Published a new photo of Vesta

At the moment this is the best photo of the object, which is available to astronomers. The picture, which is clearly visible surface structure of the asteroid was made July 9, 2011 at a distance of 41 thousand kilometers.

It is planned that Dawn will orbit around Vesta in the morning on July 16. At this time the probe is at a distance of about 16 thousand kilometers from the surface of a celestial body. Total Dawn will stay in orbit Vesta for about a year (and then he went to Ceres, which will fly up to 2015 only). During this period, the unit will be at a distance of 200 kilometers of the asteroid.

Diameter of Vesta is 530 miles. Vesta is inferior in size Ceres (classified as dwarf planets) and palladium — the largest asteroid in the solar system with linear dimensions of 582 kilometers by 556 kilometers by 500 kilometers. Both celestial bodies are in the asteroid belt.

Source: Lenta.Ru