For the ancient Romans, spring was the season of Ceres, the goddess of cereals and agriculture, the deity of seed and growth. Asteroid 1 Ceres is well placed for observation all during May and June and reaches opposition on the night of May 28–29, when it moves from Ophiuchus into Scorpius.
Ceres, the first discovered asteroid, was found by the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi, who spotted the mysterious object on January 1, 1801, while making observations from the Royal Observatory of Palermo in order to correct those published by Frances Wollaston in 1789. The new star, with its feeble 8th-magnitude light and a colour similar to that of Jupiter, puzzled Piazzi and his assistants, Niccolò Cacciatore and Niccolò Carioti. After he spent several nights chasing the interloper through the sky…