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Asteroids in astrology are used by some astrologers in a similar way to the planets. Asteroids are planetoids that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, and are not to be confused with centaurs or trans-Neptunian objects. The asteroids are relatively new to astrology, having only been discovered in the 19th century. However, some of them (especially the largest of them), are believed by some astrologers to influence human affairs. Still though, they are often ignored within mainstream systems of astrology, especially in more traditional astrology systems like Vedic astrology or Hellenistic astrology. Their use has become significant to a few Western astrologers yet still only a minority of astrologers use the asteroids in chart interpretation.

The former planets

Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta (in order of discovery) were counted as planets from 1808 until 1845, when smaller asteroids began to be discovered. Astronomically the status of Ceres has changed again. In a proposed Resolution in 2006, it was suggested as one of the 12 planets in our Solar System, but in the end was re-classified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union. Many astrologers believe that astronomical labels don't hold much weight in their practice as through history man's definitions and labels have changed, but the astrological significations of what are considered "astrological planets" (including the Sun, Moon and, for modern astronomers, Pluto) have not changed.

Vesta, minor-planet designation 4 Vesta, is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of 525 kilometres (326 mi). It was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on 29 March 1807 and is named after Vesta, the virgin goddess of home and hearth from Roman mythology.

Vesta is the second-most-massive body in the asteroid belt after the dwarf planet Ceres, and it contributes an estimated 9% of the mass of the asteroid belt. Vesta is the second-largest asteroid, only slightly larger than Pallas, but significantly more massive. Vesta is the last remaining rocky protoplanet (with a differentiated interior) of the kind that formed the terrestrial planets. Numerous fragments of Vesta were ejected by collisions one and two billion years ago that left two enormous craters occupying much of Vesta's southern hemisphere. Debris from these events has fallen to Earth as howardite–eucrite–diogenite (HED) meteorites, which have been a rich source of information about Vesta.