Asteroid Vesta

Views of the Solar System ^ | circa 2001 | Calvin J. Hamilton

[SunkenCiv]

The Hubble Space Telescope observed asteroid Vesta between November 28 and December 1, 1994, when Vesta was at a distance of 251 million kilometers (156 million miles) from Earth... Hubble images have revealed a diverse world with ancient lava flows and a gigantic impact basin that is so deep, it exposes the asteroid's subsurface, or mantle. Vesta's surface shows a geology similar to that of terrestrial worlds such as Earth and Mars. Ground-based spectroscopy of Vesta indicates regions that are basaltic, which means lava flows once occurred on its surface. This is surprising evidence that the asteroid once had a molten interior, like Earth does. This contradicts conventional ideas that asteroids are essentially cold, rocky fragments left behind from the early days of planetary formation... One or more large impacts tore away some of the crust, exposing a deeper mantle of olivine which is believed to constitute most of the Earth's mantle... The picture in the center is a color-encoded elevation map of Vesta which clearly shows the giant 285-mile diameter impact basin and "bull's-eye" central peak.

[SunkenCiv]

I'm not going to post the image, to avoid bandwidth problems for the SolarViews site.

[SunkenCiv]

Ping!

[Young Werther]

But did anyone find anopticon?

[alexander_busek]

>>Ground-based spectroscopy of Vesta indicates regions that are basaltic, which means lava flows once occurred on its surface.<<

No mention of Vesta's alleged purplish tint - "as a mauve."

[Berosus]

Hmmm, I thought Vesta would have the ice, not Ceres. Science books used to say that Vesta was the brightest asteroid, the only one that can bee seen with the naked eye, when conditions are right.

[SunkenCiv]

Shouldn't that be "maroon", not mauve?

[SunkenCiv]

Perhaps Ceres just has a very dark surface; also Vesta isn't all that round, probably due to the apparent impact event, so it would have more surface area per unit volume. :')

[SunkenCiv]

"Though they are never visible with the unaided eye, many asteroids are visible with binoculars or a small telescope."

http://www.seds.org/billa/tnp/asteroids.html

[Young Werther]

Actually, it was "Marooned Off Vesta!"

That is, if your an Asimov fan!

[SunkenCiv]

951 Gaspra
Bill Arnett
last updated: 2002 Aug 20
http://www.seds.org/billa/tnp/gaspra.html

"Gaspra's surface is covered with impact craters. From the number of small craters on its surface, we can estimate that Gaspra is about 200 million years old."

243 Ida and Dactyl
Bill Arnett
last updated: 2002 Sep 08
http://www.seds.org/billa/tnp/ida.html

"Dactyl (right) is about 1.6 x 1.2 km, surprisingly round for such a small body. It orbits Ida at approximately 90 km.

"The discovery that one out of two asteroids observed up close is in fact a binary system has reinvigorated an old debate about the frequency of binary asteroids. But more data is needed before the controversy can really be resolved...

"Interestingly, while the spectra of Ida and Dactyl are very similar they are nevertheless distinctly different; Dactyl is not simply a chunk of Ida. It is thought that the binary system may have formed during the collision and breakup that created the Koronis family.

"The surfaces of Ida and Dactyl are heavily cratered and therefore apparently quite old. But dynamical calculations indicate that the whole Koronis family is relatively young. Such calculations also indicate that objects the size of Dactyl may not be to survive for more than 100 million years or so. Perhaps the heavy cratering took place at the time of the breakup that created the Koronis family rather than the 4 billion years ago as is usually the case for such surfaces."

Mathilde Images
http://near.jhuapl.edu/Mathilde/images.html

"The part of the asteroid shown is about 59 kilometers (36 miles) across, and the scale is approximately 230 meters (780 feet) per pixel. The surface is heavily cratered, and the large shadowed area on the left may be a single impact gouge well over 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep. The angular form of the edge of the shadowed area suggests that large impacts may have spalled large pieces off the asteroid. This asteroid is very dark, reflecting only about 4% of the light falling on it, but was imaged easily by the sensitive NEAR multispectral camera... The surface exhibits many large craters, including the deeply shadowed one at the center, which is estimated to be more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep. The shadowed, wedge-shaped feature at the lower right is another large crater viewed obliquely. The angular shape of the upper left limb of the asteroid results from the rim of a third large crater viewed edge-on. The bright mountainous feature at the far left may be the rim of a fourth large crater emerging from the shadow. The angular shape is believed to result from a violent history of impacts... This portion of Mathilde shows numerous impact craters, ranging from over 30 km to less than 0.5 km (18.. 0.3 miles) in diameter. Raised crater rims suggest that some of the material ejected from these craters traveled only short distances before falling back to the surface; straight sections of some crater rims indicate the influence of large faults or fractures on crater formation... Mathilde appears to be the abundance of very large craters: Mathilde has at least 5 craters larger than 20 km in diameter on the roughly 60% of the body viewed during the encounter... Mathilde's irregular shape results from a long history of severe collisions with smaller asteroids. The largest visible crater is 30 km (19 miles) in diameter."

[SunkenCiv]

---

Asteroid or Mini-Planet? Hubble Maps the Ancient Surface of Vesta

---

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, I knew that, I was just pilin' on.

[Phsstpok]

My grand daughter will be the first belter to mine Vesta. She'll make a fortune, then she'll drop the slag onto Mecca, just for good measure.

[SunkenCiv]

Asteroid Juno Has A "Bite" Out Of It
SpaceDaily | Aug 11, 2003 | unattributed
Posted on 06/03/2006 2:16:51 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1642711/posts

[Young Werther]

Pilin' on is hard to do since Vesta's gravity well is not very deep. The leak in the tank was what brought the three survivors to safety.

I was an avid Asimov fan and propbably read at least 150 of his books. Today when I'm scanning the stacks at Barnes and Noble or Half Price Books I'm saddened by the lack of Sci Fi recognition for Asimov.

[Robert A Cook PE]

...spectra of Ida and Dactyl are very similar they are nevertheless distinctly different; Dactyl is not simply a chunk of Ida.

So they're not just an old peradactyls flying through space?

[SunkenCiv]

Before she destroys Mecca, I want to pry the Black Stone out of the Kaaba for use as a urinal in the White House.

[Lurker]

Dactyl is not simply a chunk of Ida.

Dactyl is a chunk of a much larger asteroid named Ptera.

L

[SunkenCiv]

sigh.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1651297/posts?page=4#4

I used to read a little science fiction, but the only such writer I'd consider reading today is P.K. Dick. Asimov had some moments, like this one:

http://doctord.dyndns.org:8000/Stories/Nightfall.htm

[Phsstpok]

Nah. I just want that obscene vestige of satan worship destroyed. Keeping it around, for any purpose, will only leave us open to it's corruption.

I'm not kidding. I believe in good and evil and Islam and the kabah stone are the tools of satan in this time, as they have been for 1,000 years. I don't want to co-exist with them. I want them eliminated from the universe. I hope to do that by preaching the Word. I will do that with the sword, if necessary, regardless of the cost to my own soul.

There are times when open and comforting words are needed. There are times when the sword of justice is needed. We are in a time when both are needed. I will fulfill whichever role falls to me.