Photos: Asteroid Vesta and NASA's Dawn Spacecraft

South Pole Vistas

Scientists with NASA’s Dawn mission have created perspective views of the Rheasilvia impact basin on the giant asteroid Vesta. Rheasilvia is located in Vesta’s southern hemisphere. The images used to create these vistas were obtained by Dawn’s framing camera from Aug. 11 to Nov. 2, 2011.

Meteorites from Vesta

This image shows three slices of a class of meteorites that fell to Earth that NASA’s Dawn mission has confirmed as originating from the giant asteroid Vesta.

Crater Impacts on Vesta

This graphic shows the global distribution of craters that hit the giant asteroid Vesta, based on data from NASA's Dawn mission.

Oppia Region, Three Ways

This image from NASA's Dawn mission shows three colorized views of the Oppia region in the southern hemisphere of the giant asteroid Vesta.

Aquilia Area in Color

These composite images from the framing camera aboard NASA’s Dawn spacecraft show three views of a terrain with ridges and grooves near Aquilia crater in the southern hemisphere of the giant asteroid Vesta. These colorized images are composite images made from images taken during Dawn’s high-altitude mapping orbit on Oct. 26, 2011.

Vibidia Crater in Color

These composite images from the framing camera aboard NASA’s Dawn spacecraft show three views of the comparatively fresh crater named Vibidia on the giant asteroid Vesta. These images are composite images made from those taken during Dawn’s high-altitude mapping orbit on Oct 27, 2011

Tarpeia Crater, Close, Closer, Closest

These images of Tarpeia crater, near the south pole of the giant asteroid Vesta, were obtained by the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer on NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. The images were obtained on Aug. 21, Oct. 9 and Feb. 5, 2011.

Map of Bright Areas on Asteroid Vesta

This mosaic depicts a portion of asteroid Vesta imaged by NASA's Dawn spacecraft where pockets of bright materials are visible. The images for this mosaic were obtained by Dawn's framing camera between Aug. 11 and 29, 2011. [Full Story]

Tarpeia Temperature

This colorized image from NASA’s Dawn mission shows temperature variations at Tarpeia crater, near the south pole of the giant asteroid Vesta. The visible and infrared mapping spectrometer obtained the images during Dawn’s low-altitude mapping orbit on Feb. 5, 2012.

Shape and Gravity of Vesta's South Pole

This set of images from NASA's Dawn mission shows topography of the southern hemisphere of the giant asteroid Vesta and a map of Vesta's gravity variations that have been adjusted to account for Vesta's shape.