Battle station?

Judging from the top picture, it's a AOL CD that's been microwaved for too long.

Failed protoplanet that didn't merge with others

It are invincible, none can destruct it!

simplicimus: What's with the big black dot?

Yeah, they also wondered that during the Discovery recovery mission.

TooMuchDrinkin: Battle station?

So it is a space station.

Oh, great. First, Pluto stops being a planet 'cos 'planet' got a finer definition. Now Vesta isn't an asteroid 'cos it resembles the new, finer definition. Soon there'll be more rounds of squabbling over which shade of grey to paint the new pigeonholes that result.

// Duck season!
// Rabbit season!
// Quit splitting hairs!

/Looks concerned

Dawn has found evidence that the object evolved more like a planet, with geologic processes that formed an inner core, most likely made of iron, and a mix of minerals on its surface.

you mean to tell me that there was a planet in thar asteroid belt?

FTA: Vesta does bear the scars of brutal beatings, including a 290-mile diameter impact crater

but it's 330 miles across.

a crater that farking massive would have not just shattered, but pulverized that thing.

/hoping they mean 29.
//still, that's kinda cool.
///tow it into geostationary orbit, hollow it out, strap big-ass engines on it and send the resulting vessel off on an interstellar trip.
////the orion project, baby. it's big enough and heavy enough that nuclear-bomb engines would totally work, and a miles-thick crust would probably be of great help with running into dust and pebbles at fractions of C.

There are several objects believed to be differentiated (which we believed Vesta to be before Dawn arrived) in the asteroid belt. Asteroid just means "minor planet inside the orbit of Jupiter."

This post is stupid.

Sounds like a planet to me. I wonder how many more of those things Dawn will find?

If Vesta got the dwarf planet nod, that would what, give us 13 planets total, counting full and dwarves?

Kirk's_Toupee: Dawn has found evidence that the object evolved more like a planet, with geologic processes that formed an inner core, most likely made of iron, and a mix of minerals on its surface.

you mean to tell me that there was a planet in thar asteroid belt?

No that is the remains of Blateater after the Protoeans and Arceedians got done with it after an epic party. A chunk of it smashed into Earth, killed all the dinosaurs and allowed humans to gain a foot hold on this planet. Worst mistake ever made during a party. I mean really who plays anti-matter dodge ball anyway? That always ends badly.

Aliens.

Maybe it's a battle station built inside a planetoid. Could be mighty handy when the scout wave of annihilator aliens shows up.

Ceres will be much more interesting when the probe gets there in 2015. That much water in a place that's easy to get to and from, not so far out from the sun... solves a lot of challenges with space colonization.