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You can begin looking for the main-belt world as soon as it’s nice and dark, as Virgo is already high in the sky.
Two hours after sunset, Virgo’s brightest star, Spica, stands nearly 40° high in the south.
Check the chart above for the positions of stars down to roughly Egeria’s magnitude.
That’s Egeria, sliding slowly to the southwest relative to the stationary background stars.
Egeria is a 6° hop from bright Spica (south of this field) in May. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly
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May 23: View Vallis Alpes
Moving through vast Virgo, 11th-magnitude asteroid 13 Egeria is passing near some stationary background stars tonight, offering an excellent chance to chart its motion over the course of a few hours.
You can begin looking for the main-belt world as soon as it’s nice and dark, as Virgo is already high in the sky. Two hours after sunset, Virgo’s brightest star, Spica, stands nearly 40° high in the south. From this bright star, slide your telescope slowly upward (north) 5°. Now you’re in Egeria’s realm.
Check the chart above for the positions of stars down to roughly Egeria’s magnitude. (Note that you may see even more stars in your scope, if you can pick up fainter ones.) Egeria is near a smattering of 9th- and 10th-magnitude suns; early in the evening, it’s roughly 10’ northwest of a magnitude 8.2 star and about 25’ southeast of a magnitude 8.5 star. There’s also a 10th-magnitude star about 6’ to Egeria’s southeast.
Take a photo or sketch out the pattern you see, and then take some time to check out the other sky wonders on your list. Come back in a few hours — say, three — and snap another photo or make another sketch. Has one of the dots here moved just slightly? That’s Egeria, sliding slowly to the southwest relative to the stationary background stars.
