in binocular range but generally not for the naked eye. Under perfect dark sky conditions where all light pollution is absent it might be visible to an experienced observer without the use of a telescope or binoculars. Vesta came to opposition again on 5 August 2011, in the constellation of Capricornus at about magnitude 5.6. 2012–2013 Vesta was at opposition again on 9 December 2012. According to Sky and Telescope magazine, this year Vesta came within about 6 degrees of 1 Ceres during the winter of 2012 and spring 2013. Vesta orbits the Sun in 3.63 years and Ceres in 4.6 years, so every 17.4 years Vesta overtakes Ceres (the previous overtaking was in April 1996). On 1 December 2012, Vesta had a magnitude of 6.6, but it had decreased to 8.4 by 1 May 2013. 2014 Ceres and Vesta came within one degree of each other in the night sky in July 2014. See also 3103 Eger 3551 Verenia 3908 Nyx 4055 Magellan Asteroids in fiction Diogenite Eucrite Former classification of planets Howardite Vesta family (vestoids) List of tallest mountains in the Solar System Notes References Bibliography The Dawn Mission to Minor Planets 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres, Christopher T. Russell and Carol A. Raymond (Editors), Springer (2011), Keil, K.; Geological History of Asteroid 4 Vesta: The Smallest Terrestrial Planet in Asteroids III, William Bottke, Alberto Cellino, Paolo Paolicchi, and Richard P. Binzel, (Editors), University of Arizona Press (2002), External links Interactive 3D gravity simulation of the Dawn spacecraft in orbit around Vesta Vesta Trek – An integrated map browser of datasets and maps for 4 Vesta JPL Ephemeris Views of the Solar System: Vesta HubbleSite: Hubble Maps the Asteroid Vesta Encyclopædia Britannica, Vesta – full article HubbleSite: short movie composed from Hubble Space Telescope images from November 1994. Adaptive optics views of Vesta from Keck Observatory 4 Vesta images at ESA/Hubble Dawn at Vesta (NASA press kit on Dawn's operations at Vesta) NASA video Vesta atlas Vesta Vesta 20110716 Former dwarf planets Former dwarf planet candidates Articles containing video clips V-type asteroids (Tholen) V-type asteroids (SMASS) 18070329 18070329 Vesta (mythology)