4 Vesta is the second most massive body in the main asteroid belt, accounting for almost nine percent of the total mass of all asteroids. Only dwarf planet Ceres is more massive in that region of rocky debris between Mars and Jupiter. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft circled Vesta from July 16, 2011 until Sept. 5, 2012, when it departed and began its journey to dwarf planet Ceres.

4 Vesta

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The JPL HORIZONS on-line solar system data and ephemeris computation service provides access to key solar system data and flexible production of highly accurate ephemerides for solar system objects

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The Dawn mission launched in Sept. 2007 to rendezvous and orbit the asteroids 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres. Vesta orbit operations took place from July 2011 to Sept. 2012, and Ceres orbit operations from March 2015 to Oct. 2018.  The scientific objectives of the mission were to characterize the asteroids' internal structure, density, shape, size, composition and mass and to return data on surface morphology, cratering, and magnetism.

4 Vesta Information Page

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