Astroid Closet Approach 2000 Years

[Christina]

On February 24th comet Lulin makes it's closest approach to earth and also near Saturn in constellation Leo and the next day February 25th Ceres the largest asteroid makes it's closest approach in 2000 years. Earth is currently in constellation Leo. Feb. 25: Ceres will be at its closest approach to Earth in 2000 years today.Our largest asteroid, and the first one discovered just over 200 years ago, is named Ceres. It will be at opposition in Leo, not too far from Saturn, on the 25th. It will reach magnitude 6.9, so you would need binoculars to see it. Ceres is now our smallest official "dwarf planet.".........Ceres (pronounced /ˈsɪəriːz/ SEER-eez,[15] or as Latin: Cerēs), formal designation 1 Ceres, is the smallest identified dwarf planet in the Solar System and the only one in the asteroid belt. It was discovered on January 1, 1801, by Giuseppe Piazzi,[16] and is named after the Roman goddess Ceres — the goddess of growing plants, the harvest, and motherly love.With a diameter of about 950 km (roughly the width of Spain, France, and Germany combined), Ceres is by far the largest and most massive body in the asteroid belt, and contains a third (32%) of the belt's total mass.[17][18] Recent observations have revealed that it is spherical, unlike the irregular shapes of smaller bodies with lower gravity.[9] The surface of Ceres is probably made of a mixture of water ice and various hydrated minerals like carbonates and clays.[10] Ceres appears to be differentiated into a rocky core and ice mantle.[4] It may harbour an ocean of liquid water underneath its surface, which makes it a potential target in the search for extraterrestrial life.[18]Ceres' apparent magnitude ranges from 6.7 to 9.3, and hence at its brightest is still too dim to be seen with the naked eye.[11] On September 27, 2007, NASA launched the Dawn space probe to explore Vesta (2011–2012) and Ceres (2015).[19]Works of art depicted Ceres conventionally with a scepter, a basket of flowers and fruit, and a garland made of corn ears (note that "corn" in this instance refers to wheat, barley, or some other old world food grain, not to the new world food grain maize, which is called "corn" in the United States and some other areas of the Western hemisphere).Ceres made up a trinity with Liber and Libera, who were two other agricultural gods. She also had twelve minor gods who assisted her, and were in charge of specific aspects of farming: "Vervactor who turns fallow land, Reparator who prepares fallow land, Imporcitor who plows with wide furrows" (whose name comes from the Latin imporcare, to put into furrows), "Insitor who sowed, Obarator who plowed the surface, Occator who harrowed, Sarritor who weeded, Subruncinator who thinned out, Messor who harvested, Conuector who carted, Conditor who stored, and Promitor who distributed".[1]

 

[jburic09032]

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