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The Position of Vesta in:

2011

2014 (& Ceres)

2021

Asteroids (The Naked-Eye Planets)


The Position of Asteroid Vesta

in the Night Sky, 2018

by Martin J. Powell

 

Finder chart for asteroid 4 Vesta during its 3-month period of naked-eye visibility in Sagittarius and Ophiuchus between May and early August 2018. Click on thumbnail for full-size image, 116 KB (Copyright Martin J Powell 2018)

Finder Chart showing the position of asteroid 4 Vesta at 5-day intervals from May through to early August 2018, the period during which the asteroid was technically visible to the naked-eye (i.e. brighter than apparent magnitude +6.5) (click on the thumbnail for the full-size image, 116 KB). Saturn was also in the vicinity and its path is shown over the same period (marked on the 1st day of each month). A Southern hemisphere view of the chart can be found here (121 KB) and a printer-friendly (greyscale) version can be obtained for Northern (56 KB) and Southern hemisphere (58 KB) views.

Vesta moved through North-western Sagittarius and South-eastern Ophiuchus during this period, positioned North and West of the star Polis (Greek lower-case letter 'mu'1 Sgr or Mu-1 Sagittarii, mag. +3.8v) and North-east of the star Greek lower-case letter 'theta' Oph (Theta Ophiuchi, mag. +3.2).

Vesta reached opposition to the Sun (its closest point to the Earth, when it shone at its brightest for the year) on June 19th 2018, when it was 1.141 Astronomical Units (170.7 million kms or 106 million miles) from the Earth. Vesta then shone at magnitude +5.3, the brightest it had been since June of 1989.

Click here (99 KB) to see a 'clean' star map of the area (i.e. without paths); a printable version can be found here (49 KB).

The faintest stars shown on the chart have a magnitude of about +7.3. Astronomical co-ordinates of Right Ascension (longitude, measured Eastwards in hrs:mins) and Declination (latitude, measured in degrees North or South of the celestial equator) are marked around the border of the chart.

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Credits


Position of Vesta, 2018 (Desktop Site)

The Naked-Eye Planets in the Night Sky

Planetary Movements through the Zodiac


Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto


Copyright  Martin J Powell  February 2018


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