Asteroids visible from Earth

Can anyone let me know if there are currently any ateroids in the solar system that would be clearly visible from Earth?

Im in Scotland and was looking in a sort of westerly direction at about 7pm last night with a clear a sky as can be and seen a star/planet/asteroisd or whtever and was looking for some info??

If you can help let me know.....

Check out Interactive Sky Chart, it will reproduce the stars in the sky from anywhere on earth at any time.

I also use to see this bright "star" in the west at evenings. I have always wondered what it is, it is brighter than the other stars.

Good sky chart.
Mars and Venus lies in that direction. May be one of them.

Kiljo... was it in past months? how long ago? what times. it was eaither mars or venus. most likely venus, though.

anyway, as for you, Blurrr, the only way to view an asteroid is through a telescope and while it's occoltating (passing in front of) a star. they don't reflect light as well as planets, and are not visible otherwise. you'd need more than an the interactive sky chart (though that is very awesome) to find and view one. some software i would recommend would be Mega Star 5 or any of the Starry Night programs. or do a google search for IOTA, which is the International Occultation Timing Association.

some random asteroid info:
the largest is 1 Ceres, discovered in 1801. it has a 4.6 earth-year long orbit. it's also about 580 miles in diameter.

there's over 10,000 discovered, with the majority in the asteroid belt. others are in apollo (earth obit crossing) orbits, amor (mars orbit crossing) orbits, and in trojan (60 degrees ahead and behind jupiter) orbits.

sorry for the asteroid lesson, but i'm procrastinating on typing an english paper.

On 10 Mar 2004 there were 581 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Check out www.SpaceWeather.Com


Near the bottom there is a chart with current NEA with their distances and magnitude....

The bright "star" has been visible for some months maybe 4. I can't remember exactly when I noticed it first.

I also think it is Venus.

spaceweather.com is good. also, just because an asteroid is an NEO doesn't mean that it's neccessarily near the earth at this moment. it just means the orbit comes close to earth's.

also no websites give you the locations in the sky from where you are on earth. the programs i suggested do.

to the Southwest of Scotland @ about 1 0'clock to the Moon "Jupiter" can be seen. To the North Just Above the horizon "Andromeda Galaxy" can be seen.

Originally posted by RizlaKing
to the Southwest of Scotland @ about 1 0'clock to the Moon "Jupiter" can be seen. To the North Just Above the horizon "Andromeda Galaxy" can be seen.

and directly overhead, or there abouts, will be saturn. with a good pair of binoculars you can see the rings of saturn or the moons of jupiter.

Venus and Mars can also be seen before midnight in the same location as Andromeda

Yeah Saturn can be seen by following the bottom right hand Star (Rigel) of Orion to the upper left Star (Betelgeuse) and continuing in a straight line a simimal distance that the 2 stars are apart....My Brother lent me his Telescope and Can say i have seen Saturn's Rings with my own Eyes!!!. Had to tell Everyone i knew...WOW!!!!!

My astronomy prof told me there are two comets headed this way in early April or May, cant remember. Maybe its them?

Originally posted by Malkavin
My astronomy prof told me there are two comets headed this way in early April or May, cant remember. Maybe its them?

there are always comets headed this way... i think you're talking about "Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR)" and "C/2001 Q4 (NEAT)." by may they may outshine most of the stars in the sky. i'm way excited.

I agree that it's probably Venus. It was so bright tonight that I could see it out the window of my living room even with all the lights on in the house.

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
spaceweather.com is good. also, just because an asteroid is an NEO doesn't mean that it's neccessarily near the earth at this moment. it just means the orbit comes close to earth's.

also no websites give you the locations in the sky from where you are on earth. the programs i suggested do.

Yes, i use Starry Night 4.5. It's awesome for people who dont know what everything is exactly!

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid

Originally posted by Malkavin
My astronomy prof told me there are two comets headed this way in early April or May, cant remember. Maybe its them?

there are always comets headed this way... i think you're talking about "Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR)" and "C/2001 Q4 (NEAT)." by may they may outshine most of the stars in the sky. i'm way excited.

Yes, those are the two. Im very excited too.. going to have my video camera out, if they are anything spectacular.