Well, a virtual spin, anyway. The animation above, made using a shape model created from data obtained by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, takes us on a majestic 360-degree tour of the asteroid Vesta.
This animation especially highlights the large crater on Vesta’s south pole as well as the curious long, deep grooves circling its equator. Many different surface regions of varying colorations and reflectiveness can also be seen. This little member of our solar system has proved to be quite a surprising place… and the real investigations have only just begun!
Launched in September 2007, Dawn successfully established orbit at Vesta the morning of July 17, 2011. It will spend the next ten months studying the large protoplanet before moving off toward the even larger asteroid Ceres. Dawn will become the first spacecraft ever to orbit two separate worlds in our solar system.
See more images and information about Vesta on the NASA/JPL news release here.