Astronomy - USA (2021-12)

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MON

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PYX

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P Celestial equator

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of^

the

Mo

on^

Path

Dawn Midnight

Moon phases

Sun

Asteroid Nysa reaches

opposition December 10

Uranus

Massalia Iris Ceres

Mars

Comet 67P/C-G

A total solar eclipse occurs across

parts of Antarctica on December 3/4

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et^

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21

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6 5 4 3 2 1

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15

Mercury

Venus

Ceres

Mars

Uranus

Neptune

Saturn

Pluto

Venus

Mercury

Jupiter

Jupiter

Earth

Winter solstice is

December 21

36 ASTRONOMY • DECEMBER 2021

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

Dec. 31

–0.8

5.8"

80%

1.163

0.369

19h55.4m

–22°44'

Dec. 15

–4.9

48.7"

16%

0.342

0.721

19h52.0m

–22°02'

MERCURY VENUS

PATHS OF THE PLANETS