{"id":57885,"date":"2024-04-30T10:24:28","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T10:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/298762b8-cff1-45c2-be6c-daf0b6d2a25f"},"modified":"2024-04-30T11:08:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T11:08:21","slug":"missing-comet-pons-brooks-asteroid-2-pallas-is-at-its-best-in-may-and-can-be-seen-with-a-small-telescope","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/missing-comet-pons-brooks-asteroid-2-pallas-is-at-its-best-in-may-and-can-be-seen-with-a-small-telescope\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing Comet Pons Brooks? Asteroid 2 Pallas is at its best in May and can be seen with a small telescope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Small scopes can easily track 2 Pallas as it arcs beneath the Keystone all month. <\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 30 April 2024 at 10:24 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Minor planet 2 Pallas reaches opposition on 17 May when it can be found shining within the stars of Hercules at magnitude +8.9.<\/p>

At this brightness, it\u2019s a tricky binocular find, but a small telescope should pick it up without any difficulty.<\/p>

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

Chart showing location of Asteroid Pallas in May 2024. Click to expand. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Pallas is one of the so-called \u2018big four\u2019 asteroids, referencing the first four to be discovered: 1 Ceres, 2 Pallas, 3 Juno and 4 Vesta.<\/p>

Now that many more examples have been found, it has been demoted to 10th-largest, with a mean diameter of 513km.\u00a0<\/p>

On 1 May, Pallas is at mag. +8.9 and located 3\u00b0 northeast of Kornephoros (Beta (\u03b2) Herculis).<\/p>

Its track then takes it northwest, arcing gently across the area south-southwest of the famous Keystone asterism formed from Epsilon (\u03b5), Zeta (\u03b6), Eta (\u03b7) and Pi (\u2260) Herculis.<\/p>

Asteroid Pallas reaches opposition on 17 May, which means its on the opposite side of the Sun in the sky.<\/p>

At the end of the month, Pallas just manages to reach the border between Hercules and Corona Borealis, maintaining brightness and ending its May track at mag. +9.0.\u00a0<\/p>

\"Pallas
An image of the Pallas asteroid, by the Very Large Telescope, 24 February 2020Credit: ESO\/M. Marsset et al.\/MISTRAL algorithm (ONERA\/CNRS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Asteroid Pallas facts and history<\/strong><\/h2>

Pallas was discovered by Heinrich Olbers on 28 March 1802.<\/p>

Interestingly, Charles Messier, the originator of the Messier Catalogue<\/a>, recorded it 23 years earlier while tracking a comet.<\/p>

Messier noted the object, but thought it was a star \u2013 causing its anonymity to be preserved.\u00a0<\/p>

Pallas\u2019s discovery was given a helping hand by the discovery of the first minor planet, 1 Ceres<\/a> (since promoted to dwarf planet).<\/p>

\"Dwarf
Dwarf planet Ceres, as seen by NASA’s Dawn mission. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Ceres was discovered in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi, who initially believed he had recorded a comet.<\/p>

However, studies showed that the motion of Ceres was odd and quite unlike any comet seen before.<\/p>

After several months being lost from sight, Ceres was recovered later in 1801 by Baron von Zach and Heinrich Olbers.<\/p>

It was while attempting to relocate Ceres a few months later that Olbers stumbled across Pallas, its discovery fortuitously helped by the fact that it was positioned near Ceres at the time.<\/p>

This guide originally appeared in the May 2024 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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