Is Haumea observable?

[DRT]

According to Wikipedia (yes, I know) Haumea is "easily observable with a large amateur telescope".

At a maximum Mag of 17.3 I seriously doubt that this statement is accurate, especially given that it was only discovered in 2004!

Has anyone ever observed this strange little lump?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Perhaps it could be imaged with a scope like mine, but for visual a mag 17.3 would require at least a 37" scope, and to make it "easy", 40" and above would be required.

[Superdavo]

Even then, I dread to think how difficult it would be to figure out which barely-visible 17th magnitude dot is Haumea!

David

[lukebl]

I managed to capture it a couple of years ago, but visually it's a no-no! It was around 17th magnitude at the time.

The ludicrously overexposed star  is 2.7 magnitude Eta Bootes

[ScottS]

I managed to capture it a couple of years ago, but visually it's a no-no! It was around 17th magnitude at the time.

The ludicrously overexposed star  is 2.7 magnitude Eta Bootes

A good point made by David above. What method did you use to determine which of those spots is the asteroid?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Two methods spring to mind:

1. Use Stellarium
2. Take two captures of the same field and blink them