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Do you know about NASA - CHIPS Mission. I bet you dont...

CHIPS (Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer) is an American (NASA) astrophysics spacecraft that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 00:45 UT on 13 January 2003. The 60 kg, triaxially-stabilized spacecraft has a spectrograph covering the 9-26 nm wavelength band at a resolution of 0.1 nm, scanning the entire sky in chunks of 5 degree x 27 degree segments during each orbit. The targets are the hot and diffuse nebulae at about a million degrees temperature. The band covers several strong emission lines. Launch Date:   2003-01 13     Launch Vehicle:  Delta II Launch Site:   Vandenberg AFB, United States Mass:   60 kg  CHIPS carried out an all-sky survey of the diffuse background at wavelengths from  90  to 260 Å at a spectral resolution between about λ / 150 and λ / 40, and a spatial resolution of 5 to 15 degrees. CHIPS detected diffuse emission near 170 Å, but this turned out to be associated with the earth’s thin outer atmosphere or its int
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Vesta Interactive Mapping NASA Dawn Mission

Vesta Mapping/Credits : NASA


Vesta is the second most massive body in the asteroid belt, first of it being the Ceres, which is classified as a dwarf planet. The brightest asteroid in the sky, Vesta is occasionally visible from Earth with the naked eye. It is the first asteroid to be visited by a spacecraft. The Dawn mission orbited Vesta in 2011, providing new insights into this new world.

Vesta is unique among asteroids due to the properties that it has light and dark patches on the surface, much like our moon. Ground-based observations determined that the asteroid has basaltic regions, meaning that lava once flowed across its surface forming the ridges. Also, It has an irregular shape, roughly that of an oblate spheroid.
Vesta Images from Dawn Mission/ Credits : NASA



Vesta made a close approach to Earth in 1996, the Hubble Space Telescope mapped its topographic surface and features. This led to the discovery of a large crater near the South Pole of Vesta . This crater has 460 km of diameter  however Vesta itself is only is 530 km across. 

The Data Associated with Vesta's Astronomical Background are...

  • Diameter: 329 miles (530 kilometers)
  • Mass: 5.886 X 1020 lbs. (2.67 x 1020 kilograms)
  • Temperature: 85 to 255 K (minus 306 to 0 F / minus 188 to minus 18 C)
  • Rotation period: 5.342 hours
  • Eccentricity: .0886
  • Aphelion: 2.57 AU
  • Perihelion: 2.15 AU
  • Closest approach to Earth: 1.14 AU
  • Orbital period: 3.63 years



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