{"id":59215,"date":"2024-05-28T10:28:27","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T10:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/af00842c-0c8a-469b-8738-1ece82f0e3ba"},"modified":"2024-05-28T10:51:38","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T10:51:38","slug":"the-dwarf-planet-and-the-teapot-see-ceres-meet-the-famous-star-pattern-as-it-approaches-its-best-position","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/the-dwarf-planet-and-the-teapot-see-ceres-meet-the-famous-star-pattern-as-it-approaches-its-best-position\/","title":{"rendered":"The dwarf planet and the Teapot. See Ceres meet the famous star pattern as it approaches its best position"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dwarf planet Ceres passes low, heading to the Teapot. <\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 28 May 2024 at 10:28 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Dwarf planet Ceres reaches opposition<\/a> on 5 July 2024, making the end of June an ideal time to try to locate it, and you can see it pass through the Teapot asterism as throughout the summer.<\/p>

Observing the night sky from the Northern Hemisphere is challenging at the moment.<\/p>

With the Sun at its highest point in the sky relative to the background stars, the nights just don\u2019t get properly dark from mid-northern locations such as the UK.<\/p>

However, in late June at least they\u2019re starting to get better, albeit very slowly.<\/p>

Chart showing the location of Ceres in June and July 2024, passing into the Teapot asterism. Click to expand. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>
**Finding Ceres and the Teapot<\/strong><\/h2>**In June 2024, Ceres<\/a> is located in a low part of the sky in Sagittarius<\/a>.<\/p>
This too is a challenging pattern to see from the UK as it has a southerly declination.<\/p>
In fact, we don\u2019t get to see it properly at all, the constellation being chopped in two by the southern horizon.<\/p>
One pattern that can be made out here is that of the Teapot asterism<\/a>.<\/p>
It gets this name because it resembles the outline of a teapot.<\/p>
$\"Image$
Image of Sagittarius and the Teapot asterism by John Chumack, Cape Cod, MA, USA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The best time to spot the Teapot asterism is when it\u2019s highest in the sky:<\/p>
01:15 BST (00:15 UT) at the end of June<\/li>
00:15 BST (23:15 UT) in mid-July<\/li>
23:15 BST (22:15 UT) at the end of July<\/li><\/ul>
Ceres is just to the southeast of the Teapot\u2019s handle at the end of June, tracking west and into the Teapot itself, passing just to the north of Ascella (Zeta (\u03b6) Sagittarii) around 9 July.<\/p>
For the first half of July, it shines at a binocular-friendly mag. +7.3, heading towards eighth magnitude as the end of July approaches.<\/p>
**Have you observed or photographed Ceres in the teapot? Get in touch by emailing** **contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n**
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dwarf planet Ceres passes low, heading to the Teapot. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":59216,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/the-dwarf-planet-and-the-teapot-see-ceres-meet-the-famous-star-pattern-as-it-approaches-its-best-position.jpg",1200,955,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/the-dwarf-planet-and-the-teapot-see-ceres-meet-the-famous-star-pattern-as-it-approaches-its-best-position-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/the-dwarf-planet-and-the-teapot-see-ceres-meet-the-famous-star-pattern-as-it-approaches-its-best-position-300x239.jpg",300,239,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/the-dwarf-planet-and-the-teapot-see-ceres-meet-the-famous-star-pattern-as-it-approaches-its-best-position-768x611.jpg",768,611,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/the-dwarf-planet-and-the-teapot-see-ceres-meet-the-famous-star-pattern-as-it-approaches-its-best-position-1024x815.jpg",800,637,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/the-dwarf-planet-and-the-teapot-see-ceres-meet-the-famous-star-pattern-as-it-approaches-its-best-position.jpg",1200,955,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/05\/the-dwarf-planet-and-the-teapot-see-ceres-meet-the-famous-star-pattern-as-it-approaches-its-best-position.jpg",1200,955,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":"Dwarf planet Ceres passes low, heading to the Teapot.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/59215"}],"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:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}