US space agency NASA has made yet another big revelation about Vesta, the second largest celestial body in the asteroid belt.
The latest NASA data has found huge possibility of short-lived water flows on Vesta, which is believed to be a fully dry world having low surface pressures and freezing temperatures.
The revelation has been made based on new data from the Dawn spacecraft which is probing the asteroid belt which primarily constitutes two most-massive objects: the dwarf planet Ceres and the protoplanet Vesta.
The data was gathered by Dawn spacecraft between 2011 and 2013 with the help of neuron detector and visible and infrared mapping spectrometer.
The scientists at the American space agency closely analyzed Dawn’s data and discovered that the hydrated material once existed within certain areas of the surface of Vesta. The data clearly indicated that Vesta’s surface was, at least at one time, not as dry as earlier thought.
Jennifer Scully, researcher at the University of California in Los Angeles, said that the new Dawn data shows Vesta is a very interesting as well as complex planetary body.
The Dawn probe left Vesta in order to explore other bodies, including Ceres, in the asteroid belt that is located between Mars and Jupiter. The region comprising rocky bodies is considered as the dividing line between inner, gas giants and terrestrial planets in our solar system.
NASA’s Dawn probe is everyday getting closer to the dwarf planet Ceres, raising hopes of a new, advanced and improved understanding of the glorified asteroid. But till then, Ceres remains mystery.