When did the Dawn spacecraft arrive at asteroid 4 Vesta?
The Dawn spacecraft arrived at asteroid 4 Vesta in July 2011. It sent back images that revealed a massive scar on the surface near 52 degrees south latitude.
Questions about Veneneia (crater)
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is the official name of the crater located on 4 Vesta and when was it named?
Scientists named the feature Veneneia after one of the founding vestal virgins from Roman mythology. The name appeared officially in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature on the 28th of February 2012.
How wide is the Veneneia crater on 4 Vesta?
Veneneia spans roughly 500 kilometers across its widest point. That distance covers about 70 percent of the equatorial diameter of the entire asteroid.
Why does the Veneneia crater appear partially destroyed today?
A later and even larger collision struck the same region of 4 Vesta to create the Rheasilvia basin. This second impact obliterated parts of the older structure so severely that only fragments of the original rim remain visible.
When did the geological event that formed the Veneneia crater occur?
Geologists estimate the impact occurred at least two billion years ago. Some models suggest the event happened as far back as 4.2 billion years during the early history of the solar system.