VESTA

One of the four ultra-zodiacal planets which circulate between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Vesta was discovered by Dr. Olbers of Bremen, on the 29th of March, 1807. Its mean distance from the sun is 236787, the mean distance of the sun from the earth being unity; and its sidereal revolution is performed in 132.5-7431 mean solar days. The orbit is inclined to the ecliptic in an angle of 7° 8' 9", and the eccentricity of its orbit is 008913. Vesta is supposed to be the smallest of all the celestial bodies with which we are acquainted, its volume being estimated to be only about a fifteen thousandth part of that of the earth, and its surface not to exceed that of the kingdom of Spain. On account of its smallne it is, however, difficult to determine its apparent diameter with any degree of certainty. It is distinguished from the other small planets by the vivacity of its light. Vesta, the Hestia ('Eo-r/a) of the Greeks, in Cla ical Mythology, was a godde about whom hangs considerable obscurity. She is called the daughter of Saturn and Rhea, and was worshipped as the patrone of the domestic and public hearth. At Rome she was attended by six virgins, called vestals, whose duty it was to preserve the sacred fire in her temple unextinguished; as the safety of the city was held to be connected with Its preservation. (See Mem. de V Ac. des Inscr. vol. xxvii. xxix.) According to Ovid {Fast, vi.). (See Bryant, Ana. Myth. i. 77. 281.) The beautiful building popularly called the Temple of Vesta, at Rome, is not known to have been such. [s. 1305]