Astronomy - USA (2020-03)

PEG

SGE

EQU

LAC

AQR

CAP SCT

SER

AQL

LY R

CYG

VUL

CNC

PYX

VEL

ANT

CRT HYA

SEX

LEO

LMi

UMa

OPH

HER

CRV

CEN

CVN

BOÖ

CrB

SER

VIR

LIB

LUP

CET

SCL

PHE

PsA

MIC

GRU

PSC

Sun

Celestial equator

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Moon phases Dawn Midnight

Pluto

Saturn

Neptune

Ceres

Jupiter

Mercury

Mars passes less than

1° south of

Jupiter and

Saturn during March

Asteroid Euterpe reaches

opposition March 14

Juno

25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7

Mercury Mars

Venus

Ceres

Ceres

Mars

Uranus

Saturn

Pluto

Jupiter

Jupiter

Earth
Vernal equinox
is March 19

Mercury

Greatest western elongation

is March 23

Venus

Greatest eastern elongation

is March 24

Neptune

Solar conjunction

is March 8

40 ASTRONOMY • MARCH 2020

THE PLANETS

IN THEIR ORBITS

Arrows show the inner

planets’ monthly motions

and dots depict the outer

planets’ positions at

midmonth from high

above their orbits.

To locate the Moon in the sky, draw a line from the phase shown for the day straight up to the curved blue line.

Date

Magnitude

Angular size

Illumination

Distance (AU) from Earth

Distance (AU) from Sun

Right ascension (2000.0)

Declination (2000.0)

PLANETS

March 15

0.5

8.7"

36%

0.773

0.446

22h04.3m

–11°26'

March 15

–4.4

21.3"

56%

0.785

0.718

2h28.7m

17°04'

MERCURY VENUS

PATHS OF THE PLANETS

THE PLANETS IN THE SKY

These illustrations show the size, phase,

and orientation of each planet and the two

brightest dwarf planets at 0h UT for the dates

in the data table at bottom. South is at the top

to match the view through a telescope.