Veneneia (crater)

Veneneia /vɛnɪˈniːə/ is the second-largest <a href="/facts/Impact_crater/nWntooh4">impact crater</a> on asteroid <a href="/facts/4_Vesta/xnQ8acw1">4 Vesta</a>, at 52°S latitude. 395 kilometres (245 mi) in diameter, it is 70% of the equatorial diameter of the asteroid, and one of the <a href="/facts/List_of_largest_craters_in_the_Solar_System/sUBmmIrv">largest craters in the Solar System</a>. It is at least 2 billion years old, and possibly as old as 4.2 billion years. However, it is overlain and partially obliterated by the even larger <a href="/facts/Rheasilvia/P0dq18De">Rheasilvia</a>. It was discovered by the <a href="/facts/Dawn_(spacecraft)/z4JeyNQB">Dawn spacecraft</a> in 2011. It is named after Venēneia, one of the founding <a href="/facts/Vestal_virgin/97Idc5rI">vestal virgins</a>.
Vesta has a series of troughs in the northern hemisphere concentric to Veneneia. These are believed to be large-scale fractures resulting from the impact. The largest is <a href="/facts/Saturnalia_Fossae/Y0HRfrum">Saturnalia Fossae</a>, approx. 39 km wide and > 400 km long.

Veneneia (crater) open-in-new

Veneneia (crater)