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LongTomH

(8,636 posts)
Tue May 15, 2012, 01:01 PM May 2012

Dawn space probe's flyover of Vesta

From JPLnews on YouTube:



JPLnews also features a video of Vesta's shape and gravity, reconstructed from Dawn data:



I wonder if Vesta will now be upgraded to dwarf planet status, like Pluto and other Kuiper Belt objects and Ceres. Ceres was considered to be a planet for half a century after its discovery in 1801, before being downgraded to asteroid. It was upgraded to 'dwarf planet' status in 2006, about the time Pluto was being downgraded to 'dwarf' status.

Vesta isn't a perfect sphere; but neither is Kuiper Belt object Haumea. Haumea is more potato-shaped. Vesta is (roughly) a flattened sphere.
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Dawn space probe's flyover of Vesta (Original Post) LongTomH May 2012 OP
Something gave Vesta a huge boo-boo on her south pole. Odin2005 May 2012 #1
wanna waste some time and blow your mind at the same time? SemperEadem May 2012 #2
A flattened sphere the perfect place for flat Earther Republicans. gordianot May 2012 #3

Odin2005

(53,521 posts)
1. Something gave Vesta a huge boo-boo on her south pole.
Tue May 15, 2012, 01:48 PM
May 2012

maybe that impact is what broke off the class of meteorites that have been identified as pieces of Vesta

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