{"id":55341,"date":"2024-03-01T09:46:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T09:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fd1a6e49-316b-4010-b9c7-addbe527c232"},"modified":"2024-03-01T10:32:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T10:32:29","slug":"see-asteroid-3-juno-at-opposition-in-march","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/see-asteroid-3-juno-at-opposition-in-march\/","title":{"rendered":"See Asteroid 3 Juno at opposition in March"},"content":{"rendered":"

A potential binocular catch, 11th-largest asteroid 3 Juno is at its brightest in March <\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n <\/p>

Published: Friday, 01 March 2024 at 09:46 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Asteroid 3 Juno reaches opposition<\/a> on 3 March, when it can be found in southern Leo, near the border with Sextans, shining at mag. 8.6.<\/p>

It starts the month close to mag. 4.8 58 Leonis and shining at mag. 8.8. This makes it potentially visible through binoculars, but best seen using a small telescope at low magnification.<\/p>

Asteroid 3 Juno heads northwest, clipping the border between Leo and Sextans.<\/p>

Find out what comets and asteroids are in the sky tonight<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Chart showing the constellation Leo and its springtime galaxies. Click to expand. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>
On 16 March, the asteroid crosses into Leo, very close to mag. 6.4 37 Sextantis. <\/p>
Its magnitude will have dimmed to 9.1 and it will continue to dim as it tracks northwest.<\/p>
By the end of March, it will be located less than a degree east-southeast of mag. 5.7 49 Leonis, having faded to mag. 9.5. \u00a0<\/p>
$\"Chart$
Chart showing the location of Asteroid 3 Juno in March 2024, when it reaches opposition. Click to expand. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>
**Facts about 3 Juno<\/strong><\/h2>**3 Juno is the 11th-largest asteroid<\/a>, with a mean diameter of 247km.<\/p>
It\u2019s the second-largest stony (S-type or siliceous) asteroid (after 15 Eunomia) and contains 1% of the entire mass of the asteroid belt, and around 3% that of the largest body in this orbital region, the dwarf planet Ceres.<\/p>
Juno\u2019s elliptical orbit is highly eccentric, and takes it out as far as 3.35 AU from the Sun and in as close as 1.99 AU.<\/p>
The entire orbit takes 3.36 years and is quite inclined, with a tilt of 12\u00b0 to the ecliptic<\/a> plane.\u00a0<\/p>
It\u2019s a highly studied object; observations suggesting it has a massive 100km impact crater on its surface.<\/p>
Spectral analysis suggests it may be the source of chondritic or stony meteorites that have impacted Earth.<\/p>
$\"Asteroid$
Asteroid 3 Juno is around 3% the mass of dwarf planet Ceres (pictured), the largest body in the asteroid belt. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>
How to find and observe asteroid 3 Juno<\/strong><\/h2>
Asteroid 3 Juno’s location in southern Leo this month, combined with a small-telescope-favourable magnitude, makes this an ideal time to try to locate it.<\/p>
The usual technique for finding such bodies is to image or sketch the suspected field over several nights, comparing results to look for some object that is moving between observations.<\/p>
***Have you managed to observe or image Asteroid 3 Juno? Let us know by emailing*** ***contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n***
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A potential binocular catch, 11th-largest asteroid 3 Juno is at its brightest in March <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A potential binocular catch, 11th-largest asteroid 3 Juno is at its brightest in March","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/55341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}