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Two main belt asteroids, which orbit between Mars and Jupiter, can currently be seen with binoculars and small telescopes, reports Sky and Telescope. The asteroids are 1 Ceres, the largest asteroid in the main belt with a diameter of 934 kilometres, and Melpomene, which has a diameter of 150 km. Both asteroids will pass through the constellation of Cetus, the Whale, over the next three months and will be brighter than faint stars. Ceres will be brightest at opposition to the Sun on October, 9.
Ceres was the first asteroid to be discovered and was found in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi whilst he was compiling a star catalogue. It is a C-type asteroid rich in water and carbon and is located at around 2.76 times the distance from the Sun as the Earth. Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope show the presence of a large crater that has been named Piazzi in honour of the asteroids discoverer. Ceres will be visited by the NASA Dawn Discovery mission that is due to be launched in 2006.
Melpomene was discovered in 1852 by English astronomer John Russell Hind and was the 18th asteroid to be found. Although smaller than Ceres, 18 Melpomene is nearly as bright since it reflects almost twice the amount of light from the Sun and is closer to Earth at 2.29 the Earth-Sun distance. It is an S-type asteroid that consists mainly of silicate minerals and metal.
Both 1 Ceres and 18 Melpomene are main belt asteroids and have nearly circular orbits that lie far from Earth between the paths of Mars and Jupiter. Near Earth Asteroids were also originally from the main belt and were disturbed into orbits that cross those of the inner planets by the gravitational effects of Jupiter.
For more information on how to find Ceres and Melpomene in the night sky refer to Sky and Telescope.
More info: Sky and Telescope
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