Spot Asteroid Vesta in the Sky

For several evenings commencing November 2 - 3, the orbital motion of the large asteroid Vesta carry it closely past the naked-eye medium-bright star Omicron (o) Tauri, which marks Taurus the Bull’s hoof - setting up an easy way to find and view the magnitude 6.6 asteroid.

The pair of objects will appear together in the field of view of a telescope at medium magnification. Closest approach of 20 arc-minutes (or two-thirds of the moon’s diameter) will occur on November 4. In binoculars, Vesta will be positioned below the star – and some telescopes will flip that view.

This large asteroid which will be at opposition on the night of November 12th, but it will be a little tricky to see it in the sky due to a nearly full moon. So, try to get a good view this time.

Clear skies and happy hunting!