A series of photos taken by NASA's Dawn space explorer have shown in depth for the first time the features of the asteroid Vesta, including a series of bright spots dotting its service, made by a material a few billion years old.
These spots, scientists say, are nearly twice as bright as the rest of Vesta's surface, and probably are leftovers from the asteroid's formation four billion years ago. The minerals that make up this substances are as yet unknown, according to Space.
The photos and findings were revealed yesterday at the 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas, USA.
The smallest of these bright spots are around a couple of hundred metres across, but the largest extend for about 16 kilometres. The spots themselves were probably exposed after collisions with other stellar objects, the Dawn team says, with some of these collisions spreading this material across Vesta's surface.
The photos also revealed carbon-rich dark spots, also caused by other collisions, that are probably parts of the asteroids crust that were previously melted down by impacts.
"Some of these past collisions were so intense they melted the surface," said Dawn scientist Brett Denevi. "Dawn's ability to image the melt marks a unique find. Melting events like these were suspected, but never before seen on an asteroid."
Dawn has spent about eight months at Vesta, and will eventually spin of to check out the even larger asteroid Ceres, arriving early 2015.
[Space]
