| 2006 Philadelphia Annual Meeting (22–25 October 2006) | |
| Paper No. 167-11 | |
| Presentation Time: 4:10 PM-4:25 PM | ||
THE GEOLOGY OF VESTA: INSIGHTS FROM UNBRECCIATED EUCRITES | ||
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MAYNE, Rhiannon G.1, GALE, Allison2, MCCOY, Timothy J.2, MCSWEEN, Harry Y.1, and SUNSHINE, Jessica M.3, (1) Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1410, rmayne@utk.edu, (2) Mineral Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0119, (3) Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 The DAWN mission, due to launch Summer 2007, will orbit and analyze both 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres, two of the largest asteroids that lie in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. They are believed to be different both in origin and composition. Vesta appears to have a basaltic surface, indicating at least partial melting. Remote sensing observations, combined with mathematical modeling and comparison to meteorites suggest this asteroid was differentiated into a core, mantle and crust, making it the largest differentiated body in the asteroid belt. A major reason for continued interest in Vesta is that it is thought to be the parent body for HED meteorites, the most voluminous class of achondrites, due to compositional and spectral similarities. This family consists of cumulate orthopyroxenites (diogenites), and basalts/gabbros (eucrites) as well as regolith breccias containing clasts of both materials (howardites). Gaffey (1997) observed sub-hemispheric color and spectral variations across the surface of Vesta, corresponding to regions of differing mineralogies. He was able to produce a generalized litholo | ||