1 Ceres's 4.6-year orbit around the Sun will carry it to its furthest point to the Sun – its aphelion – at a distance of 2.98 AU.
In practice, however, 1 Ceres's orbit is very close to circular; its distance from the Sun only varies by about 17.2% between perihelion and aphelion. This means that the difference in the amount of heat and light it receives from the Sun between aphelion and perihelion is extremely small.
Finding 1 Ceres
1 Ceres's distance from the Sun doesn't affect its appearance. From Cambridge, at the moment of aphelion it will not be readily observable since it will be very close to the Sun, at a separation of only 18° from it.
A chart of the path of 1 Ceres across the sky in 1979 can be found here, and a chart of its rising and setting times here.
The position of 1 Ceres at the moment it passes aphelion will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| 1 Ceres | 22h52m30s | 15°31'S | Aquarius | 9.1 | 0.0" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 17 Jul 2024
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85% 12 days old |
All times shown in EDT.
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Warning
Never attempt to point a pair of binoculars or a telescope at an object close to the Sun. Doing so may result in immediate and permanent blindness.
Source
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE430 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
Related news
| 07 Jul 1978 | – 1 Ceres at opposition |
| 04 Oct 1979 | – 1 Ceres at opposition |
| 08 Jan 1981 | – 1 Ceres at opposition |
| 08 May 1982 | – 1 Ceres at opposition |
Image credit
© NASA/Dawn 2015