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Both Vesta and Pallas have assumed the title of second-largest asteroid from time to time. [47] At 513 ± 3 km in diameter, [ 9 ] Pallas is slightly smaller than Vesta ( 525.4 ± 0.2 km [ 48 ] ). The mass of Pallas is 79% ± 1% that of Vesta, 22% that of Ceres, and a quarter of one percent that of the Moon .
This asteroid was the 3rd to be discovered and is 9th in mass ranking (1 Ceres, 2 Pallas, 4 Vesta, 10 Hygiea, 511 Davida, 704 Interamnia, 65 Cybele, 52 Europa are considerably bigger and more massive). In mythology Juno is the Roman equivalent of the Greek Hera. Hera was a very important goddess in both Greek and Roman culture.
At most oppositions, however, Juno only reaches a magnitude of around +8.7 [24] —only just visible with binoculars—and at smaller elongations a 3-inch (76 mm) telescope will be required to resolve it. [25] It is the main body in the Juno family. Juno was originally considered a planet, along with 1 Ceres, 2 Pallas, and 4 Vesta. [26]
The largest asteroids with an accurately measured mass, because they have been studied by the probe Dawn, are 1 Ceres with a mass of (939.3 ± 0.5) × 10 18 kg, and 4 Vesta at (259.076 ± 0.001) × 10 18 kg.
Upon its discovery, Vesta was, like Ceres, Pallas, and Juno before it, classified as a planet and given a planetary symbol. The symbol represented the altar of Vesta with its sacred fire and was designed by Gauss. [41] [42] In Gauss's conception, now obsolete, this was drawn . His form is in the pipeline for Unicode 17.0 as U+1F777 .
The next largest are 4 Vesta and 2 Pallas, both with diameters of just over 500 km (300 mi). Vesta is the brightest of the four main-belt asteroids that can, on occasion, be visible to the naked eye. [70] On some rare occasions, a near-Earth asteroid may briefly become visible without technical aid; see 99942 Apophis.
The astrological symbols for the first four objects discovered at the beginning of the 19th century — Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta — were created shortly after their discoveries. They were initially listed as planets, and half a century later came to be called asteroids, though such "minor planets" continued to be considered planets for ...
This is a partial list of named minor planets in numerical order. It contains a total of 999 entries as of 11 June 2021.Minor planets for which no article exist are displayed in grey color and redirect to the list of minor planets (see List of minor planets § Main index).