3-D model of Vesta

Filed under pretty pictures, art, asteroids, asteroid 4 Vesta, astronomy and astrophysics spacecraft, Hubble Space Telescope

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This simulated view of the second most massive asteroid, Vesta, was created from a topographic model developed from two dozen images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. The most astonishing feature of the model was an impact crater at the south pole (bottom of this image), with a width 80 percent the width of Vesta itself.

Ben Zellner, Peter Thomas, and NASA

Original image data dated on or about December 1, 1994