This weekend, astronomy enthusiasts will be able to watch live as the first ever discovered
Virtual telescope project in Rome (VirtualThe Telescope Project will host a live broadcast beginning at 11:00 pm ET on Sunday, March 26, when Ceres will be visible in front of the galaxy Messier 100 (M100).
According to NASA, Ceres is the largestobject in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and accounts for almost a third of the mass of the asteroid belt. It was originally thought to be an asteroid after its discovery more than 200 years ago. But since 2006, when Pluto lost its planet status, Ceres was classified as a dwarf planet. Ceres is about 14 times smaller than Pluto and is the only dwarf planet in the inner Solar System.
According to the Virtual Telescope Project,This weekend, Ceres will "meet" distant spiral galaxy M100 in the night sky, although in reality the two objects will be trillions of kilometers apart.
During line of sight, Ceres will be locatedat a distance of about 240 million km from Earth, and M100 is at a distance of about 55 million light years. According to the Virtual Telescope Project, powerful stargazing binoculars should be enough to see Ceres, while a good small telescope should be able to see M100. Using a special application, find the constellation Coma Berenices.
Messier 100 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices. This object is among those listed in the original edition of the New General Catalogue.
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On the cover: a preliminary encounter between the dwarf planet Ceres and the spiral galaxy Messier 100 in the night sky. Image Credit: Gianluca Masi/The Virtual Telescope Project