TheSkySearchers

We had a great night out last night and I managed to gather more data for my Thor's Helmet project as well as some time on the Leo Triplet. In between filter changes on the Leo Triplet, I decided to make this animation video of (4) Vesta since it was close by.
Just a bit of info on (4) Vista, It is the second-largest asteroid, containing an estimated 9% of the mass of the entire asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
It was discovered in 1807 by Heinrich Olbers and was the 4th asteroid to be discovered which is the purpose of the (4) designation. The first three were Ceres, Pallas, and Juno.
It orbits the sun every 3.6 years with dimensions of about 550 km × 462 km
Its current estimated magnitude is 6.22 so very easy to spot from dark skies. As you can see, it's very bright compared to the surrounding stars.

Enjoy ~

https://youtu.be/2jdRH2hkFMk

Nicely done! I believe everyone should see at least one asteroid in their lives.

cool

superb take , thx .

Thanks for the interesting post. I would like to see Vesta sometime (when it's not as cold). I probably missed this, but what telescope did you use? What was the focal length?

Really cool animation. Thanks for sharing.

jrkirkham wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 1:09 am Thanks for the interesting post. I would like to see Vesta sometime (when it's not as cold). I probably missed this, but what telescope did you use? What was the focal length?

The telescope was my Explore Scientific ED127mm APO - with reducer/flattener it's 652mm fl but this image was cropped in about 50%. ZWO1600mm camera, 60-second exposures.

You're in luck! this coming June 9-12th (4)Vesta will be passing very nearby the Leo Triplet. If you use Stellarium or any planetarium program, find it in Leo right now and then open up the date/time window and advance it by day. You can then find a day when it's in the same F.O.V. of a known object. I'm hoping over the few nights it's in my camera F.O.V. with the Leo Triplet to recreate this animation again.
As bright as (4) Vesta is, it's an easy visual target too.

That is Awesome, Well done! I think that is the first asteroid animation I've seen.

AstroBee wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:27 am You're in luck! this coming June 9-12th (4)Vesta will be passing very nearby the Leo Triplet. If you use Stellarium or any planetarium program, find it in Leo right now and then open up the date/time window and advance it by day. You can then find a day when it's in the same F.O.V. of a known object. I'm hoping over the few nights it's in my camera F.O.V. with the Leo Triplet to recreate this animation again.
As bright as (4) Vesta is, it's an easy visual target too.

Oohhh!! And it's a New Moon Weekend, too!!

AP Imagers around the Globe should be Pointing at this Spectacle en masse!!

I wonder: Do that many Scopes pointed at the Same Object draw an Extra amount of Photons?? And would that be Detectible to a "Sufficiently Advanced Intellect" near the Target??