'Vesta: The Second Largest Object in the Asteroid Belt'
SPACE — The history of the solar system cannot be separated from asteroids, millions of rocks floating in outer space. The remnants of the planet's...
SPACE — The history of the solar system cannot be separated from asteroids, millions of rocks floating in outer space. The remnants of the planet's formation also orbit the sun in its own belt region. Asteroids vary in size and the largest in the solar system is Vesta with a diameter of about 329 miles or 530 kilometers. And the smallest asteroids are rocky debris less than 10 meters wide. Of the millions of asteroids that exist, their total mass is less than that of our Moon on Earth. Vesta was discovered on March 29, 1807 by astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers.