Asteroid 4 Vesta reaches its stationary point in Virgo today. This bright main-belt world is easy to find from any location in just a few minutes.
Vesta takes a compact, curving path in Virgo this month, bracketed by Mu and Iota Virginis. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly
Asteroid 4 Vesta is stationary at 3 P.M. EDT. Now located in the constellation Virgo, Vesta is mid-6th-magnitude — easy to find in just a few minutes from any location using binoculars or a small telescope.
Step outside this evening an hour or two after sunset to find the large constellation Virgo hovering above the southwestern horizon. The Maiden’s brightest star is magnitude 1.0 Spica, easy to pick out some 30° above the horizon.
Vesta now lies to the far upper left of this star, near Virgo’s eastern border with Libra. Look for 4th-magnitude Iota (ι) Virginis, some 13.5° northeast of Spica. From Iota, Vesta is just a short 1.5° jump to the east tonight. If you are using larger binoculars or a telescope, look also for the globular cluster NGC 5634. This small, 5’-diameter faint cluster glows at magnitude 9.6 and tonight lies just under 2° east-southeast of Vesta’s position.
Previously moving west (or retrograde) through the sky before tonight, Vesta will now start traveling east — more specifically, it will move to the southeast against the background stars, heading for Libra.
Sunrise: 5:31 A.M.
Sunset: 8:32 P.M.
Moonrise: 12:51 A.M.
Moonset: 12:56 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (51%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.
For a look ahead at more upcoming sky events, check out our full Sky This Week column.
