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Approaching Opposition with Asteroid Ceres	01.21.2009 20:15

The asteroid Ceres (also known as "1 Ceres") is the largest asteroid that we know of in our solar system, with a diameter of 592 miles (952 km)¹. It orbits in the main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter². Here's the real news: Earth is quickly approaching opposition with Ceres, meaning that it will be the biggest and brightest that it will ever be this year (2009). The interval when Ceres is closest to Earth at about 1.583 AU is from February 24 through 27, 2009, and the brightest it will be is about magnitude 6.9 (not visible by the naked eye, but certainly by binoculars or telescope). Here are some diagrams (all generated with free Home Planet); this first one is a top-down view of the inner solar system, showing the paths from now (January 21, 2009) until 2/28/2009.

The following is a side-view, to show Ceres' high inclination orbit:

And next is a diagram of the path that the asteroid will take in the sky over the next few months:

Right now (Jan 21, 2009) Ceres is in the triangle made by the "legs" of the constellation Leo. It then travels up through into Leo Minor, then as you guessed, it loops back into Leo. The reason why the path goes for a loop is because, from the perspective of the Sun, the Earth "passes" Ceres. The apex of the loop is when Ceres and Earth are at opposition, and closest to each other in their respective orbits. So I encourage you to watch for Ceres once every few nights and see it move across the sky.
References: 1. JPL Small-Body Database Browser - There is also a "3D" orbit animation here 2. Asteroid Orbital Element Distribution
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