Keep up to date with what’s in the night sky with our guide to comets and asteroids visible tonight<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <\/div>

Credit: Education Images\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <\/div> <\/div>
15 Eunomia initially passes between mag. +6.0 M36 and mag. +6.4 M38, heading along a track that takes it over the diffuse nebula IC 417 adjacent to mag. +5.1 Phi (\u03c6) Aurigae.<\/p>
It scrapes past the southern corner of the Cheshire Cat\u2019s mouth around opposition, thereafter heading southwest along the stars of the cat\u2019s tail.<\/p>
$\"Chart$
Chart showing the location of asteroid Eunomia in December 2024. Credit: Pete Lawrence <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
This is good deep-sky territory too, with the Flaming Star Nebula<\/a> IC 405 and open cluster NGC 1893 surrounded by more diffuse nebula in the form of IC 410, all in the area that Eunomia passes through mid-month.<\/p>
The track ends just south of a point one-third of the way along the line from mag. +2.7 Hassaleh (Iota (\u03b9) Aurigae) and Elnath (Beta (\u03b2) Tauri).\u00a0<\/p>
Eunomia has dimensions of 330 x 245 x 205km and is somewhere between the eighth- and 12th-largest asteroid in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>
If you manage to spot asteroid 15 Eunomia, let us know by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>
This guide appeared in the December 2024 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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