Hubble images of Ceres and Vesta
Wed Jun 20, 2007 at 16:11 UTC
These Hubble Space Telescope images of Vesta and Ceres show two of the most massive asteroids in the asteroid belt, a region between Mars and Jupiter. The images are helping astronomers plan for the Dawn spacecraft’s tour of these hefty asteroids.
On July 7, NASA is scheduled to launch the spacecraft on a four-year journey to the asteroid belt. Once there, Dawn will do some asteroid-hopping, going into orbit around Vesta in 2011 and Ceres in 2015. Dawn will be the first spacecraft to orbit two targets.
This 20-frame movie shows widespread extensive global features as they rotate across the face of Vesta stretching longitudinally from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere. Vesta rotates once about every 5.34 hours. The images hint at the large-scale features that will come into view when the Dawn spacecraft arrives at Vesta in 2011. (Credit: NASA, ESA, L. McFadden (University of Maryland) and G. Bacon (STScI))
Astronomers used Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 to snap new images of the asteroid Vesta on May 14 and 16, 2007. Using Hubble, astronomers mapped Vesta's southern hemisphere, a region dominated by a giant impact crater formed by a collision billions of years ago. The crater is 295 miles across, which is nearly equal to Vesta's 330-mile diameter.
At least 100,000 asteroids inhabit the asteroid belt, a reservoir of leftover material from the formation of our solar-system planets 4.6 billion years ago.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Parker (Southwest Research Institute)
Hubble observations of the asteroid Ceres were made in visible and ultraviolet light between December 2003 and January 2004 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and L. McFadden (University of Maryland)
Hubble observations of Vesta were taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on May 14 and 16, 2007.
Space Telescope Science Institute News Release
