 Vesta is only slightly larger () than 2 Pallas () in volume, but is about 25% more massive.Vesta's shape is close to a gravitationally relaxed oblate spheroid, but the large concavity and protrusion at the southern pole (see 'Surface features' below) combined with a mass less than precluded Vesta from automatically being considered a dwarf planet under International Astronomical Union (IAU) Resolution XXVI 5.A 2012 analysis of Vesta's shape and gravity field using data gathered by the "Dawn" spacecraft has shown that Vesta is currently not in hydrostatic equilibrium.