4 Vesta size and scale context

Vesta is one of the largest bodies in the asteroid belt and was mapped in detail by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. Unlike most asteroids, it separated into crust, mantle, and core early in Solar System history, making it a surviving protoplanetary world rather than a simple leftover rock. Read its scale context, comparisons, and journey links on the canonical object page.

MirandaIcy moon·472 km

EnceladusIcy ocean moon·504 km

4 VestaProtoplanetary asteroid·573 km

CeresDwarf planet·940 km

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Moons

Enceladus

Enceladus is a small icy moon of Saturn whose south polar fractures spray water vapor and ice particles into space. Cassini connected those plumes to a global salty ocean beneath the crust, making Enceladus one of the Solar System's clearest ocean-world targets.

Scale fact504 kmmean diameter

Object class: Icy ocean moon
Mass: ~0.000018 Earth masses
Host: Saturn
Estimated age: ~4.5 billion years
Composition: Water ice, silicate rock, global salty ocean
Temperature: ~72 K surface

Asteroids

4 Vesta

Scale fact573 kmmaximum extent

Object class: Protoplanetary asteroid
Mass: ~257 quadrillion tonnes
Estimated age: ~4.56 billion years
Composition: Basaltic crust, rocky mantle, nickel-iron core

Dwarf planets

Ceres

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt and the smallest recognized dwarf planet. NASA’s Dawn mission showed that its brightest spots are salt deposits left by briny water rising from below, revealing Ceres as a surprisingly active water-rich world.

Scale fact940 kmmean diameter

Object class: Dwarf planet
Mass: ~0.00016 Earth masses
Host: Sun
Estimated age: ~4.56 billion years
Composition: Rock and water ice
Temperature: ~167 K mean surface