Vesta during 2009

Vesta was at opposition late in 2008, on October 30. As a result the there is no opposition in 2009, the next is in 2010 on February 20. The asteroid is at conjunction with the Sun in 2009 on June 22.

Vesta starts the year in Pisces but moves into Cetus on January 10. It moves northeast across the constellation until Febuary 15 when it enters Aries. Late in March it carries on int Taurus, chart for January to March.. The northerly motion will see Vesta get lower for southern hemisphere observers.

During April and May Vesta will move across Taurus. It will be 7° above the Pleiades on April 11 and a little over 3° below the first magnitude star Aldebaran early in May, chart for April and May.. By then vesta will be setting an hour and a half after the Sun. Later in May it will become lost in the evening twilight.

Vesta is at conjunction with the Sun on June 22, when it will be at the opposite side of the Sun to the Earth. After conjunction the asteroid will start to rise before the Sun into the morning sky, but will remain lost in twilight until August. On the morning of the 15th Vesta will rise some 80 minutes before the Sun. 45 minutes before sunrise it will be only 5° up, but 8.5° to the lower right of Venus.

Over the next few days Venus will catch up with Vesta, which will moved from Gemini into Cancer on the morning of August 15. The two are closest the following morning, August 26, when they will be half a degree apart with a 7th magnitude star between them. Vesta will be fainter than the star at magnitude 8.7 and to the lower left of Venus, chart for August and September..

Vesta will continue to move to the east across Cancer to pass just above Praesepe, the Beehive, star cluster in mid September, the two are closest on the morning of the 16th. The asteroid will move on into Leo on October 13. Just over a month later it will be 2.5° from α Leo, Regulus, the two appear closest on the morning of October 14 for New Zealand viewers chart for October 2008 forward.. Vesta will remain in Leo until July 2010, during which time it will reach opposition during February 2010.

Vesta has a diameter of 530 km.   The orbital period is 3.63 years, its distance from the Sun varying between 2.15 and 2.57 AU, the orbit having an eccentricity if 0.09.   The orbit is inclined at 7.1° to the ecliptic. The opposition distance from the Earth varies between 1.14 AU and 1.57 AU.

Vesta's greatest distance from the Sun is only slightly more than Ceres' minimum distance.  Vesta is the brightest of the asteroids, at the best oppositions it does become a faint naked eye object.  It is the second largest asteroid, with a diameter just under 60% that of Ceres, but has a considerably lighter surface, reflecting some 42% of the light falling on it.  This, combined with Vesta's closer approach to the Sun, means Vesta is usually the brightest Asteroid.

Vesta was the fourth Minor Planet or Asteroid to be discovered, being first observed as a minor planet in 1807 by H W Olbers at Bremen.   Because of its opposition brightness, it must, of course, have been seen naked eye many times before that, although as a faint star.