The mysterious troughs on giant asteroid Vesta keep puzzling scientists

[Judi Lynn]

By Meghan Bartels about 19 hours ago



An image of the asteroid Vesta shows large impact basins and troughs. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)


Vesta, a massive world in the solar system's asteroid belt, sports two huge trough features that have long puzzled scientists, and it doesn't look like the mystery will be solved anytime soon, at least not in a new study of the features.

NASA visited Vesta in 2011 and 2012 with the Dawn spacecraft, which mapped the large asteroid's surface in unprecedented detail. Among the features the spacecraft studied were two vast troughs: one dubbed Divalia Fossae, which stretches around more than half of the asteroid at its middle; and one called Saturnalia Fossae in the northern hemisphere of the massive space rock.

Theories on how exactly the two features formed vary, but one suggests each is the result of a cataclysmic impact. Scientists hope that solving the mystery of how these structures formed will shed light on the history of Vesta — and possibly other large bodies in the solar system.

"Vesta was on the way to becoming an Earth-like planet, too, but planet formation stopped along the way there early in the history of our solar system," Christian Klimczak, a geologist at the University of Georgia and co-author on new research about the asteroid, said in a statement. "Therefore, studying Vesta helps us understand the very early days of our planetary neighborhood and how our own planet formed."

More:
https://www.space.com/asteroid-vesta-troughs-impact-basins

[Sancho]

1. spice worm....

[abqtommy]

2. From the photo it appears to me that Vesta has experienced more than one

"cataclysmic impact". That's as good an explanation as I need.

[Wounded Bear]

3. Obviously where the strap went to tow it into place...

The Galactic Overlords are not perfect, you know.