When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An image of Vesta captured as NASA's Dawn spacecraft retreated ...

A new analysis estimates that the asteroid belt is steadily losing mass each year, and may not be as permanent a feature of ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. For decades, scientists thought that Vesta was a protoplanet rather than an asteroid. NASA's Dawn ...

Asteroid ‘Families’ Reveal Hidden Histories and Impact Risks across the Solar System ...

Lying between Mars and Jupiter is a massive ring of rock debris—the asteroid belt. Now thin, it’s fading away gradually. In a new study, planetary scientist Julio A. Fernández of Uruguay’s Universidad ...

Asteroid Vesta, once thought to be a protoplanet that had been left behind in its formation, is now the subject of a groundbreaking investigation of what may be a remnant of a far larger planet that ...

The latest discoveries about Vesta challenge its traditional classification. This giant asteroid might actually be a remnant of a forming planet rather than a minor planet. Scientists long believed ...

For years, astronomers treated Vesta as more than just an asteroid. With its rocky surface, distinct layers, and volcanic history, it seemed to be a miniature version of Earth—something between a rock ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. – For decades, scientists believed Vesta, one of the largest objects in our solar system’s asteroid belt, wasn’t just an asteroid. They concluded that Vesta has a crust, mantle and ...