NASA launched the $466 Dawn mission in 2007 to explore the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt. Vesta is 330 miles (530 kilometers) wide, large enough that astronomers consider it to be a ...

New observations from a NASA spacecraft show that the huge asteroid Vesta is a battered protoplanet left over from the solar system's early days, with a unique mix of characteristics unknown from ...

Asteroid 4 Vesta stands near a background star in the evening sky, creating a temporary artificial double star to enjoy.

Lately, I've talked about how to find planets, but there are lots of other planet-like bodies in the night sky — the asteroids. As of March 2016, we know of 1.3 million of them, 750,000 of which ...

The giant asteroid Vesta got clobbered not once but twice, and it has the scars to prove it. Ever since the Hubble Space Telescope spied a huge depression in the asteroid's south pole, scientists ...

Giant asteroid Vesta likely cold and dark enough for ice Date: January 26, 2012 Source: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Summary: Though generally thought to be quite dry, roughly half of the giant ...

The debate over whether the giant asteroid Vesta has a moon could soon be decided. NASA's Dawn spacecraft will go into orbit in mid-July, when it will take the best-ever photographs of the big rock.

Vesta was round—until it got hit by something nearly one-tenth its size. The resulting impact basin, named Rheasilvia, fills most of this image, taken from some 5,200 kilometers away.

Vesta, which measures about 330 miles (530 km) across, is the second-largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is also the brightest asteroid in the solar system.

Have you ever seen an asteroid? They look exactly like stars. That's because nearly every one of approximately 822,000 known objects are too small and far away to show a shape. The name's a giveaway.

Because Vesta completes one rotation or "day," every five hours and 20 minutes, Dawn will be able to observe the asteroid's entire illuminated surface every orbit.

A NASA spacecraft is right on target for its year-long orbital encounter with the huge asteroid Vesta, which is set to begin next month. NASA's Dawn probe is now just 96,000 miles (155,000 ...