Dawn at Vesta: Massive mountains, rough surface, and old-young dichotomy in hemispheres
Monday, October 3, 2011 - 21:30
in Astronomy & Space
NASA's Dawn mission, which has been orbiting Vesta since mid-July, has revealed that the asteroid's southern hemisphere boasts one of the largest mountains in the System. Other results show that Vesta's surface, viewed at different wavelengths, has striking diversity in its composition particularly around craters. The surface appears to be much rougher than most asteroids in the main asteroid belt. Preliminary results from crater age dates indicate that areas in the southern hemisphere are as young as 1-2 billion years old, much younger than areas in the north.
