AND
TRI
ARI PSC
PEG
SGE
EQU
LAC
AQR
CAP
SCT
AQL SER
CYG LY R
VUL
PER
OPH
HER
CRV
COM
CVn
BOÖ
CrB
SER
VIR
LIB
PSC
CET
SCL
TAU
FOR
ERI
SGR
CrA
SCO
LUP
Celestial equator
Moon phases Dawn Midnight
Sun
Pat
h (^) o
f (^) the
Mo
on
Uranus
Pluto
Saturn
Neptune
Ceres
Jupiter
Mar
s
The Moon passes 2° south
of Jupiter on May 12
Herculina
Pallas
Iris
23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
Mercury
Venus
Ceres
Earth Mars
Uranus
Neptune
Saturn
Pluto
Venus
Jupiter
Jupiter
Mercury
Superior conjunction
is May 4
40 ASTRONOMY • MAY 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
May 31
0.0
7.4"
47%
0.910
0.397
6h11.7m
25°28'
May 15
–4.6
48.5"
12%
0.344
0.723
5h21.9m
27°14'
MERCURY VENUS
PATHS OF THE PLANETS