DAWN GRAND MAP: Vesta Gamma-Ray Iron Counts from Low Altitude Orbit

NASA's Dawn spacecraft measured uncorrected gamma-ray counting rates for iron at 7.6 MeV over the asteroid Vesta. The data includes net counting rates, their 1-sigma standard errors, and average numbers of 5-degree pixels used to derive 30-degree counting rates. This table contains the original Fe counting rates and errors reported by YAMASHITAETAL2013.

Use Cases

• Modeling iron distribution on Vesta based on gamma-ray counting rates.
• Analyzing spatial variations in elemental composition using the 30-degree counting rates.
• Calibrating or validating neutron number density corrections using the provided uncorrected counts.
• Studying the relationship between gamma-ray signals and surface geology from low altitude orbit data.

Strengths

• Data is normalized for variations in live time, solid angle of Vesta, and galactic cosmic ray intensity.
• Includes 1-sigma standard errors of the mean for each counting rate measurement.
• Original data from a peer-reviewed source (YAMASHITAETAL2013).

Limitations

• Counting rates are not corrected for variations of neutron number density.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measured by the BGO detector of Dawn's Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector acquired at the low altitude mapping orbit.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 18:02:54.551821; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Asteroid Vesta