Vesta, in astronomy
Vesta (vĕs`tə), in astronomy, fourth asteroid asteroid, planetoid, or minor planet, small body orbiting the sun. More than 10,000 asteroids have orbits sufficiently well known to have been cataloged and named; thousands more exist...... Click the link for more information. to be discovered. It was found in 1807 by H. Olbers. It is the third largest asteroid, with a diameter of c.326 mi (525 km). Its average distance from the sun is 2.36 astronomical units astronomical unit (AU), mean distance between the earth and sun; one AU is c.92,960,000 mi (149,604,970 km). The astronomical unit is the principal unit of measurement within the solar system, e.g., Mercury is just over 1-3 AU and Pluto is about 39 AU from the sun.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the period of its orbit is 1,325 days. Vesta is the only asteroid that can be seen with the naked eye; it can be seen only when it is in the right position in the sky relative to the earth and sun, namely, when it is at opposition and perihelion simultaneously.
Vesta is geologically different from the other large asteroids. Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the first large optical orbiting observatory . Built from 1978 to 1990 at a cost of $1.5 billion, the HST (named for astronomer E. P. Hubble ) was expected to provide the clearest view yet obtained of the universe.
..... Click the link for more information. show a basaltic surface indicative of ancient lava flows originating from a molten interior and a giant crater, about 285 mi (460 km) across and 8 mi (13 km) deep, that may go all the way through the crust to expose the mantle. The crater is thought to have resulted from a collision with another celestial body, the impact tearing out large chunks of Vesta that formed a distinctive class of small asteroids, some of which have reached earth as meteorites meteorite, meteor that survives the intense heat of atmospheric friction and reaches the earth's surface. Because of the destructive effects of this friction, only the very largest meteors become meteorites.
..... Click the link for more information. . Alternatively, they all may have originated from the breakup of a large parent body early in the history of the solar system. These hypotheses were made more credible in 1999 when the space probe Deep Space 1 spectroscopically analyzed the small asteroid Braille Braille (brāl), in astronomy, a small asteroid notable because it has the same atypical geologic composition as the larger asteroid Vesta
..... Click the link for more information. and found it to be akin in composition to Vesta.
Vesta, in Roman religion and mythology
Vesta, in Roman religion and mythology, hearth goddess. She was highly honored in every household from early times to the beginning of Christianity. Her public cult maintained a sacred building in which her priestesses, the vestal virgins, tended the communal hearth and fire, which was never allowed to die out. Vesta was identified with the Greek Hestia.Vesta
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Vesta [′ves·tə]
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