Happy Atheist Forum

General => Science => Topic started by: Ecurb Noselrub on June 09, 2012, 10:19:03 PM

Title: Vesta Video
Post by: Ecurb Noselrub on June 09, 2012, 10:19:03 PM
Animated video of the asteroid Vesta, with added color to show surface contrasts, taken from still frames from NASA's Dawn space probe.

http://phys.org/news/2012-06-dawn-mission-video-vesta-coat.html
Title: Re: Vesta Video
Post by: markmcdaniel on June 10, 2012, 07:52:03 AM
I am looking forward to the analysis of the mission's data.
Title: Re: Vesta Video
Post by: Tank on June 10, 2012, 09:36:18 AM
It'll be interesting to find out how dense Vesta is. The fact that is almost spherical is intriguing as it has insufficient gravity to have formed its own spherical nature if it were solid rock. It must have formed while very plastic or it's a hybrid structure of sorts made of small aggregated pieces.
Title: Re: Vesta Video
Post by: Ecurb Noselrub on June 10, 2012, 01:39:22 PM
Ceres is bigger and is almost completely spherical. But it's got a lot of water/ice.  Neither Ceres nor Vesta gained the critical mass to become a planet and "clean up" their own orbits, but Ceres seemed well on its way and was considered a planet for awhile back in the 1800's.