EMBARGOED UNTIL:  2:00 PM EDT April 19, 1995

PHOTO RELEASE NO.:  STScI-PRC95-20A

HUBBLE FOLLOWS THE ROTATION OF THE ASTEROID VESTA

This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope series of 24 images showing the
full 5.34-hour rotation of the 325-mile diameter (525 kilometer)
asteroid Vesta.

Hubble resolves features as small as 50 miles across, allowing
astronomers to map Vesta's geologically diverse terrain.  The surface
is a complex record of Vesta's four billion-year history.  Features
include ancient lava flows, and a gigantic impact basin that is so
deep, it exposes the asteroid's subsurface, or mantle.

This sequence was taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2
between November 28 and December 1, 1994, when Vesta was at a distance
of 156 million miles from Earth.

When combined with ground-based data, astronomers will be able to make
the first geochemical map of Vesta's surface.

Credit:  B. Zellner (Georgia Southern University) and NASA