Pallas, the second asteroid to be discovered reaches opposition on February 22, 2014. Peaking at magnitude +7.0, the asteroid will be readily visible in popular 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars for a number of weeks after opposition, slowly weaving its way through the constellations of Hydra and Sextans.

History

Pallas was discovered by German physician and astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on March 28, 1802. It has a diameter of 544 kilometres (338 miles) making it the second largest body in the main asteroid belt. Along with Ceres the only other asteroid discovered at that time, Pallas was initially classified as a planet in its own right and subsequently given its own planetary symbol. Later, after more similar small objects - all in the region between Mars and Jupiter - had been discovered the general term asteroids was coined to describe them.

In 1807, Olbers also discovered Vesta the brightest of all asteroids.

Location and Star Chart

Against the background stars, Pallas is currently moving slowing in a northwestern direction. During February and March it spends most of the time in the constellation of Hydra, except from February 23rd to March 4th when it cuts through the corner of Sextans. During this time the brightness of the asteroid does not change significantly. At the start of February, Pallas shone at magnitude +7.3, increases to +7.0 for a few days either side of opposition on February 22nd before decreasing again to magnitude +7.6 at the end of March. With binoculars and a small telescopes the asteroid should be easy to spot and it's movement noticeable over the course of a few nights.

Although it's the largest constellation in the sky, Hydra contains only one notably bright star, Alphard (α Hya). At magnitude +2.0, Alphard is the same brightness as the North Pole star, Polaris (α UMi). On March 2nd, Pallas is positioned just over 3.5 degrees west of Alphard.

Pallas is visible just after sunset and remains so for the remainder of the evening. It's better placed from tropical regions where it appears high in the sky. During February and for most of March, Southern Hemisphere observers have it slightly better than their Northern counterparts. It's best to look for Pallas from a dark site away from light pollution when the Moon is absent from the sky.

The finder chart below show the positions of Pallas from February 3 to March 25, 2014.

Pallas finder chart from February 3 to March 25, 2014 - pdf format

Pallas Data Table - February/March 2014