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Emily Lakdawalla • Jul 18, 2011

Yet another new image of Vesta

A sharp-eyed reader noticed that a size comparison montage posted by the Dawn mission today included an image of Vesta that had not yet been released separately to the public, and it is a very cool one. It was taken at a different time of the Vestian day, with slightly more oblique lighting, and is very dramatic. Now that ridgy floor and central peak of the south polar impact basin look like a gigantic bug, or maybe a crab.

Vesta
Vesta An image of Vesta from Dawn, acquired shortly after orbit insertion on July 15, 2011. This image was cropped out of this size comparison montage.Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA

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