APOD: Virtual Flight over Asteroid Vesta (2019 Jun 30)

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APOD: Virtual Flight over Asteroid Vesta (2019 Jun 30)

Post by APOD Robot » Sun Jun 30, 2019 4:09 am

Image Virtual Flight over Asteroid Vesta

Explanation: What would it be like to fly over the asteroid Vesta? Animators from the German Aerospace Center took actual images and height data from NASA's Dawn mission when it visited asteroid Vesta a few years ago and generated a virtual movie. The featured video begins with a sequence above Divalia Fossa, an unusual pair of troughs running parallel over heavily cratered terrain. Next, the virtual spaceship explores Vesta's 60-km Marcia Crater, showing numerous vivid details. Last, Dawn images were digitally recast with exaggerated height to better reveal Vesta's 5-km high mountain Aricia Tholus. The second largest object in the Solar System's asteroid belt, Vesta is the brightest asteroid visible from Earth and can be found with binoculars. Using Vesta Trek, you can explore all over Vesta yourself.

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Re: APOD: Virtual Flight over Asteroid Vesta (2019 Jun 30)

Post by Boomer12k » Sun Jun 30, 2019 9:33 am

Nice one...

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Re: APOD: Virtual Flight over Asteroid Vesta (2019 Jun 30)

Post by orin stepanek » Sun Jun 30, 2019 11:14 am

Since Ceres is A Dwarf; I guess that makes Vesta the Largest Asteroid? I see doing browsing that Ceres is still considered an asteroid!
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Re: APOD: Virtual Flight over Asteroid Vesta (2019 Jun 30)

Post by E Fish » Sun Jun 30, 2019 1:25 pm

I'm guessing there are reasons for it, but I don't like it when they do the height exaggerations. I'd rather see the real height in comparison to the terrain.

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Re: APOD: Virtual Flight over Asteroid Vesta (2019 Jun 30)

Post by BDanielMayfield » Sun Jun 30, 2019 2:25 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 11:14 am Since Ceres is A Dwarf; I guess that makes Vesta the Largest Asteroid? I see doing browsing that Ceres is still considered an asteroid!
Quoting NASA, here is why Vesta itself isn't also called a Dwarf planet:
The giant asteroid is almost spherical, and so is nearly classified a dwarf planet. Unlike most known asteroids, Vesta has separated into crust, mantle and core (a characteristic known as being differentiated), much like Earth.

Understanding why this is so was one of the objectives of the Dawn mission. The answer turned out to be that Vesta formed early, within 1 to 2 million years of the birth of the solar system. Short-lived radioactive material that was incorporated into bodies that formed during this epoch heated them to the point where—in cases like Vesta—the objects melted, allowing the denser materials to sink to the asteroid's core and the lower density materials to rise.
Probably the most important short-lived isotope that caused Vesta to internally melt and separate into core, mantle and crust was Aluminum-26, produced abundantly by a SN close to the Sun's birthplace. 26Al has a half-life of only 716,000 years, and it's decay product is stable Magnesium. Some of the essential element Mg in our bodies used to be radioactive Al.

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Re: APOD: Virtual Flight over Asteroid Vesta (2019 Jun 30)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Sun Jun 30, 2019 5:28 pm

That star field looks fake. Neil deGrasse Tyson is gonna have a fit.

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Re: APOD: Virtual Flight over Asteroid Vesta (2019 Jun 30)

Post by orin stepanek » Mon Jul 01, 2019 4:13 pm

BDanielMayfield wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 2:25 pm
orin stepanek wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 11:14 am Since Ceres is A Dwarf; I guess that makes Vesta the Largest Asteroid? I see doing browsing that Ceres is still considered an asteroid!
Quoting NASA, here is why Vesta itself isn't also called a Dwarf planet:
The giant asteroid is almost spherical, and so is nearly classified a dwarf planet. Unlike most known asteroids, Vesta has separated into crust, mantle and core (a characteristic known as being differentiated), much like Earth.

Understanding why this is so was one of the objectives of the Dawn mission. The answer turned out to be that Vesta formed early, within 1 to 2 million years of the birth of the solar system. Short-lived radioactive material that was incorporated into bodies that formed during this epoch heated them to the point where—in cases like Vesta—the objects melted, allowing the denser materials to sink to the asteroid's core and the lower density materials to rise.
Probably the most important short-lived isotope that caused Vesta to internally melt and separate into core, mantle and crust was Aluminum-26, produced abundantly by a SN close to the Sun's birthplace. 26Al has a half-life of only 716,000 years, and it's decay product is stable Magnesium. Some of the essential element Mg in our bodies used to be radioactive Al.

Bruce
I know why Vesta is an asteroid & why Ceres is a dwarf!!! My poser is why Ceres is still called an asteroid by many on the Net! :shock:
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Re: APOD: Virtual Flight over Asteroid Vesta (2019 Jun 30)

Post by Guest » Thu Jul 04, 2019 12:09 am

Agreed. Why exaggerate the vertical? We don't do that when we illustrate terrestrial mountains. Show us what it really looks like.

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