Meteorite suggests asteroid Vesta may once have had magma lake just like the early moon, say Chinese scientists

Researchers find first evidence that the surface of Vesta, the second largest object in the asteroid belt, was once covered in molten rock

The ‘planetary embryo’ could offer clues about how bodies were formed during the early days of the solar system

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Vesta photographed by Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft. The mission failed to find any evidence for the magma lake on the asteroid’s surface. Photo: Nasa / AFP

Published: 9:00pm, 10 Apr 2024Updated: 9:28pm, 10 Apr 2024

Chinese scientists said a meteorite found in Algeria showed that an ancient magma ocean once existed on Vesta, one of the largest asteroids in our solar system.

The researchers said that while Vesta is much smaller than the moon and other planets, the “planetary embryo” has a similar evolutionary history to the moon.

The meteorite was found in Algeria and later sold to a Chinese buyer. Photo: Handout

Vesta, which is about 530km (330 miles) wide, has a structure of core, mantle and crust – much like the moon and Earth. The moon has a diameter of nearly 3,500km while the Earth’s is almost 13,000km.

Vesta emerged in the first 1 to 2 million years after the solar system formed and is now the second largest body in the asteroid belt, which sits between Mars and Jupiter.

Space scientists view Vesta and other asteroids as protoplanets and have been looking for clues about how they evolved.

The Chinese researchers, from institutes in Guiyang, Hefei, Changsha, Nanjing and Xian, said: “Its structure and chemical features provide critical insights into the origin and formation history of parent planetary bodies in the early solar system.”

Soon after the moon’s formation its outer surface melted, forming an ocean of magma on the surface.