TheSkySearchers

For those who think this sort of thing is fun, Vesta will be visible to the naked eye in early March. Its peak brightness is on March 5 at mag. 5.84. At culmination the atmosphere only diminishes that down to about 6.0. It should be almost as bright for several nights before and after the 5th, though beforehand the Moon will interfere since you'll probably need to view it fairly late when it is higher in the sky. You'll also need a semi-dark site, of course.

If there is a cloud-free night here, I'm hoping to give it a try.

Thanks for the heads up Mark
Sounds like fun, will also try the binoculars

Interesting. I might try for a movie.....

thx for the tip .

Mark Moyer wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 2:28 am For those who think this sort of thing is fun, Vesta will be visible to the naked eye in early March. Its peak brightness is on March 5 at mag. 5.84. At culmination the atmosphere only diminishes that down to about 6.0. It should be almost as bright for several nights before and after the 5th, though beforehand the Moon will interfere since you'll probably need to view it fairly late when it is higher in the sky. You'll also need a semi-dark site, of course.

If there is a cloud-free night here, I'm hoping to give it a try.

Thanks for that Mark.

It would be a struggle naked eye for me but I'll definitely get my telescope on it if it's clear.

I've added the event to the Portal Calendar from 1st March to 10th March.

Anyone got any more events that need listing?

Regards

Graeme

Thanks!
Some years ago I followed Vesta for some weeks on end and plotted my observations among the stars on a copy of a map. Very fun. I suppose binoculars can come in handy. But naked eye is a lot of fun!

Will try for it in the 15x70's. Thanks for the advance notice.

Thanks Mark. While I am almost predominantly a DSO observer I might just give this one a shot. Appreciate the heads up on this event.

Thanks Mark for posting this information and to Graeme for putting it up on the Upcoming Events on the Portal. Looks like another great opportunity to catch a view of Vesta with binoculars. And with the several nights window of opportunity, we have a good chance to work around any cloudy skies.

I have a post here where I imaged it over a period of 4 hours last week. I was really amazed at how bright it already is. I'm sure an easy binocular target already.
https://www.theskysearchers.com/viewtop ... 07#p137907

Just to follow up, I went out observing last night for the first time in quite a while (so many, many clouds over the past few months). I was able to pick out Vesta naked eye. It was pretty close to the limit of observability for me. I was only able to hold it in view (using averted vision, of course) for 1-2 seconds at a time, but I did this several times. Anyone else have luck?

Also, looking through a scope some people are reporting on seeing its creamy color (it looked like a normal star to me through a scope) and also reporting seeing it look non-stellar (I've heard its size makes this actually possible), in case anyone wants further Vesta challenges.
Good luck!

Between June 9-12 of this year, (4) Vesta will be in the same frame (around 600mm fl) with the Leo Triplet. It should make for some cool images or timelapse. Bonus, no moon interference but it will be getting low in the western sky for us northern hemisphere observers.