Found mainly in highly elliptical orbits between Mars and Jupiter are thousands of small bodies
called asteroids. Most are extremely small, the largest having a diameter of only 1000 Km, and the
"big four" are Ceres, Pallas, Vesta and Juno. Of these, only Vesta can ever become sufficiently
bright to be seen with the naked-eye at magnitude 6 but several others can be followed through
binoculars and small telescopes. Charts enabling the brighter asteroids to be identified are
published in Popular Astronomy magazine but even with the aid of a powerful telescope they appear no more than starlike points of light.
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