Mond No. 42-42557653
by NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/ID - © Corbis. All Rights Reserved. - © NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/ID/Kinetikon Pictures/Corbis
Giant Asteroid Vesta
South polar region of the giant asteroid Vesta. With a mean diameter of about 330 miles, Vesta is the second-most massive asteroid in the Solar System and is considered a remnant protoplanet, or planetary embryo. Objects such as this are thought to have gradually accreted material in the early epoch of the Solar System, with a handful actually becoming true planets. The earliest variant of Earth may well have looked like this. Dawn, August 11–18, 2011 --- Image by © NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/ID/Kinetikon Pictures/Corbis