Posted on 02/10/2016 5:38:20 PM PST by BenLurkin
Vesta is actually the second largest asteroid belt member, and the brightest asteroid as seen from the Earth, shining at magnitude +5.5 near opposition—bright enough to see with the unaided eye-Vesta can be seen from a good dark sky site if you know exactly where to look for it.
February 2016 sees Vesta about 50 degrees above the western horizon at sunset, right along the Cetus-Pisces border. Vesta is worth tracking down this month, as it moves south of and parallel to another solar system resident: +5.9 magnitude Uranus. Follow both Vesta and Uranus, and you can see the difference in distance between the two betrayed by their motion: Vesta covers 10 degrees through the 29 day leap month, while Uranus spans just over one degree. Vesta and Uranus are 2.9 AU and 20.5 AU away from the Earth this month, respectively. A fitting pairing with the ice giant world in the icy month of February.
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Vesta is now shining a magnitude +8, 1/6th (2 magnitudes) fainter than it appears at opposition, but still a decent grab with binoculars. Vesta reaches solar conjunction on May 22nd, 2016, and once again reaches opposition on January 21st, 2017 . Follow Vesta as it threads the needle between the the 10" wide +7th magnitude binary star pair HIP 6630 and 6679 on February 14th, and then passes less than one degree from the +4th magnitude star Nu Piscium on February 26th.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
So..... there’s an asteroid near Uranus ?
and klingons.
Hemorrhoids, not Asteroids, my friend. As for Klingons, that’s what TP was made for. Set phasers on WIPE!
McCoy: Jim - I’m a GP, not a proctologist!
Kirk: Bones, in space, no one can hear you scream.
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