Vesta in the 8x56

[part timer]

Finally got chance to find asteroid Vesta last night.

It's a really easy target at the moment in Leo.

It's so bright that it stands out immediately as a bright star which is not on your charts. Normally you need to track an asteroid over a few nights to be sure you got it but at the moment the placing makes this unnecessary.

To find it simply find Leo then centre your Binoculars on the two 'neck' stars. Move East slightly (that's to the Right from the northern hemisphere) and you will see a triangle of fairly bright stars. There is another star of similar brightness just within the triangle on the bottom left and slightly up from the two bottom stars of the triangle.

That is Vesta. If you keep checking over time it will move with respect to the others.

I always think its fascinating to watch this giant rock floating through space.

From a dark sky you could probably locate it with the naked eye.

[yeti monster]

Thanks for the heads up, hopefully another clear one tonight (my last night before returning to sunnier, warmer and more southerly climes) and a chance to set up the binos. If (when) I find it, I can drag out the dob for a closer looksee.

[part timer]

Hope you found it Yeti monster!

It has now moved a bit so to find it use the directions above to find the triangle and the go straight up a bit and their is a bright star above the triangle near the centre line of the triangle. this is Vesta.

if your not sure then all these stars are shown in star charts down to mag six (i.e. virtually any star atlas) so Vesta will be the only bright star not on your chart.

[yeti monster]

Not had the opportunity yet. I have just arrived back in China and it is cloudy at present. I will try at the first opportunity with the 20x60s. I've brought SPMs atlas of the universe with me, which contains some good star charts, so fingers crossed.

[yeti monster]

HA has a dedicated link Minor Planet 4 Vesta so I'll be able to find it (hopefully) once the cleods clear orft.......

[part timer]

It's still moving along in the same area so should be easy to catch. I saw it again last night. It is very bright which makes it an easier target.

Hope you get a break in the clouds soon!

[iamjulian]

part timer, may I ask what you used to locate it? I have been using Cartes du Ciel as the best asteroid tracking software I can find. But even then the location isn't massively accurate. I was looking at Vesta about a week ago and it was close to where Cartes said it would be, but not close enough. With fainter asteroids this proves a real pain. I am still looking for decent software that shows detailed maps of where they are at any given time. Thanks!

[part timer]

I'm afraid I don't use a program to find asteroids. I have trouble with computers in general.

I tend to get coarse positions from Heavens above or from Astronomy Now and the use my paper star charts to find asteroids. When I think I'm in the right area I plot the stars and come back later to check if any have moved. I used to get it wrong more often than right but over time I've got good at finding reasonably bright asteroids.

[Talitha]

Part timer, you can get accurate ephemerides from the Minor Planet Center. There's lots of other things on the site too, including comets.

Julian, Sky Tools 3 is excellent, but it's not freeware like CDC or Stellarium. You can always go to the MPC site for the ephemerides and plot the asteroids out on printed charts from one of the programs you use, though.

[part timer]

Thanks for that Talitha!

I'll use that site a lot I think.

[iamjulian]

Thank you Carol.

I tried the MPC site and loaded the data into Stellarium. Had a few tries but must have gone wrong somewhere as they were definitely showing up in the wrong place on the screen.

I will have a look at Sky Tools 3.

[yeti monster]

I do believe I've found it!

Using the 20x60s from the balast control room, once I had identified where I needed to be looking, 4 Vesta appeared brighter than I'd imagined. Of course further observations are required to confirm that is is what I saw.

[yeti monster]

My initial "sighting" was a red herring. Last night, after several "nipping in and outs" to check with HA, I am fairly sure that I am now looking in the correct location. So, cleods permitting, further observations can be made tonight.