NASA’s space probe Dawn has been sending information about the giant asteroid Vesta since reaching it in July 2011. The many thousands of images captured and various analyses carried out with Dawn’s instruments uncovered new secrets of Vesta such as the varied composition of its surface, the rapid changes in its temperature and clues about its internal structure.

The images captured with the FC (Framing camera) and VIR (Visual and InfraRed Spectrometer) at an altitude of 680 kilometers (420 miles) and 210 kilometers (130 miles) above the surface of Vesta showed a variety of minerals. The processed images allow scientists to identify the materials that were once molten beneath the surface of Vesta.

The impacts of space debris caused the melting of rocks and their traces are still visible. Many materials seen by the space probe Dawn consist of minerals rich in iron and magnesium as they are often found in volcanic rocks on Earth.

The images also revealed deposits similar to ponds that were probably formed when the dust created by impacts deposited into low regions.

The surface of the asteroid Vesta shows traces of contamination of materials from rocks that hit it in while the layers below the surface maintain their original characteristics. The survey shows that Vesta’s surface is changing continuously.

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The Dawn spacecraft also allowed to provide scientists with accurate measurements of the gravitational pull of the asteroid Vesta on the spacecraft. In this way, it was possible to measure anomalous densities in its upper layers. For example, near the south pole of Vesta, in the basin called Rheasilvia, there’s an area in which probably a denser material was exposed from the lower layers following an impact.

The Dawn space probe also created a map of the surface temperature of the asteroid Vesta revealing a range from -23 degrees Celsius (-10 degrees Fahrenheit) in the sunniest areas to a minimum of -100 degrees Celsius (-150 degrees Fahrenheit) in the shadow.

All these findings were presented last week at a meeting of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna. They will help scientists to improve our understanding of what happened in the early days of the solar system. The giant asteroid Vesta was born at that time but failed to grow enough to be considered at least a dwarf planet. However, it’s a very interesting object of study because it bears the tracks of what happened in that remote past.