This image, one of the first obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft in its low altitude mapping orbit, shows an area within the Rheasilvia basin in the south polar area of the giant asteroid Vesta. Image credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ UCLA/ MPS/ DLR/ IDA
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has sent back the first images of the giant asteroid Vesta from its low-altitude mapping orbit. The images, obtained by the framing camera, show the stippled and lumpy surface in detail never seen before, piquing the curiosity of scientists who are studying Vesta for clues about the solar system's early history.
At this detailed resolution, the surface shows abundant small craters, and textures such as small grooves and lineaments that are reminiscent of the structures seen in low-resolution data from the higher-altitude orbits. Also, this fine scale highlights small outcrops of bright and dark material.
Those ripples almost look like the result of conchoidal fracturing, but can't be. Compression? Early melting?
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This is the picture of Vesta, which is an object in our solar system:
Vesta is the second biggest asteroid in the famous asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has revealed unexpected details on the surface of the giant asteroid Vesta. New images and data highlight the diversity of Vesta's surface and reveal unusual geologic features, some of which were never previously seen on asteroids.
NASA's Dawn space ship is getting closer to the asteroid Vesta, and has produced a very short movie. The movie is a compilation of 20 frames, shown here repeating several times:
It looks a lot like the close ups of Eros ... except for those ripples (dunes?). My first guess is that Vesta has some vibrational resonances, and when it got whacked last, the dust distributed itself along these lines, but I have no numbers or simulations to back that idea up.
Hey, did the Face on Mars move to Vesta? There goes the neighborhood!
very nice article :)