Skip Navigation
menu close modal

Resources

Vesta's Shape and Gravity

Source: NASA/JPL
Published: April 25, 2012

This video from NASA's Dawn mission shows that the gravity field of Vesta closely matches the surface topography of the giant asteroid Vesta.

PREVIEW

Related

What astronomy highlights can you see in the sky in May 2020? Venus, Sirius and the Milky Way.
More
Monthly skywatching tips from NASA.
What's Up Video: May 2020 Skywatching Tips from NASA
The flight over Charon begins high over the hemisphere New Horizons saw on its closest approach, then descends over the deep, wide canyon of Serenity Chasma. 
More
Video showing close terrain at Pluto's moon Charon.
Flyover: Pluto Moon Charon
The small moon Mimas passes in front of the larger moon Rhea, which is partly obscured by Saturn's rings, in this movie from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
More
The small moon Mimas passes in front of the larger moon Rhea, which is partly obscured by Saturn's rings, in this movie from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
Before a Veiled Rhea
This animation shows the last 30 seconds of Cassini's X- and S-band radio signals as they disappeared from mission control on Sept. 15, 2017.
More
This animation shows the last 30 seconds of Cassini's X- and S-band radio signals
Cassini's last X- and S-band radio signals
An aurora, shining high above the northern part of Saturn, moves from the night side to the day side of the planet in this movie recorded by Cassini.
More
An aurora, shining high above the northern part of Saturn, moves from the night side to the day side of the planet in this movie recorded by Cassini. Two side by side views of the movie are shown here.
Northern Aurora in Motion
This rotating mosaic of asteroid Bennu is composed of 40 images captured by the PolyCam imager onboard NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft over a four-hour period on Dec. 2, 2018.
More
rotating, rocky, diamond-shaped asteroid
Asteroid 101955 Bennu Rotating
Io in Eclipse
More
Io in Eclipse
Io in Eclipse
This movie uses data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft to simulate the view from the spacecraft flying over the surface of the giant asteroid Vesta.
More
Dawn's Virtual Flight over Vesta
Dawn's Virtual Flight over Vesta
What can you see in the December sky? Beautiful pairings of planets and the crescent Moon throughout the month, at sunrise and sunset.
More
Video describing things to see in the sky this month.
What's Up: December 2019 [Video]
Final Assembly at the Cape
More
Final Assembly at the Cape
Final Assembly at the Cape
What's Up for May? This month, a rocky planet round-up, and a super blood Moon eclipse!
More
Video describing things to see in the night sky.
What's Up: May 2021 [Video]
This colorful spectrogram represents data collected by Cassini's Radio and Plasma Wave Science instrument as it crossed through Saturn's D ring on May 28, 2017.
More
Color image shows rise in sound as Cassini crossed the D-ring.
Cassini's First D-Ring Crossing
This video highlights Dawn's top accomplishments during its orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta.
More
Dawn's Greatest Hits at Vesta
Dawn's Greatest Hits at Vesta
Great Dark Spot  
More
Great Dark Spot
Great Dark Spot
This animated sequence of images, captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, shows changes in the brightness of the Enceladus plume during a 6.5-hour observation.
More
Enceladus' plume
Changing View of the Enceladus Plume
This artist's concept shows "tides" on Titan raised by Saturn's gravity, as detected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
More
This artist's concept shows "tides" on Titan raised by Saturn's gravity, as detected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
Squeezing and Stretching Titan
Following critical mirror alignment steps, the Web team is confident the observatory will meet or exceed its science goals.
More
Video about James Webb Space Telescope's successful mirror alignment
NASA's Webb Reaches Alignment Milestone, Optics Working Successfully
NASA's Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn for nearly 13 years, is beginning its Grand Finale — and it's thanks to some Crazy Engineering!  A team of engineers called astrodynamicists use ma...
More
Video describing Cassini's navigation.
Crazy Engineering: Astrodynamics
MESSENGER captured this departure sequence of Venus after a close flyby of the planet in 2007.
More
Series showing the crescent of Venus growing smaller.
MESSENGER Bids Farewell to Venus
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
More
Visualization of spacecraft scanning asteroid.
Mapping Bennu
Clara, Sugar Plum Fairy, move aside. Saturn's moons give Tchaikovsky's classic ballet, "The Nutcracker," a graceful new spin in this video compiled from some 61 images taken by the Cassini spacecra...
More
Clara, Sugar Plum Fairy, move aside. Saturn's moons give Tchaikovsky's classic ballet, "The Nutcracker," a graceful new spin in this video compiled from some 61 images taken by the Cassini spacecraft.
Saturn Moon Ballet
This video demonstrates the hiss-like radio noise generated by electrons moving along magnetic field lines from the Saturnian moon Enceladus to a glowing patch of ultraviolet light on Saturn.
More
This video demonstrates the hiss-like radio noise generated by electrons moving along magnetic field lines from the Saturnian moon Enceladus to a glowing patch of ultraviolet light on Saturn.
Hiss from Aurora Caused by Enceladus
This computer-generated animation shows all of Cassini's orbits - affectionaly called the "ball of yarn" by mission planners.
More
A computer-generated representation of all Cassini's Saturn orbits - affection called the "ball of yarn" by mission planners.
The Ball of Yarn: Cassini's Orbits
This visualization shows the orbits of NASA-related near-Earth science missions that are considered operational as of March 2017. 
More
Visualization of satellites around Earth.
NASA's Earth Science Mission Fleet: March 2017
The bright crescent of Saturn's moon Enceladus slides past distant Rhea in this mutual event, or occultation, movie from Cassini.
More
Screenshot from the 'Enceladus Transits Rhea' movie
Enceladus Transits Rhea

You Might Also Like