Asteroid 532 Herculina will be well placed, lying in the constellation Bootes, well above the horizon for much of the night.

Regardless of your location on the Earth, 532 Herculina will reach its highest point in the sky around midnight local time.

From Cambridge, it will be visible all night. It will become visible at around 20:27 (EST), 23° above your eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. It will then reach its highest point in the sky at 01:29, 66° above your southern horizon. It will be lost to dawn twilight at around 05:03, 39° 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 532 Herculina 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 532 Herculina lies opposite to the Sun in the night sky, the solar system is lined up so that 532 Herculina, the Earth and the Sun lie in a straight line with the Earth in the middle, on the same side of the Sun as 532 Herculina.

On this occasion, 532 Herculina will pass within 1.352 AU of us, reaching a peak brightness of magnitude 9.1. Nonetheless, even at its brightest, 532 Herculina is a faint object beyond the reach of the naked eye; binoculars or a telescope of moderate aperture are needed.

Finding 532 Herculina

The chart below indicates the path of 532 Herculina 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.