4 Vesta, Asteroid Vesta, Coat of Many Colors
It is clear from the wide range of colors that Vesta is very diverse; it is one of the most diversely colored asteroids that has been imaged. The northern troughs can be seen running obliquely from the northern shadows to the vestan equator. The "snowman" craters Marcia, Calpurnia and Minucia are also clearly visible just north of the equator. Next, the band of equatorial troughs comes into view and Vesta's heavily cratered surface is also displayed. A number of areas of ejecta show a strong red-orange color. As the viewing angle moves towards the southern pole, the large central complex protrudes from the giant Rheasilvia impact basin. The rim and some of the internal structure of the Rheasilvia impact basin are also clearly visible. The Rheasilvia impact basin has a strong greenish appearance here, which signifies a region abundant in iron. Dawn obtained the images used to make this animation in September and October 2011. The distance to the surface of Vesta is around 420 miles (680 kilometers) on average and the images have an average resolution of about 210 feet (65 meters) per pixel.
Size: 3450px × 3032px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 4, asteroid, astronomical, astronomy, basin, body, calpurnia, camera, celestial, coat, color, colors, composite, crater, dawn, deep, discovered, equator, framing, heavenly, heinrich, impact, marcia, minor, minucia, mission, mosaic, object, olbers, planet, planetoid, proto-planet, rheasilvia, science, sky, small, snowman, solar, space, spacecraft, system, vesta, vestan, wilhelm
