Vesta Series μ-Shaped

What is Vesta's geology?

Vesta’s geology displays morphological features characteristic of the Moon and terrestrial planets as well as those of other asteroids, underscoring Vesta’s unique role as a transitional solar system body. The Dawn spacecraft (1) arrived at Vesta on 17 July 2011 and began science operations at the highest of three orbital altitudes.

What are the features of Vesta?

Vesta’s surface is characterized by abundant impact craters, some with preserved ejecta blankets, large troughs extending around the equatorial region, enigmatic dark material, and widespread mass wasting, but as yet an absence of volcanic features. Abundant steep slopes indicate that impact-generated surface regolith is underlain by bedrock.

Is Vesta a proto-planet?

Russell et al. (p. 684) use Dawn's observations to confirm that Vesta is a small differentiated planetary body with an inner core, and represents a surviving proto-planet from the earliest epoch of solar system formation; Vesta is also confirmed as the source of the howardite-eucrite-diogenite (HED) meteorites.

Are there any eLetters about Vesta?

No eLetters have been published for this article yet. Vesta’s surface is characterized by abundant impact craters, some with preserved ejecta blankets, large troughs extending around the equatorial region, enigmatic dark material, and widespread mass ...

Does Vesta have a complex topography?

Vesta’s surface exhibits complex topography at all spatial scales imaged so far (Fig. 1). Previous HST data revealed a large south polar basin with a central mound (9). This feature has been named Rheasilvia and is centered at about 301°E and 75°S (4) (Figs. 1 and 2).

Where do large-scale structural features occur in the asteroid Vesta?

Large-scale structural features occur in the equatorial and northern regions of Vesta (Fig. 2), including sets of equatorial and northern troughs. By mapping the troughs directly onto the Vesta shape model, they can be modeled as planes that cut through the asteroid.