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To: brivette

Vesta, formal designation 4 Vesta, is an asteroid that is thought to be a remnant protoplanet with a differentiated interior[10][11] and a mean diameter of about 530 km.[1] Comprising an estimated 9% of the mass of the entire asteroid belt,[12] it is the second-most-massive object in the belt after the dwarf planet Ceres. It was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on March 29, 1807,[1] and named after the Roman virgin goddess of home and hearth, Vesta.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Vesta

Originally Ceres and Vesta were given full planet status (like Pluto) but got demoted as more and more objects were discovered in the asteroid belt. Ceres was discovered on January 1, 1801, the first day of the Nineteenth Century. Finding it again, months later, after it disappeared into the glare of the the sun was the first application of the method of least squares, by a 23 year old Gauss, coinventor of the method.


5 posted on 06/13/2011 3:52:29 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Somewhere in Kenya a village is missing its idiot)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

thanks for the info,...btw, I lived in Ma for 26 years.


6 posted on 06/13/2011 4:03:18 PM PDT by brivette
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