Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Public Domain — NASA Media Usage Guidelines

ASTEROID

Vesta

The second-largest main-belt asteroid — a differentiated protoplanet with a giant south-polar scar.

Orbits Sun Main-belt asteroid; protoplanet (V-type)

Second-largest main-belt asteroid after Ceres; contains 9% of asteroid belt mass.
Differentiated u2014 has iron core, rocky mantle, and basaltic crust.
South-polar Rheasilvia impact basin 500 km across, ejecting the HED meteorites found on Earth.
Orbited 2011-2012 by NASA Dawn.

About Vesta

Vesta is the second-largest asteroid in the main belt and a protoplanet: it grew large enough to differentiate into core, mantle, and crust before the formation of Jupiter truncated its growth. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft orbited Vesta from July 2011 to September 2012. Its surface features the Rheasilvia impact basin — 500 km across and 19 km deep in the south polar region — whose ejecta have been traced on Earth as the HED (howardite-eucrite-diogenite) meteorite class.

Live · 3DSee Vesta in the Live 3D Solar SystemFly to Vesta and explore its orbit among the planets, moons & spacecraft in a full-screen interactive view.Launch 3D view

Physical Properties

Mean radius263 km

Mass2.59076e20 kg

Density3.456 g/cm³

Rotation period5.342 h

Bond albedo0.4228

Orbit

OrbitsSun

Semi-major axis2.362 AU

Eccentricity0.0894

Inclination7.142°

Orbital period3.629 yr

Gallery

Hand-picked mission imagery of Vesta sourced from NASA and partner archives. Click any photo for full resolution and source attribution.

The giant asteroid Vesta and its grooved southern hemisphere, from Dawn. NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA · Public Domain u2014 NASA Media Usage Guidelines

Dawn view soaring over Vesta's cratered surface. NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Imagery on this page is provided by the original mission teams. Full attribution terms: Image Rights & Credits.

Sources & Further Reading

Numerical values (radius, mass, orbital elements, temperatures) are drawn from NASA NSSDC Planetary Fact Sheets, JPL Horizons, and the JPL Small-Body Database. Last refreshed: 2026-06-08 01:37:02.