An asteroid discovered over 200 years ago which is roughly the size of Germany would have catastrophic consequences for life on Earth if it ever hit the planet.

These were meteorites that came from Vesta (the second largest asteroid in the Solar System), the Moon, and Mars, and are known as achondrites. "Meteorites fall into two broad categories ...

The Dawn spacecraft launched in 2007 on its way to study two large objects in the main asteroid belt. It reached Vesta in 2011 and studied it for almost a year before heading off to intercept ...

May 2025 is a prime time to explore the night sky, with Vesta taking center stage. Use our sky map to navigate the stars and planets, and don't miss the chance to observe this giant asteroid. Share ...

Most of them have a diameter of between 20 to 100 kilometres, a few up to 500 kilometres, but none are larger than Ceres: with its 1000- kilometre diameter, it makes up more than a third of the total ...