Take a Spin Around Asteroid Vesta!: (New 360 Virtural Tour!)

Well, a virtual spin, anyway. The animation above, made using a shape model created from data obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, takes us on a majestic 360-degree tour of the asteroid Vesta.

Launched in September 2007, Dawn successfully established orbit at Vesta the morning of July 17, 2011. It will spend the next ten months studying the large protoplanet before moving off toward the even larger asteroid Ceres. Dawn will become the first spacecraft ever to orbit two separate worlds in our solar system.

Source: news.discovery.com...=rssnws1
NOTE: Sorry about no still shots but the ATS media section isn't taking up loads. You can see some NEWLY released photos (11 pics) here:
www.jpl.nasa.gov...

Just fun as heck to watch... About the closest any of will ever see. Well, I guess the closest we will ever see.

Amazing man can go out there and do this (tech speaking-of course).

What if..... What if they were all fake rocks that are actually space craft of another beings world...

Anyway, enjoy the video.

I just realized I put this in the UFO thread. MODS-please move to Space Exploration. Alert sent also.

Very cool! I think it's equator almost looks like someone raked it with a fork or something... the grooves are pretty strange looking!
Though I am curious...why is Vesta such an important object in space? Why that particular rock?

awesome! thanks.

you know, not alot of people know this but Vesta, along with Ceres and many other asteroids were actually considered planets back in the mid-1800's. This was before they knew about the asteroid belt.

I've often wondered with all the people who claim that "the ancients" knew of 10 planets if some of the asteroids might not have been among those instead of Pluto and "nibiru"

Awesome vid. But I am eagerly awaiting our meet and greet with Pluto. Aren't we also planning a trip to Ceres?

/TOA

Originally posted by CeeRZ
Very cool! I think it's equator almost looks like someone raked it with a fork or something... the grooves are pretty strange looking!

Those grooves going around the equator are the most fascinating feature to me.

The narration in the video mentions them but offers no causal explanation. Maybe when we get closer views we'll have more details that will yield clues. My only guess now is that the impact on the south pole which flattened the pole also had an accordion-like effect on the equator, which seems pretty far-fetched since a rock isn't much like an accordion. But I did a little searching and that seems to be the best guess of others at this point too.

These images are already good resolution but I'm looking forward to seeing even better resolution images.

reply to post by Arbitrageur

My only guess now is that the impact on the south pole which flattened the pole also had an accordion-like effect on the equator,

Best one I heard yet. You got me thinking.

Yes, I too look forward to the newer images to come.

Very very interesting. But i would wager anything that these newer images to come will either never be shown to the public or altered. I betcha.

That's cool, I can't wait to see the close ups of asteroid Ceres, now that one IMO is more interesting with all of the mass calculations and albedo pointing to a large water content, water ice. Thanks for the vid!

reply to post by Retikx


Well, I think just about all of us think that but
Maybe someday that will all change.

Like when other countries start getting up there on their own and hopeful share what they find so we can compare.

Originally posted by Arbitrageur

Originally posted by CeeRZ
Very cool! I think it's equator almost looks like someone raked it with a fork or something... the grooves are pretty strange looking!

Those grooves going around the equator are the most fascinating feature to me.

The narration in the video mentions them but offers no causal explanation. Maybe when we get closer views we'll have more details that will yield clues. My only guess now is that the impact on the south pole which flattened the pole also had an accordion-like effect on the equator, which seems pretty far-fetched since a rock isn't much like an accordion. But I did a little searching and that seems to be the best guess of others at this point too.

These images are already good resolution but I'm looking forward to seeing even better resolution images.

I'm not in this field, and haven't studied as much as some on ATS in general. However, I agree that it probably was not an acordion effect. I am leaning more toward the idea that since it has such a well established north/south axis it hasn't shifted poles in a long time. Bounding through asteroids and debris would definately take its toll more on the flattened object at it's equator, where it would encounter the most impact and scraping. I bet it has bounced many smaller objects around like ragdolls, destroying it and causing the smaller pieces to orbit it and settle along it's equator.

Why can't space rocks have rings? Isn't that how they were formed? If the poles don't shift and there's no other activity except impacts, why wouldn't they settle almost uniformly across the equator?

Any help from the space nerds?