The TASS Telescope recorded VESTA as it passed through CEPHUS in September and October in 1997. VESTA will soon start its path into a Barclay circle. This 6th magnitude naked eye asteroid was discovered by Heinrich Olber in 1807. Later studies by the Hubble Space Telescope on Nov. 28 and Dec.1, 1994, while Vesta was 156 million miles from Earth showed large features. Vesta has a diameter of 326 miles and rotates about its axis in 5.34 hours.

Here's a SkyMap© image for October 2^nd & 3^rd of VESTA and Thetis as they pace together across the edges of the constellation CEPHUS. By the end of November both asteroids will be well into their Barclay circles. Click on the image below for a larger (150-kb) area view of VESTA and the local star field.

	(Left) We have a moving image of asteroid VESTA as it passes through the local stars field of the constellation CEPHUS. These are actual images taken by the TASS telescope. Filtered (to remove the noise) then compiled together as an animation using 3 individual images taken over approximately 4 days. The stars range from magnitude 13th up to 10th , with VESTA at magnitude 6.5 during the transition. CLICK on the image for a larger view.
TASS ON THE WEB	AstroWeb: Astronomy/Astrophysics resources on the Internet

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Here's a great shot of passing Man-made satellites. The telescope can captures images of orbiting satellites.

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The telescope occasionally records Comic Ray hits. Extremely high energy cosmic rays are one of many the most enigmatic particles in nature.Here are some possible hits from the East/South/West sensors.

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The TASS Telescope project can help you with understanding Digital Image Processing of Astronomical Images. Join the APL Amateur Astronomy Club today. Just $20 / year for you and the family (press HERE for more details).

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APL TASS will be part of included an article in the February issue of Sky & Telescope Magazine. Look for the APL TASS telescope.

(CLICK on image for larger view)