A Hubble Space Telescope image of the asteroid Vesta, taken in May 1996 when the asteroid was 110 million miles from Earth. The asymmetry of the asteroid and 'nub' and the south pole is suggestive that it suffered a large impact event. The image was digitally restored to yield an effective scale of six miles per pixel (picture element). Vesta, formally designated 4 Vesta, is one of the largest asteroids in the Solar System, with a mean diameter of about 326 miles. It was discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on March 29th, 1807 and is named after Vesta, the virgin goddess of home and hearth from Roman mythology.