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La geografica dell'asteroide Vesta, il secondo più grande della cintura compresa fra Marte e Giove con i suoi 530 chilometri di diametro medio, è stata cambiata dall'impatto con un suo simile avvenuto quattro miliardi e mezzo di anni fa, secondo uno studio condotto da ricercatori del Politecnico di Zurigo e dell'Istituto di tecnologia di Tokyo. Questo spiega la sua forma asimettrica e leggermente allungata verso il polo sud.
L'interesse degli scienziati per questo corpo celeste è dovuto al fatto che, a differenza della maggior parte dei suoi "vicini", Vesta è un embrione di pianeta, con una sua crosta e un cuore di metallo liquido. È considerato l'origine di diversi meteoriti caduti sulla Terra.
I risultati della ricerca, basata su immagini realizzate fra il 2011 e il 2012 dalla sonda Dawn della NASA e sulla datazione di alcuni meteoriti, sono stati pubblicati dalla rivista Nature Geoscience.
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