Astronomy - USA (2020-04)

ARI

CET

FOR

SCL

GRU

PsA

AND

TRI

PEG

SGE

LAC

AQR

CAP

MIC

CrA

SGR

SCT

AQL SER

LY R

CYG

VUL

ANT

CRT HYA

LEO

LMi

UMa

SCO

OPH

HER

CEN

CRV

COM

CVN

BOÖ

CrB

SER

VIR

LIB

LUP

PSC

Path^ o

f^ the^ M

oon^

Celestial equator

Moon phases Dawn Midnight

Sun

Pluto

Saturn

Neptune

Ceres

Jupiter

Mer

cury

Mars

Asteroid Juno reaches

opposition April 2

24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5

Mercury Mars

Venus

Ceres

Mars

Earth

Saturn

Neptune

Pluto

Venus Mercury

Jupiter

Jupiter

Uranus

Solar conjunction

is April 26

40 ASTRONOMY • APRIL 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

April 1

0.0

6.6"

64%

1.019

0.463

23h08.1m

–7°53'

April 15

–4.7

30.6"

38%

0.546

0.720

4h26.8m

26°12'

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.