NASA Probe Set to Orbit Huge Asteroid Vesta Tonight

NASA Probe Set to Orbit Huge Asteroid Vesta Tonight

NASA's Dawn Space Craft is going to enter Orbit around Vesta Tonight, Tonight as in Referring to (EST) Time Tonight.

I will update the Thread as information Is Released.

Link- Space.com- NASA Probe Set to Orbit Huge Asteroid Vesta Tonight

Please check out the link for more specifics on the mission; if you're interested.

A NASA spacecraft is poised to slide into orbit around the massive asteroid Vesta tonight (July 15), marking the start of the first extended visit by a probe to a large space rock.

After traveling more than 1.7 billion miles (2.7 billion kilometers), NASA's Dawn spacecraft is expected to be captured by Vesta's gravity at about 10 p.m. PDT Friday (1 a.m. EDT Saturday), NASA officials said. Dawn will circle the Arizona-size asteroid for the next year, making observations that could help scientists learn more about the early days of the solar system and the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets like Earth and Mars.

"We've been waiting a long time to get here," said Dawn project manager Robert Mase, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Everybody's really excited as we're starting to inch closer and closer."

Its always wonderful and quite a treat to see new faces and surfaces of planets.

I personally am more excited for this probe to arrive at Ceres; Although Vesta will probably be just as interesting None-The-Less.


The Article has a very updated but some-what low quality picture of the Asteroid from July, 9th, 2011

The best picture i've seen so far.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/76ef32d9c050.jpg[/atsimg]

NASA's Dawn spacecraft snapped this photo of the huge asteroid Vesta on July 9, 2011. It was taken from a distance of about 26,000 miles (41,000 kilometers) away from Vesta. Each pixel in the image corresponds to roughly 2.4 miles (3.8 km).

I've been waiting years for this Can't wait for them to release the photos tonight (If they do)

thanks for this.
i look forward to hearing more.

Anyone Getting updates and Information Feel free to post the information Asap.

If you get any special releases. Sometimes there are early leaks in the information being sent out.

Does anyone else Notice that massive Buldge in the side of Vesta? It looks like it has a channel(Lava Flow maybe) Or Hole in it weird...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/594e5efb5929.jpg[/atsimg]

Also you can sort-of see all these parallel markings like there has been some kind of running water,lava, or something across the surface.

Or ice Flows. Idk

Time will tell

You would think that you will be able to go on-line some months, if not days or weeks, after this type of flyby and finds tens of thousands of images taken of this strange space object. That won't be the case. Images of Vesta will join other asteroids, comets and especially Phobos, the larger moon of Mars to become hard to find or hidden in the confines of NASA and the ESA. They will post a few, some suggestive perhaps, and that will be it. The rest evidently disappear into scientific studies not to be found on the internet except for those already released to the media for general public consumption.

They learned early on with the Viking images from Phobos that it was a mistake to quickly release images, if at all. That snafu caused the creation of Malin's outfit which by contract gave him exclusive control of images rather than their becoming public property which they are by all rights. You could think that they have something to hide.

reply to post by Aliensun

You would think that you will be able to go on-line some months, if not days or weeks, after this type of flyby and finds

Its an Orbital Insertion there are some photos of the Asteroid from far away as the probe approaches.

tens of thousands of images taken of this strange space object. That won't be the case. Images of Vesta will join other asteroids, comets and especially Phobos, the larger moon of Mars to become hard to find or hidden in the confines of NASA and the ESA. They will post a few, some suggestive perhaps, and that will be it. The rest evidently disappear into scientific studies not to be found on the internet except for those already released to the media for general public consumption.

Well i think this is only the second or one of the first to orbit an actual Asteroid(Planetoid) So we will have many more pictures to take.(It won't be a fly-by)

Although i guess we can argue semantics about how many pictures NASA doesn't release that they could possibly be with-holding if they discover something strange or an Artificial Object or anomaly.

They learned early on with the Viking images from Phobos that it was a mistake to quickly release images, if at all. That snafu caused the creation of Malin's outfit which by contract gave him exclusive control of images rather than their becoming public property which they are by all rights. You could think that they have something to hide.

Not sure what you're pertaining to too vague could you be more specific.

Sure maybe NASA does have something to hide.

The Images should be released to the public without editing IMO

But i think they edit and enhance the colours in the images to attract and appease the public; so that they become more interested in Space and Space Exploration in General.

reply to post by TheUniverse


Shares some of the same features that Phobos has...

Phobos
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/28fdb7e7e361.jpg[/atsimg]


Phobos
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b6cfe73cf2e6.gif[/atsimg]


OP Photo
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/3ff685f3803d.jpg[/atsimg]

Originally posted by TheUniverse
Anyone Getting updates and Information Feel free to post the information Asap.

If you get any special releases. Sometimes there are early leaks in the information being sent out.

Does anyone else Notice that massive Buldge in the side of Vesta? It looks like it has a channel(Lava Flow maybe) Or Hole in it weird...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/594e5efb5929.jpg[/atsimg]

Also you can sort-of see all these parallel markings like there has been some kind of running water,lava, or something across the surface.

Or ice Flows. Idk

Time will tell

edit on 15-7-2011 by TheUniverse because: (no reason given)

Possible deep impact with raised berm. Channel like appearance either berm shading or a former ice field that's evaporated

reply to post by Heyyo_yoyo


Time will Tell! We To me it looks like its raised!


reply to post by Xcathdra


Thx a Star for that. Very similar looking bodies i suppose both roughly spherical and have weird parallel lines covering the surface

Oh yes forget and both have one huge impact crater on them!

Once it arrives, Dawn will initiate a yearlong study of Vesta using three instruments: a camera, a spectrometer, and a gamma ray and neutron detector.

Gamma Ray and Neutron detector? seems like a strange choice for an asteroid to me, someone fill me in...

I'ts 10:00 Orbital Insertion of Vesta Imminent

Initiate Ion Thrusters fluctuate to 0 niner ten niner.

The Gravity of Vesta Will Capture the Probe/Satellite(Dawn)

Now we just have to wait for NASA to Release some Pictures/Photos.

This is gonna be awesome.

I'm probably going to be away for almost a Week-end if anyone wants to add to the thread

Do so if you wish.

Or create a new thread if you want.

The pictures are gonna be great.! I Have to depart for 5-6 days though. Farewell!

Vainly failed to find any photos yet and its almost 1:00 Am Eastern Time.

The Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector measures the elemental composition of the asteroid down to about 3 feet below the surface to reveal things like water composition if any for instance. Gamma rays are a form of light, while neutrons are particles that normally reside in the nuclei of atoms. Together, gamma rays and neutrons reveal many of the important atomic constituents of the celestial body.

The surface mineralogy of both Vesta and Ceres will be measured by the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer. Each picture the instrument takes records the light intensity at more than 400 wavelength ranges in every pixel.

Dawn will make another set of scientific measurements at Vesta and Ceres using the spacecrafts radio transmitter and sensitive antennas on Earth to detect subtile variations in the gravity fields of the asteroids, how mass is distributed, providing clues of their internal composition.
NASA brief overview of the instruments on Dawn

reply to post by Illustronic


thanks again Illustronic

reply to post by TheUniverse


Appears i was somewhat correct there was a massive bulge in the side of vesta but it wasn't a lava flow or hole in the bulge just a mountain protrusion that created a shadow.

Does anyone else Notice that massive Buldge in the side of Vesta? It looks like it has a channel(Lava Flow maybe) Or Hole in it weird...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/42e1d01a6999.jpg[/atsimg]

Looks like more photos will be released in the coming days but this is the most up to date photo i can find.

The onion shape is from an ancient collision when things were more crowded out there and Vesta just didn't have the mass or internal heat to fully reform to a spherical body again. This is common with outer moons similar in size, just not enough heat and mass to regain a spherical shape even if they ever had one. In fact the lower limits of a body to form spherically is about 500 km in diameter, unless it's really hot and largely undisturbed.

Vesta has a mean diameter of about 530 kilometres (330 mi).

The parallel linear marks are probably from the large impact fissures, also a common feature in smaller bodies with little tectonic activity, i.e., internal heat, mostly from gravity from mass. Impacts that appear to be a an 8th to a quarter the apparent size of an asteroid or smaller moon are near the brink of breaking apart the body, like the large impact on the moon Mimas–the so called 'death star' moon, but Mimas is a unique moon and that's where the similarity ends, besides its near 400 km diameter.

reply to post by Illustronic


Interesting insight.

what do you think about this topic even though it is quite a bit off-topic lets say one day we colonize vesta mars and/or ceres and we need a magnetosphere and/or magnetic field i found this

Comment on Space.com quite intriguing even if its not feasible.


Comment on Article

Hmmm. so if you can compress hydrogen into giving off metallic properties, you could conceivably recreate this condition say on Mars to give it a strong magnetic field or on Venus

Quote from Article

Jupiter possesses the strongest magnetic field in the solar system, excepting the sun's. Researchers think the field is generated by a highly compressed layer of hydrogen, which develops liquid metallic properties, deep in Jupiter.

Also read the Article here
www.space.com...

You know scientists on Earth have created temperatures higher than the sun etc and Probably compressions of matter similar to that or greater.

Why can't we feasibly do something like this in the future to produce magnetic fields to protect planets.

Maybe its a possibility.!