Location of asteroid (7887) Bratfest
at the start of Bratfest 16 Colorado, on
2023 September 16

View from north of the Solar System





Unfortunatey, asteroid Bratfest will not be visible until late in the night for the 2023 bratfest event.

For those who stay up late, it will rise in the NE about 02:55 MDT, and will be situated about 8 degrees west of Venus (which rises later) and between Venus and the two bright stars in constellarion Gemini. (see sky chart below, with the location of Bratfest marked).

The 14-km-sized object will be at a distance from Earth of 3.1 AU and have mag 17.5.

Various other solar system objects will be visible (from west-to-east):

For reference, sunset is about 19:10 and sunrise about 06:45.

Very soon after sunset, you may be able to catch a fleeting glimpse of a not-quite 2-day-old Moon, in a thin crescent, before it sets below the Rockies about an hour after the Sun. It will be just over two-weeks from the spectacular full Moon we had on Aug 30.

The ringed wonder, Saturn, will rise at 18:20 in the SE. At mag 0.5, it will be visible all night. It will remain low in the south, reaching only 37 deg elevation at highest.

Next, The King, Jupiter, at mag -2.7, will rise at 21:15 in the ENE and will be the brightest object in the sky for most of the rest of the night.

If you are up late (or early), Venus will stun your eyes at mag -4.8, rising at 3:40 in the ENE, but only reaching 34 deg elevation by sunrise.

Finally, Mercury comes along, rising in the E at 5:30. It has mag 0.5 and will reach only 14 deg elevation by sunrise. The viewing window will be very short.