asteroid – Astronomy Now

Watch asteroid (4) Vesta hide a naked-eye star in Aries on 11 February

30 January 2020 Ade Ashford

Latest predictions indicate that second-largest asteroid (4) Vesta will pass in front of magnitude +5.3 star HIP 14439 in the constellation of Aries close to 10:02pm GMT (22:02 UT) on Tuesday, 11 February 2020, a binocular event visible from the north of England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Asteroid with shortest year spotted

15 July 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have spotted an unusual asteroid with the shortest “year” known for any asteroid. The rocky body, dubbed 2019 LF6, is about a kilometre in size and circles the Sun roughly every 151 days.

Watch asteroid Pallas’ close brush with star Eta Boötis near Arcturus on 10 April

4 April 2019 Ade Ashford

For ten nights starting 5 April 2019, asteroid 2 Pallas and unmistakable Arcturus – the northern celestial hemisphere’s brightest star – lie within the same field of view of typical 8× binoculars. Also, don’t miss magnitude +7.9 Pallas’s very close conjunction with magnitude +2.7 star eta (η) Boötis at 22h UT (11pm BST) on the night of 10 April.

See space rock 2018 RC whizz by Earth closer than the Moon this weekend

7 September 2018 Ade Ashford

Like buses, you can wait ages for a near-Earth asteroid – then two come along in quick succession. This weekend you also have the opportunity to view a 70-metre-wide space rock known as 2018 RC in backyard telescopes of 6-inch (15-cm) aperture and larger as its hurtles past Earth closer than the Moon.

Let Saturn be your guide to finding asteroid Vesta at its brightest

8 June 2018 Ade Ashford

Many of you may have tracked down an asteroid with binoculars or a telescope, but have you ever seen one with the naked eye? If not, then June presents you with an opportunity to see the brightest, 4 Vesta, at a close opposition. What’s more, ringed planet Saturn lies close by to act as a convenient guide.

Small asteroid tracked to atmospheric impact and breakup

4 June 2018 Astronomy Now

Detection of a small boulder-size asteroid hurtling toward Earth 2 June served as a real-world test of the advance warning systems in place to find, track and characterise potentially threatening bodies.

Interstellar asteroid captured by Sun in distant past

23 May 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers analyzing the retrograde motion of an asteroid orbiting the Sun at Jupiter’s distance shows the body most likely originated in another star system and was captured by the gravity of the Sun and its planets at some point in the distant past.

Interstellar asteroid ‘Oumuamua likely originated in binary star system

19 March 2018 Astronomy Now

The interstellar asteroid ‘Oumuamua likely originated in a binary star system, researchers say. The rocky, cigar-shaped asteroid was discovered last October as it made a high-speed pass through Earth’s solar system.

See bright near-Earth asteroid 2017 VR12 pass close to star Spica, 7–8 March

4 March 2018 Ade Ashford

Possibly as large as The Shard in London, Apollo asteroid 2017 VR12 passes just 3¾ lunar distances from Earth at 7:53am GMT on 7 March. For a few nights, this magnitude +12 space rock is a viable target for small backyard telescopes as it gallops through Coma Berenices and Virgo, passing just 0.8 degrees from Spica on the UK night of 7–8 March.

See dwarf planet Ceres at opposition on 31 January

26 January 2018 Ade Ashford

While antipodean observers are enjoying views of the totally eclipsed Blue Moon in Cancer the Crab on the night of 31 January/1 February, Northern Hemisphere observers should look out for magnitude +6.9 1 Ceres at opposition in the northern fringes of the same constellation. The dwarf planet puts on a good show in the dark of the Moon during February.