‘The asteroids are of no interest to the amateur observer; in fact they are of very little interest to anybody.’ So wrote G. F. Chambers, a well-known astronomical author, in 1898. A German professional astronomer, whose name does not seem to have been preserved, even described them as ‘vermin of the skies’, because his photographs were often found to be streaked with unwanted asteroid tracks. The modern view is very different. The asteroids are of immense interest and importance, and indeed one major observatory, the Klĕt Observatory in the Czech Republic, is devoted mainly to studies of them.

These minor ‘planets’ are now divided into two classes: dwarf planets, and Small Solar System Bodies (SSSBs). Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter lies what is termed the Main Belt of what are still universally called asteroids, the largest of which, Ceres, has been elevated to dwarf planet status. All dwarf planets and SSSBs are given numbers, usually (not always) in order of discovery. 1 Ceres was found in 1801, and three more Main Belt objects were discovered before the end of 1807: 2 Pallas, 3 Juno and 4 Vesta. With Ceres they make up the so-called ‘Big Four’, though in fact the fourth largest asteroid is 10 Hygiea, with Juno only fourteenth in order of size. Of the entire Main Belt swarm, only Vesta is ever easily seen with the naked eye.