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Hydrogen on Vesta hints at water

The giant asteroid Vesta is surprisingly rich in one watery ingredient, hydrogen.
Hydrogen on Vesta hints at water

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/JHUAPL

The giant asteroid Vesta is surprisingly rich in one watery ingredient, hydrogen. Vesta is the first destination achieved by NASA's mission Dawn. The discovery combined with its oddly pitted terrain, suggests that water arrived on young planets during an intense round of meteor impacts. Vesta was thought to be dry, but surprisingly Dawn's spectral maps show hydrogen in regolith, near the asteroid's equator.

Read the complete story (Italian)

http://www.media.inaf.it/2012/09/20/quanto-idrogeno-su-vesta/

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Aug 29, 2025

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