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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 .
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 Vestals guarded various sacred objects kept in Vesta's penus, including the Palladium – a statue of Pallas Athene which had supposedly been brought from Troy – and a large, presumably wooden phallus, used in fertility rites and at least one triumphal procession, perhaps slung beneath the triumphal general's chariot.
The god Mercury descends from the sky with the golden apple of Discord and asks the shepherd Paris to award it to whichever of the three goddesses – Juno, Pallas and Venus – he finds most worthy. Juno offers him worldly power, Pallas victory in war, and Venus the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris gives the golden apple to Venus.
Vesta's sacred hearth was also named Iliaci foci ("hearth of Ilium/Troy"). [12] Worship of Vesta, like the worship of many gods, originated in the home, but in Roman historical tradition, it became an established cult of state during the reign of either Romulus, [13] or Numa Pompilius [14] (sources disagree, but most say Numa). [15]
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 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 ...
Harding, who discovered this asteroid in 1804, proposed the name Juno and the use of a scepter topped with a star as its astronomical symbol. [48] The symbol for 4 Vesta was invented by German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. Olbers, having previously discovered and named 2 Pallas, gave Gauss the honor of naming his newest discovery.