largest bodies in our solar system's asteroid belt, has long been thought to be more than just another asteroid. Scientists had concluded that it sported some fundamental ...

Asteroid 4 Vesta is stationary at 3 P.M. EDT. Now located in the constellation Virgo, Vesta is mid-6th-magnitude — easy to find in just a few minutes from any location using binoculars or a small ...

The correlation between gravity and gravity from shape, and effective density. Credit: Nature Astronomy (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-025-02533-7 For decades, scientists believed Vesta, one of the ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. – For decades, scientists believed Vesta, one of the largest objects in our solar system’s asteroid belt, wasn’t just an asteroid. They concluded that Vesta has a crust, mantle and ...