Asteroid (4) Vesta 01-04-24

Here’s another asteroid animation. This time I went for a single, big bright main belt asteroid. At 525 km (326 miles) in diameter, (4) Vesta is the second largest asteroid after (1) Ceres (also classified as a dwarf planet).

According to the Minor Planet Center’s prediction, on the night of this session, (4) Vesta was at V magnitude 6.8.

The animation below covers two hours. It consists of 21 images, each a stack of 18 ten-second images. Full details follow below the animation.

Captured with Orion ST-80 (80 mm f/5) telescope and ZWO ASI482MC camera.

Right click here for full-sized image in a new window.

Field of view approximately 60x40 arcminutes.
North is up. East is left.

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Observation Details
January 4, 2024 03:08:59-05:13:26 UT
Seeing: Fair Transparency: Good Sky Condition: Bortle 7
Location: Edmond, Oklahoma USA

Image Details
125-minute time-lapse animation.
North up. East left.
21 images, each a stack of 18 @ 10 seconds (total integration per image 180 seconds/ 3 minutes).
Gain 250
FOV: 61.6 x 38.5 arcmin (1.03°x 0.64°)

Equipment
Telescope: Orion ST-80 (80 mm f/5) + Orion Field Flattener + Baader Fringe Killer Filter
Camera: ZWO ASI482MC
Guide Scope: SVBONY SV165 (30 mm f/4)
Mount: Celestron CGEM

Image Capture & Processing
Capture: SharpCap Pro
Guiding: PHD2
Process: Deep Sky Stacker, GIMP

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