When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An image of Vesta captured as NASA's Dawn spacecraft retreated ...

If you were to ask a group of dedicated amateur astronomers to list their favorite telescopic targets, few if any would ...

On March 29, 1807, the German astronomer Heinrich Olbers discovered the asteroid Vesta. Vesta is the second-largest body in the asteroid belt and is surpassed in size only by the dwarf planet Ceres.

A robotic probe currently studying the giant asteroid Vesta is going into bonus rounds in the asteroid belt, with NASA clearing the spacecraft to spend 40 extra days gleaning more of the space rock's ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. – For decades, scientists believed Vesta, one of the largest objects in our solar system’s asteroid belt, wasn’t just an asteroid. They concluded that Vesta has a crust, mantle and ...

For years, astronomers treated Vesta as more than just an asteroid. With its rocky surface, distinct layers, and volcanic history, it seemed to be a miniature version of Earth—something between a rock ...

Once thought to be the debris of a destroyed planet, the asteroid belt is now understood as a region shaped by gravity, collisions and the powerful influence of Jupiter. Studying it helps scientists ...

As suspected, Vesta is no mere asteroid. It is a protoplanet, a remnant of the early days of our solar system that never grew up because Jupiter kept stealing all its potential mass. A 10-month study ...

Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter lies a ring-shaped region called the asteroid belt, home to the vast majority of our solar system’s space rocks. The asteroid belt is as old as the solar system ...

Asteroids always get left out of the party. Send a spacecraft to Jupiter or Saturn or one of the solar system’s other glamor spots and the press will be all over you. But asteroids? Not so much.

On Friday, May 2 the asteroid Vesta will reach opposition, marking the ideal period to spot the second largest asteroid orbiting in the rocky belt of debris located between Mars and Jupiter. A solar ...