Astronomy - USA (2020-01)

AUR

TAU

ORI

COL

LEP

SCT

SER

AQL

LY R

CYG

VUL

DEL SGE

LY N

GEM

CNC

ANT PYX PUP

CRT

HYA

SEX

LEO

OPH

HER

DRA

CRV

COM

BOÖ

SER

VIR

LIB

LUP

TEL

SGR

EQU

AQR

CAP

MIC

CrB

CVn

CMA

UMa

Path^ o

f the^ S

un^ (ec

liptic

)^

Path

of^ th

e^ Moo

n^

Celestial equator

Sun

Moon phases Dawn Midnight

Pluto

Saturn Jupiter

Mars

Asteroid Astraea reaches

opposition January 20/21

Asteroid Davida reaches

opposition January 14/15

Ceres

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

Mercury Mars

Venus

Ceres

Mars

Uranus

Neptune

Venus

Jupiter

Jupiter

Earth

Perihelion

is January 5

Pluto

Solar conjunction

is January 13

Saturn

Solar conjunction

is January 13

Mercury

Superior conjunction

is January 10

Ceres

Solar conjunction

is January 13

40 ASTRONOMY • JANUARY 2020

THE PLANETS

IN THEIR ORBITS

Arrows show the inner

planets’ monthly motions

and dots depict the outer

planets’ positions at mid-

month 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

Jan. 31

–1.0

5.5"

87%

1.212

0.348

21h47.3m

–14°46'

Jan. 15

–4.0

13.9"

79%

1.196

0.725

22h15.3m

–12°31'

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 panets at 0h UT for the dates

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

to match the view through a telescope.