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.

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. For decades, scientists thought that Vesta was a protoplanet rather than an asteroid. NASA's Dawn ...

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 ...

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 ...

Vesta, one of the two largest bodies in our solar system's asteroid belt, has long been thought to be more than just another asteroid. Scientists had concluded that it sported some fundamental ...

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 ...

Analyzing gravity data collected by spacecraft orbiting other worlds reveals groundbreaking insights about planetary structures without having to land on the surface. Although the moon and the ...

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 ...

Asteroid 4 Vesta is stationary at 3 P.M. EDT. Now located in the constellation Virgo, Vesta is mid-6th-magnitude — easy to find in just a few minutes from any location using binoculars or a small ...

We’ve all seen this happen in a science-fiction movie: our plucky heroes jump into their ramshackle spaceship and escape the bad guys by flying through the treacherous asteroid belt, where huge rocks ...