The asteroid Vesta is well placed for viewing at the moment in the constellation Taurus. From Earth, it appears as a mere pinpoint of light; so here’s an image NASA made earlier with the Dawn spacecraft that’s been orbiting Vesta for much of 2011/12:
The asteroid Vesta (NASA)
Just too dim for the naked eye, at Magnitude 6.34, Vesta is easily picked out with binoculars or a digital camera. I took these snaps on 15, 26, and 29 December in mixed conditions, including a nearly full moon and Christmas lights for the shot on 26th. So not the best quality you’ll ever see, but satisfying all the same – at least for me – to capture a 326 mile wide lump of rock hurtling against the starry background.
Vesta is presently about one and half times the distance of the Earth to the Sun away from us (1.65 Astronomical Units).
Vesta 15/12/2012
Vesta 26/12/2012
Vesta 29/12/2012
Vesta is easy enough to find with software like Starry Night. It also shows up on Sky Walk for the iPad, but not with sufficient accuracy to locate it with confidence. There again, if you simply point your camera at the bright red star Aldebaran in Taurus, and take a couple of one or two second exposures of the area with a few days between them, Vesta will give itself away as the only object moving over time.
Location of Vesta (Starry Night software)
Vesta location 29/12/2012 (Starry Night software)
Since the mid 1980s, I've worked in university and industrial research, as a manager and editor in technology and environment for an international industry association, and held senior business development, strategy, and procurement posts in industry. I hold a PhD in chemical engineering from Birmingham University, an MBA from Warwick University Business School, and an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College. In 2008, I left industry to focus full-time on my passion for science and technology, and to share that enthusiasm with others as a freelance science communicator. I live in London with my wife Erin.
Peter Mayer at Planetary Radio Live
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Vesta is presently about one and half times [1.5 Astronomical Units] the distance of the Earth to the Sun away from us (1.65 Astronomical Units).
So ‘about’ in Tim-Speak is an error of ten percent!
Admittedly, were it on anything like a collision course with us, that error could make all the difference. It’s one in the morning (about) here in the US; I get sloppy after midnight
Anonymous is me by the way. Geez – even my identity is approximate.