It was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on 29 March 1807 and is named after Vesta, the virgin goddess of home and hearth from Roman mythology. Vesta is the second-most-massive and second-largest body in the asteroid belt after the dwarf planet Ceres, and it contributes an estimated 9% of the mass of the asteroid belt. It is slightly larger than Pallas, though significantly more massive.
Vesta is the last remaining rocky protoplanet (with a differentiated interior) of the kind that formed the terrestrial planets. Numerous fragments of Vesta were ejected by collisions one and two billion years ago that left two enormous craters occupying much of Vesta's southern hemisphere. Debris from these events has fallen to Earth as howarditeeucritediogenite (HED) meteorites, which have been a rich source of information about Vesta. Vesta is the brightest asteroid visible from Earth.
Its maximum distance from the Sun is slightly greater than the minimum distance of Ceres from the Sun, though its orbit lies entirely within that of Ceres. The item "VESTA THE LARGEST ASTEROID Hed Meteorites 3 Oz Silver Coin 20$ Cook Islands 2018" is in sale since Wednesday, March 21, 2018. This item is in the category "Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ World\Australia & Oceania\South Pacific". The seller is "powercoin_italy" and is located in Roma. This item can be shipped worldwide.