[Vesta - The Movie]

The scale of all the images shown here is 1.1"x1.1"; the resolution on most of the images is around 40 milli-arcseconds, and the angular diameter of Vesta is 0.35" x 0.29". [NB: If the mpeg movies appear to be jerky, use your right mouse button and "save as ..." to play them locally.] 
Pyroxene (1.99 microns):

[download mpeg movie (307 ko)][View animated Gif (1.3 Mo)]

Pyroxene: In K band, through a narrow filter in the band of pyroxene, the rotation of Vesta appears quite complex, due to topological features and mineralogical patches.


Continuum (1.50 microns):

[download mpeg movie (309 ko)][View animated Gif (1.4 Mo)]

Continuum: In H band through a 60 nm filter, even though no single mineralogical features is prominent, the apparent changes during the rotation are not only due to the topography of the asteroid, but also to the different ages of the surface material, which have different reflectivities.


Feldspar (1.25 microns):

[download mpeg movie (266 ko)][View animated Gif (1.4 Mo)]

Feldspar: In J band, the seeing variations affect image quality more strongly as can be seen by the blurring of the images. However, features can be seen and tracked as Vesta rotates with its 5.34 hours rotation period.


Olivine (1.10 microns):

[download mpeg movie (309 ko)][View animated Gif (1.4 Mo)]

Olivine: In J band through a 50 nm filter, we can see mineralogical features go by as Vesta rotates, although at this shorter wavelength, the seeing variations affect image quality more strongly as can be seen by the blurring of the images.


[Back]