• Key Information

  • Vesta

  • Type
    Asteroid
  • Diameter
    355.8 miles by 346.2 miles by 277.4 miles
  • Distance from Sun
    219,542,096 miles
  • Orbit Time
    3.63 years
  • Length of Day
    5.342 hours
  • Temperature
    -324 to -9 °F
  • Atmosphere
    None
  • Date of Discovery
    March 29, 1807 by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers
  • Moons
    None
  • Learning Point
  • Vesta is the second largest object in the asteroid belt, and slightly too small to be able to classified as a dwarf planet. It was the fourth asteroid to be discovered, and has been visited by the Dawn spacecraft which has provided us a lot of information about it.
  • Project
  • Draw a picture Vesta.
  • Location
  • Located in
    Solar System, orbiting the Sun
  • Fun Facts
  • Vesta is just too small to become spherical, and so can't currently be classed as a dwarf planet.
  • When it was discovered, Vesta was viewed as a planet, and it was only after fifteen of the minor planets or asteroids were discovered that the term asteroid was created and used for then.
  • Vesta was also the first of the asteroids to have its mass measured, thanks to the way other nearby asteroids interact with it.
  • Though Vesta is the second largest object in the asteroid belt, it is only 28% the size of Ceres, the largest in the belt.