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Skywatch February 2010 (newest at top)

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This is Dudley Observatory's Skywatch Line for Friday, February 26, through Sunday, February 28, written by Alan French.

The Moon will be full at 11:38 am Sunday so the bright Moon will dominate the night sky over the weekend. The Moon reaches perigee, its closest approach to Earth, less than one day before full, so coastal regions will experience unusually high tides.

For folks who enjoy watching the full Moon rise, it rises just north of due east at 4:48 pm on Saturday and at 6:07 pm on Sunday. On Saturday night it will be approaching full and near the bright star Regulus. On Sunday night the Moon will be a little more than six hours past full. On Monday night moonrise is at 7:26 pm and Saturn will be rising in the east at about the same time.

We've written before about the eight bright stars that make up the Winter Circle, now high in the south as darkness falls. The lowest member of the Winter Circle is Sirius, second only to our Sun in brightness. Going around the circle clockwise beginning with Sirius, its members are Sirius, Procyon, Pollux and its neighbor Castor, Capella, Aldebaran, appearing against to "V" of the Hyades star cluster, and Rigel.

Except for Castor, all the members of the Winter Circle are in the list of the twenty brightest stars in the night sky. Sirius is not only the brightest star in the night sky, but it is also one of our nearest neighbors, lying only nine light years away All but one of the stars in the Winter Circle appear bright because they lie relatively close. Procyon is 11 light years away, Aldebaran is 65, Capella is 42, Castor is 52, and Pollux is 34 light years distant. The farthest flung member is Rigel, lying 800 light years from Earth, yet shining as the seventh brightest star in the night sky.

As you may guess, this means that Rigel is inherently a much brighter star than the other members of the circle. It is one of the intrinsically brightest stars in our region of the galaxy, and is 85,000 brighter than our Sun.

 

 

Dudley Observatory Skywatch line for Wed. & Thurs., Feb. 24 and 25, 2010:
by Ray Bogucki

Toward the end of February, we are well past halfway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Recently, a friend who lives in the Boston area told me how much the nature of the light during the day had changed from the light at the Christmas season. An explanation may be that at the winter solstice on December 21, the Sun reaches its southernmost departure from the celestial equator, which means that at noon it was at its lowest point above the southern horizon for the year. For a few weeks after the winter solstice, the Sun's reversal to a northward motion is very slow. All through the dark days of January, the Sun only climbs about 5 degrees above, or north of, its solstice point. During February, the pace of northward motion picks up and from the beginning to the end of February, the Sun climbs another 8 degrees, making it 13 degrees higher than it was at the solstice. Astronomers use a property called extinction to measure the brightness of objects in the sky. It is well known that the closer a bright object is to the horizon, the more its light is dimmed and its color balance changed by the scattering of light by dust particles and water droplets that the light is passing through. The extra 8 degrees of altitude gained by the Sun during the month of February will cause a distinct, albeit subtle, change in the brightness and color balance of the Sun's light. It was this change that my perceptive friend with the painter's eye detected.

 

For nighttime observers, February is the month when, at nightfall, the Milky Way, our view of the distant stars in the spiral arms of our galaxy, climbs straight up from the northwest, passing through the constellations Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and Perseus. It then passes directly overhead through Auriga with the brilliant star Capella; thence down past the horns of Taurus, the feet of the Gemini Twins, and finally threads its way between the bright stars Procyon and Sirius, before dropping to the southeastern horizon. Those observers who remember the brighter, flamboyant Milky Way of August and September evenings, will find February's Milky Way rather faint by comparison.

 

Our Solar System is located about halfway out from the bulging center of the galaxy to the edge of the plane of the spiral arms, about 100,000 light-years in diameter. Tonight our view of the Milky Way is away from the galactic center and passes through only 25,000 light-years of thin, outer spiral arms. In the summer we look 25,000 light-years across the inner spiral arms toward the galactic center, and then continue across the remaining 50,000 light years to the opposite side of the galaxy. This constitutes a much longer pathway through the stars in the spiral arms, making for a much brighter Milky Way in the summer.

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, February twenty-second and twenty-third.
by Joe SLomka

The Sun sets at 5:36 PM, while night falls at 7:10. Dawn breaks at 5:07 AM, ending with sunrise at 6:41.

 

At Sunset, the waxing Moon is already up in the South and visible most of the night; it sets before Dawn. It occupies the horns of Taurus, the Bull.

 

Sunset also has Mars high in the southeast and Venus low in the West. Mars glows a brilliant rust color between Cancer and Gemini. Venus, much brighter, hovers above the horizon and sets within an hour. Binoculars may help the observer with an unobstructed horizon.

 

By 10 PM, Saturn, in Aquarius, is high enough for telescopic observation. Saturn has 61 satellites, of which eight are visible to amateur telescopes. Astronomy magazines and websites provide charts to aid the observer.

 

In addition, the asteroid Vesta hovers near the star Algeiba in Leo. Vesta lies within two degrees of Algeiba. Saturn and Vesta remain up all night and are best observed from midnight and after. Again magazines and websites provide observing help.

 

Polaris, the Pole or North Star, is one of the most famous of all stars. Many people think that it is the brightest; it is not, only second magnitude. Its importance is an accident of place; Polaris happens to occupy the spot closest to true North. In a few thousand years, it will drift away, and another star will become the Pole Star. The general public does not know that it is a multiple star system. Using the Hubble Telescope, astronomers recently discovered a third member. By analyzing the stars’ orbits, they “weighed” Polaris, and found it about four times heavier than our own Sun. However, Polaris has one distinction. Not many people realize that it is a variable star; it periodically brightens and dims. Polaris is a Cepheid variable; in fact it is the brightest of its kind in our sky. Cepheids are valuable stars. The period of their variation is in direct ratio to their brightness. So if an observer sees a Cepheid and tracks its cycles, he can determine its intrinsic brilliance and also derive its distance from Earth.

 

Clear Skies
Joe Slomka

This is Dudley Observatory's Skywatch Line for Friday, February 19, through Sunday, February 21, written by Alan French.

The Moon will be at first quarter late Sunday evening so a bright waxing crescent Moon will dominate the early evening sky over the weekend. If you look toward the west southwest on Friday night around 7:00 pm you'll find the Moon near the constellation Aries, the Ram. On Sunday night the Moon, almost half sunlit, will be near the Pleiades star cluster. To many the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, as it is often known, looks like a very small version of the Big Dipper.

The Moon is a marvelous sight through any optical aid when it is near first quarter. The terminator, the line between sunlight and darkness, is now the sunrise line. Here shadows are longest and details stand out in bold relief, and they are best viewed when the sunrise (or sunset) line is near the center of the lunar disk. That is, when the Moon is near first or last quarter.

Even a steadily held pair of binoculars will reveal the larger craters and mountains. A spotting scope at 60 power will show a wealth of detail in the beautiful lunar landscape. If you look along the terminator, just over into the region in darkness, you'll find points of light where the rising Sun is just starting to hit mountain tops and crater walls. Watch or check back and look later to see more and more of the mountain or crater catch the sunlight.

Also look for crater floors that are mostly in darkness but starting to catch some light from the Sun as it moves higher. It can be fascinating watching the crater floor as it is revealed by the rising Sun. The low Sun can reveal interesting details in the crater floor.

Early risers will have a chance to see the International Space Station or ISS pass right overhead on Sunday morning. It will emerge from the Earth's shadow when 19 degrees above the west northwestern horizon, and then pass along the length of the bottom of the Big Dipper before passing almost directly overhead.

The ISS will first appear at 5:43:09 am when 19 degrees above the west northwestern horizon. It will be invisible during the first part of its journey up from the horizon because it will be in the Earth's shadow, but will then move out of the shadow and into the sunlight.

The ISS will be highest at 5:45:03 when it will be overhead, and will vanish in the southeast at 5:47:57 am.

Dudley Observatory Skywatch line for Wed. & Thurs., Feb. 17 and 18, 2010:
by Ray Bogucki

When discussing planets in our Solar system, astronomers use the term "close approach" in two different senses. Last month, when Mars was at opposition, that is, on the opposite side of the sky from the Sun, we spoke of our "closest approach" to Mars for this orbital cycle. At that closest approach, we were a distant 67 million miles from Mars, so the term does not imply a real closeness in terms of physical distance.

 

In 2003, when Mars was at opposition, we were at an unusually close approach of about 35 million miles. That's about as close as we can ever be to Mars. The planet that Earth comes closest to is Venus, our immediate inner neighbor. Because the orbit of Venus lies closer to the Sun than ours, Venus never ventures very far from the Sun as seen from earth, so it cannot ever be at opposition. Actually we come closest to Venus when it passes between the Earth and Sun at inferior conjunction. This event will next occur in late October, when we will experience our closest approach to Venus at about 25 million miles away. Of course, Venus will be presenting its dark, unlit side to the Earth as well as being completely obscured by the Sun's glare, so we will not see any part of this event.

 

The second sense in which we use the term "close approach" refers to the positions of different planets in the sky as seen from Earth. Because all of the planets move in orbits close to the ecliptic, the Sun's path through the stars, their paths will often run close together. They then will appear very close together in our sky, even though they may be hundreds of millions of miles distant from each other. This type of close approach is occurring now in our evening sky. The two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, can be seen immediately after sunset, very close together and close to the horizon where the Sun set in the west-southwest fifteen minutes earlier. Because the sky will be very bright with twilight, binoculars or a small telescope will be an invaluable aid. Tonight (Wednesday) Venus will appear slightly above and to the left of Jupiter, about one degree apart. Tomorrow, as Venus climbs and Jupiter drops, they will separate to about two degrees apart, and on Friday about three degrees apart. In actuality, Jupiter is almost a half billion miles farther out from the Sun than Venus is. Be sure to wait until the Sun is completely below the horizon before searching for the two planets. Even a momentary glance at any part of the Sun in binoculars or telescope can result in permanent eye damage.

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, February fifteenth and sixteenth.
by Joe Slomka

The Sun sets at 5:27 PM; night falls at 7:02. Dawn breaks at 5:16 AM and ends with sunrise at 6:51.

 

At Monday's sunset, the western sky holds a slim, two-day- old Moon and two bright planets. The Moon shines twelve degrees above a tight Jupiter-Venus group that hovers above the horizon. Venus outshines Jupiter, a degree above it. Tuesday night finds a three-day-old Moon higher in the West and the Jupiter-Venus pair even tighter. This is an ideal scene for the binocular observer with a clear western horizon.

 

Once Jupiter and Venus has set by 6:15, the binocular observer can turn East and find Red Mars already well up. Nightfall sees it about five degrees from the "Beehive" star cluster. This is an easy binocular object for the beginning observer.

 

A telescopic observer can monitor Mars and Saturn all night long, starting about 10 PM. Both planets are bright and provide a variety of high power views.

 

The asteroid 4 Vesta presents the binocular observer with a final opportunity. It currently inhabits Leo, high in the South. On Tuesday night, the sixth magnitude asteroid travels the narrow gap between second magnitude Algieba (also known as Gamma Leonis) and fourth magnitude 40 Leonis. These two bright stars mark the Lion's shoulder, above brighter Regulus. Vesta travels about a quarter degree daily and slips between the stars on Tuesday night. Astronomy magazines and websites provide charts to assist observers.

 

At Dawn, Mars prepares to set, while the constellation Scorpius is well up. Antares is the brightest star in Scorpius. Both Antares and Mars are tinted red. In fact, the word "Antares" means "rival of Ares," another name for Mars. Mars' color is due to rusty soil. Antares is an old supergiant star which is much cooler than our Sun and, as a result, redder.

 

Weather permitting, the Albany Area Amateur Astronomers hold their monthly meeting at 7:30 PM at the Schenectady Museum and Planetarium. This month features a "Member Potpourri." Club members will give shorts talks about various topics. All club events are free and the public is welcome.

Clear Skies

Joe Slomka

This is Dudley Observatory's Skywatch Line for Friday, February 12, through Sunday, February 14, written by Alan French.

The Moon will be new late Saturday evening so this weekend will have dark and moonless skies. On Sunday evening you'll have a chance to see a very young Moon, only 20 hours past new or "20 hours old." To see it, and nearby Jupiter and Venus, you'll need a very good view to the west southwest - a unobstructed horizon free of clouds and haze. Look just above the west southwestern horizon at 5:45 pm. You should see bright Jupiter and Venus just above the horizon, with Venus below Jupiter, and a very slender crescent Moon just to their right. The Moon will set at 6:16 pm, so don't look too late! If the skies are too hazy to see the crescent Moon binoculars may reveal it.

If you don't spot the young Moon on Sunday night, it will be much higher, easier to see, and a lovely sight on Monday night as the sky darkens just after sunset. In addition to the bright, slender crescent, you should be able to see the rest of the Moon faintly glowing with subdued light. If you were up on the Moon, you would see an almost full Earth in the lunar sky. It is the bright Earth that faintly lights the night portion of the Moon, and the visible glow of this light is called "earthshine."

Our Earth continues to speed away from Mars as we move along our inner, faster orbit around the Sun. As we pull away from Mars it will grow dimmer and its apparent size will decrease. In late January Mars appeared 14.1 arc seconds across, and modest amateur telescopes could make out some dark markings and a polar cap. By February 17 it will have shrunk to 13.2 arc seconds, and by the end of March it will appear less than 10 arc seconds in diameter and useful amateur observations will be difficult.

Digital photography allows amateur astronomers to take planetary photographs that reveal more detail than can generally be seen by eye through a telescope. To find some fabulous recent amateur photographs of Mars do a Google image search on "Mars 2010."

The Albany Area Amateur Astronomers will meet at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, February 16, at the Schenectady Museum. The program will be a "Member Potpourri," a club member show and tell. Scheduled topics include a review of Arthur C. Clarke's book "2010" and a talk on restoring a vintage telescope. All club meetings are open to all and there is no admission charge.

This is Dudley Observatory's Skywatch Line for Wednesday, February 10, through Thursday, February 11, written by Bob Mulford.

As this is written, Space shuttle Endeavor is preparing to dock with the International Space Station on Wednesday.  With some effort and favorable weather, you can see this spectacle. From the Capitol District, the International Space Station and Endeavor will pass low in the predawn sky. On Thursday morning, look low in the North-Northeast (20 degrees elevation) between 5:07 to 5:08AM. On Friday morning, look low in the North (17 degrees elevation) between 5:29 to 5:31AM. The Space Station is visible every morning for more than a week, but it will be even lower in the Capitol District’s sky. You can find exact predictions for your location at http://www.heavens-above.com

 

The early evening sky this month is illuminated in the south by the striking constellations of winter.  These constellations are notable for their abundance of bright stars.  Certainly the most striking is Orion the Hunter.  This star group is marked by a group of three bright stars in a straight row, which represent the hunters belt.  Orion's upper left shoulder is marked by the red giant star Betelgeuse [BET-el-jews] and his right knee is the star Rigel [RYE-jell].  This is a truly magnificent grouping, but the most wonderful feature of Orion is M42, the Great Nebula, which is the middle star in the sword.  The sword is a group of three stars extending down from the belt.  In binoculars the center star of the sword appears as a fuzzy cloud.  In a moderately large telescope its appearance is impressive beyond words and delights all who view it.

 

In the eighteenth century, the term nebula was used to describe any object in the sky which appeared as a cloud of mist.  Some astronomers thought all these objects were unresolved clusters of stars.  But in 1864 William Huggins began studying these objects using the then new science of spectroscopy.  By using a prism to examine the exact colors of light coming from these objects, Huggins showed that the Orion Nebula as well as many other diffuse nebula were really vast clouds of thin gas.  The gas is made luminous by absorbing energy from nearby stars.

 

The Orion Nebula is nearly 2000 light years from the Earth, and it is about 30 light years across.  This is so large that if our Sun were put at the center, many of the stars close to the Sun, including Sirius and Procyon, would be inside the nebula.  The Orion Nebula is in fact a stellar nursery, a place where new stars are being born out of the gas in the nebula.  There is enough material in the nebula to form 10,000 stars like our Sun.

 

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, February Eighth and Ninth.
by Joe Slomka

The Sun sets at 5:18 PM; night falls at 6:54. Dawn breaks at 5:25 AM and ends with sunrise at 7 AM.

 

At sunset, two planets occupy opposite ends of the horizon. Eastern Mars is already risen and becomes higher as night progresses. Jupiter prepares to set; the observer should use binoculars within fifteen or twenty minutes after sunset. Jupiter sets about an hour after the Sun. Brilliant Venus, seven degrees below Jupiter, rapidly disappears into the Sun's glow.

 

By 10 PM, three Solar System objects are in view. Mars appears overhead in Cancer, three degrees from the Beehive star cluster. This is always a great binocular sight. Next brightest, Saturn softly glows in Aquarius. A telescope reveals the ring system and a few of its sixty-one moons. Astronomy magazines and websites provide observing guides for the moons.

 

The third Solar System object is the asteroid Vesta. Also called a dwarf planet, Vesta reaches opposition next week. This means it is brightest. Vesta is about three degrees from the bright star Algieba (Gamma) in Leo. Vesta is sixth magnitude, while brighter Algieba is second. Again, astronomy magazines and websites provide assistance. All three objects remain up the rest of the night.

 

The hour before sunrise presents Mars, Saturn and Vesta low in the West, while elusive Mercury hovers above the eastern horizon. Mercury brightens and becomes lower daily; it sets next week.

 

A very old Moon appears in Sagittarius before sunrise. Tuesday morning sees the crescent near the teapot's spout. Wednesday places a thinner Moon two degrees from Nunki, a star in the teapot's handle.

 

Another Solar system object inhabits the pre-dawn sky, Pluto. While Pluto may have been demoted, interest in still strong. Recently, the Hubble Telescope did a study of this distant body and presented some surprising findings. Pluto is becoming redder, even as it slowly drifts from the Sun. Hubble also created crude maps of light and dark images as the dwarf planet spins. The New Horizons space probe is speeding towards a 2015 encounter with Pluto; these Hubble images will assist scientists in choosing targets for the probe's cameras and sensors.

 

Clear Skies

Joe Slomka

 

This is Dudley Observatory's Skywatch Line for Friday, February 5, through Sunday, February 7, written by Alan French.

The Winter Circle, a large circle of bright winter stars, is now due south around 9 pm. Brilliant Sirius, the brightest star in our night sky, is the lowest member of the circle. Upward to the right or west of Sirius is Rigel, which marks Orion's left knee. Above Rigel is Aldebaran, marking the eye of Taurus, the Bull. A "V" of stars through Aldebaran, made up of stars in the Hyades star cluster, outline the Bull's face. To the upper left of the Hyades is Capella, the brightest star in Auriga, the Charioteer. The stars of Auriga, including Capella, form a pentagon. To the lower left of Capella you'll find Castor and Pollux, marking the heads of the Gemini twins. Brilliant red Mars is just to the left or east of Castor and Pollux. Below the Twins is Procyon, the brightest star in inconspicuous Canis Minor, and the final star of the Winter Circle. Can you trace it around the southern sky?

Early risers will have two chances to see the International Space Station or ISS this weekend. The ISS now outshines even the brightest stars. The pass Saturday morning will cross the entire sky during morning twilight. On Monday morning the ISS will move out of the Earth's shadow and first appear when high in the sky. Times will be given in hours, minutes, and seconds. They are for Schenectady, but should be close enough for anyone in the Capital District and surrounding areas.

On Saturday morning the ISS will first appear coming up from the west southwestern horizon at 6:18:39 am, although you may not notice it until it has risen a bit higher. It will be highest at 6:21:31 am when 61 degrees above the north northwestern horizon, and will vanish below the northeastern horizon at 6:24:25.

We see satellites like the ISS because they are up in sunlight while we are still down in the Earth's shadow. Sometimes we can catch a satellite moving out of or into the Earth's shadow while it travels across the sky. On Monday morning you'll have a chance to watch the ISS move out of the Earth's shadow and brighten to visibility when it is high in the sky.

As the ISS starts to move out of the Earth's shadow at 5:32:27 am Monday it will be approaching the rear stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper from below or west of the bowl. As it brightens it will move through the rear of the Dipper, reaching its highest point at 5:32:37. It will vanish in the northeast at 5:35:31,

On Sunday morning an old crescent Moon will be near the bright reddish star Antares, that marks the heart of Scorpius the Scorpion. Residents of southwestern Alaska will get to see the Moon pass in front of or occult Antares right around sunrise.

 

Dudley Observatory Skywatch line for Wed. & Thurs., Feb. 3 and 4, 2010:
by Ray Bogucki

Where an observer looks in the sky to find a particular star depends entirely on the calendar date and the time of day or night. The Earth performs two motions with respect to the Sun. It makes one full rotation of 360 degrees on its axis once every day or 24 hours. Thus it rotates 15 degrees each hour or one degree in about 4 minutes. The second motion is the Earth's travel around the Sun in it's 360 degree, almost circular, orbit once each year or about 365 days. Thus the Earth revolves in its orbit roughly one degree each day. The Earth's eastward motion makes the Sun appear to move one degree eastward through the background of distant stars each day, placing the stars one degree farther west each day. Since the Earth rotates one degree every four minutes, the stars, having moved one degree West each day with respect to the Sun, will rise four minutes earlier each day. This corresponds to 28 minutes earlier, or about a half-hour each week, or two hours earlier each month. So, the constellations we see rising at, say 8 p.m. at the beginning of February, will be 30 degrees up into the sky at 8 p.m. at the end of February, while new constellations will be rising in the East. These motions account for the majestic procession of the constellations westward through the seasons. It's why we see Orion in the winter evening sky and Scorpius and Sagittarius in the summer evening sky.

 

Locating the planets is a bit more complex, especially with the two faster-moving inner planets, Mercury and Venus. Last week we discussed the behavior of Mars, our nearest outer neighbor, which Earth overtakes and passes every 2 years and about 40 days. The orbital motions of the more distant outer planets are slow enough that the changes in their locations among the stars looks fairly negligible from the Earth on a short term basis. Taking Jupiter as an example, last August, the Earth's orbital motion carried us between Jupiter and the Sun, placing Jupiter at opposition. We watched Jupiter rising on the eastern horizon as the Sun set in the west behind us. Now, six months later, we are on the opposite side of our orbit and Jupiter is rapidly approaching the Sun in our western sky. Jupiter currently sets just as evening twilight ends, but in the next few weeks, it will set earlier each day until Feb. 28, when it will set, unseen, with the Sun at conjunction. The giant planet will cross to the West side of the Sun and remain lost in the Sun's glare until April, when it will reappear, rising about 1 hour before the Sun in the early morning twilight. Not until May will we see Jupiter again rising into a dark sky two hours before sunrise. It will then continue to rise about 4 minutes earlier each day until September, when it will complete the cycle and again appear at opposition to the Sun. Notice that this year's opposition of Jupiter comes one month later than last year's opposition. This occurs because, during the intervening year, Jupiter's own slow orbital motion will have carried it about 30 degrees to the East among the stars and that motion will delay this year's opposition by about 30 days.

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, February first and second.
by Joe Slomka

The Sun sets at 5:08 PM; night falls at 6:46. Dawn breaks at 5:33 AM and ends with sunrise at 6:39.

Sunset finds planets at opposite ends of the sky. In the East, Mars has already risen. Midnight is the best observation time. The Red Planet grows gradually dimmer and smaller this month, but is still large enough for amateurs to see surface features. The binocular observer sees Mars three degrees from the beautiful Beehive star cluster.

 

The West has Jupiter bracketed by Neptune and Uranus. All three are quite low and set by nightfall. An observer seeking a challenge can use binoculars to locate brilliant Venus hovering fifteen degrees below Jupiter, just above the horizon. Venus is beginning a springtime appearance and becomes higher nightly.

 

By 10 PM, Saturn and the Moon rise. Saturn is low in the East. Monday's Moon is to Saturn's upper right; Tuesday's Moon has just risen. The waning Moon is still quite bright and drowns out most dim objects. Saturn and its rings shine through the lunar light. The rings are slightly open and amateur telescopes can capture some Saturnian moons. The Moon, Mars and Saturn remain visible the rest of the night.

 

At Dawn, Mercury appears low in the East, opposite the setting Moon, Saturn and Mars. Mercury is quite bright and appears about three-quarters illuminated in a telescope. During February, it gradually sinks lower and becomes more difficult to see amid the Sun's glare.

 

Like planets, asteroids have defined orbits about the Sun. Comets are ice and rock mixes, while asteroids are mostly rock. There are several types of asteroid or dwarf planet. Some orbit between Jupiter and Mars, others accompany planets, and then there are interlopers from the far reaches of the solar system.

 

Vesta is the fourth dwarf planet to be discovered. It orbits the Sun every 3.6 years, and is nearing April opposition. Vesta is the brightest, shining at magnitude 6.4. It can be seen in binoculars from a dark site. Vesta currently inhabits Leo, the Lion. Those seeking Vesta should consult magazines and web sites to identify the asteroid amid similar looking stars.

 

Clear Skies
Joe Slomka