A very nice look at the south polar region of Vesta. Click for larger. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/

Here is one of the latest images of the asteroid Vesta to come from data from the Dawn spacecraft.  This has to be one of my favorites so far.

The image is an oblique view of the south pole of Vesta.  The image was created by a digital elevation model based on stereo images taken by the framing camera from an altitude of 1,700 miles (2,700 km).  This image has a resolution of about 260 meters per pixel.

The cliffs are several miles high and you can see deep grooves or canyons and the ever popular assortment of craters.  The mechanism creating the topography is unclear; possibly collisions with other asteroids.

Click here to see the original image and larger sizes.