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Dwarf Planet Ceres is passing close to a background star this evening, making it easy to find and its motion easy to see.
Ceres follows a gently curving path through Cetus the Whale this month, bracketed by a few bright stars. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly
Dwarf planet 1 Ceres, an eighth-magnitude object, is observed in close angular proximity to a fainter ninth-magnitude background star, located 6’ southwest of the background star.
Ceres is positioned within Cetus the Whale, achieving its highest observation point at approximately 40° above the southern horizon around 9 P.M. local time.
Observational guidance for Ceres includes using 1st-magnitude Saturn in northeastern Aquarius and 3.6-magnitude Iota Ceti, with Ceres situated about 3.5° southeast of Iota Ceti.
The constellation Cetus features Diphda (Beta Ceti) as its brightest star, located southeast of Ceres, while Menkar (Alpha Ceti) lies to the northeast; the Moon is in a waning gibbous phase, 82% illuminated.
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Eighth-magnitude dwarf planet 1 Ceres is passing close to a background star tonight, just 6’ southwest of a slightly fainter 9th-magnitude sun. Both are about ¼° north of an easy-to-spot pair of stars as well.
Ceres is located in Cetus the Whale, rising in the afternoon and highest around 9 P.M., when it is roughly 40° high in the south. The brightest point of light in this region of the sky is 1st-magnitude Saturn, which lies in northeastern Aquarius. Some 9.5° to Saturn’s southeast is magnitude 3.6 Iota (ι) Ceti; from here, scan about 3.5° farther southeast with binoculars or a telescope to land on Ceres. It is the southwesternmost point in the pair it currently creates with the fainter background star.
Continue looking southeast from here, and you’ll land on 2nd-magnitude Diphda, also known as Deneb Kaitos. Cataloged as Beta (β) Ceti, this is the brightest star in the constellation Cetus, even outshining its alpha star, Menkar, which sits far to the northeast, near the constellation’s border with Taurus.
Sunrise: 6:37 A.M.
Sunset: 4:49 P.M.
Moonrise: 7:29 P.M.
Moonset: 10:38 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (82%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.