Monday, June 2, 2014

Wondering About Vesta

This Vesta is not the virgin goddess of health, home, and family in the Roman religion.  The one I am talking about is one of the largest asteroids in the Solar System.  No not hemorrhoids, asteroids.  The name does sound like they could be related.

I thought that I would post some pictures of Vesta, which has a 326 mile mean diameter.  It is not quite round, but looks rather egg shaped and it has some unusual surface features.  Thanks to the Dawn space craft, we have some close-up views of this interesting rock.  The most prominent feature is the snowman created by three creators side by side.  Can you make it out on the upper left of this picture:
 
Another unique feature is the grooves that run side by side.  You can see them at the right of the picture below:
 
And you can also see the grooves in this picture taken from a different angle.  There are some really rough and rugged terrain on this small planetesimal:

 
 
This last picture is taken looking directly at Vesta's south pole:
 

That last picture reminds me of a hornet's nest.
 
Although no space craft has returned samples from Vesta, never the less there are samples found here on Earth.  Meteors that originated when some of those craters on Vesta were formed, came into Earth's atmosphere and hit the ground, which at that point they became meteorites and have been studied by scientist to discover what Vesta is made of.  Now in case you are wondering how they know which ones are from Vesta (especially before we sent a probe there) I just don't have a clue.  I am wondering, too.
 
OK, now try not to get hit with a hunk of Vesta, but rather have yourselves a great day, you hear?

11 comments:

  1. That thing looks like a potato that's been in the cellar too long. Hope it stays right where it's at, no Earth fly-by, or fly-bye. Guess if a few chunks have already made the trip to Earth, big mama knows the route,too.

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    1. She sends her babies out on reconnaissance. You are right, if that was a potato, I wouldn't eat it. . .

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  2. I see things like this and think how cool it would be to go there.

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    1. Our machines have been there, but it ain't a very habitable and human friendly place. I am still waiting to see a man walking on Mars.

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  3. Yes, I could make out the snowman. The most interesting thing to me is that this hunk of rock has poles?
    Do they turn on an axis? Revolve around another astronomical body? I've always been curious about stars and planets but somehow never thought much about asteroids. Thanks for the post.

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    1. They do rotate so they have an axis, but I have no idea how they determine which one is the north pole and which one is the south pole. Maybe they decide by relating it to Earth.

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  4. Good post, Dizzy, and great pictures. Yep, I see the smowman, and the ridges too. Makes you curioser and curioser, huh? You do bring up some interesting topics.... Thanks for that, and I'm still waiting to hear where this terrific flea market is!

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    1. The flea market we go to most every weekend is between Conroe, TX and Cleveland, TX, about one third of the way from Conroe. Conroe is north of Houston on I-45 and Cleveland is north of Houston on US-59.

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    2. The name of the flea market is Olde Security Flea Market, and I believe they have a web site, too. OH yes, I forgot to say that it is on hwy 105.

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  5. I'm really curious as to how those grooves came to be. So many mysteries out there that we could spend a lifetime looking at!

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    1. Maybe that is where the flying saucers land and take off (grin). Lots of mysteries out there, for sure.

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