SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -Vesta is the brightest asteroid visible from Earth. It is regularly as bright as magnitude 5.1, at which times it is faintly visible to the naked eye. Its maximum distance from the Sun is slightly greater than the minimum distance of Ceres from the Sun, although its orbit lies entirely within that of Ceres.

Detailed explanation-2: -So what would happen if Vesta hit the Earth? The 329-mile-wide (530 km) asteroid would be a “planet killer” in the sense that it will kill everything on the planet, but Earth itself has been there, done that.

Detailed explanation-3: -4 Vesta is the second most massive body in the main asteroid belt, accounting for almost nine percent of the total mass of all asteroids. Only dwarf planet Ceres is more massive in that region of rocky debris between Mars and Jupiter.

Detailed explanation-4: -Given its current magnitude, 4 Vesta is visible with the help of a binocular with a 30-40mm aperture, easy with a small telescope.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Moon reflects 12% of the light it receives from the Sun; Vesta returns 43%. What makes it so bright? There are at least two possibilities. Unlike the Moon and most small solar-system bodies that lack an atmosphere or magnetic field, Vesta shows little space weathering.