Asteroid 354 Eleonora will be well placed, lying in the constellation Canis Minor, well above the horizon for much of the night.

Regardless of your location on the Earth, 354 Eleonora will reach its highest point in the sky around midnight local time.

From Cambridge, it will be visible between 19:05 and 04:14. It will become accessible at around 19:05, when it rises to an altitude of 21° above your eastern horizon. It will reach its highest point in the sky at 23:40, 56° above your southern horizon. It will become inaccessible at around 04:14 when it sinks below 21° above your western horizon.

The geometry of the alignment

This optimal positioning occurs when it makes its closest approach to the point in the sky directly opposite to the Sun – an event termed opposition. Since the Sun reaches its greatest distance below the horizon at midnight, the point opposite to it is highest in the sky at the same time.

At around the same time that 354 Eleonora passes opposition, it also makes its closest approach to the Earth – termed its perigee – making it appear at its brightest in the night sky. This happens because when 354 Eleonora lies opposite to the Sun in the night sky, the solar system is lined up so that 354 Eleonora, the Earth and the Sun lie in a straight line with the Earth in the middle, on the same side of the Sun as 354 Eleonora.

On this occasion, 354 Eleonora will pass within 1.55 AU of us, reaching a peak brightness of magnitude 9.5. Nonetheless, even at its brightest, 354 Eleonora is a faint object beyond the reach of the naked eye; binoculars or a telescope of moderate aperture are needed.

Finding 354 Eleonora

The chart below indicates the path of 354 Eleonora across the sky around the time of opposition.

It was produced using StarCharter and is available for download, either on dark background, in PNG, PDF or SVG formats, or on a light background, in PNG, PDF or SVG formats.