Astronomy - USA (2022-01)

AUR

ORI

COL CAE

LEP

SCT

SER

AQL

LYR

CYG

VUL

SGE

DEL

LYN

GEM

MON

PYX PUP

VEL

ANT

CRT

HYA

SEX

LEO

SCO

OPH

HER

DRA

CRV

COM

BOÖ

SER

VIR

LIB

LUP

TEL

SGR

EQU

AQR

CAP

MIC

CB

CV LM

CMA

UM

Path^

of^ the

Sun^ (

ecliptic)^

Path

of^ t

he^ M

oon

Celestial

equator

Sun

Moon phases Dawn Midnight

Mars

Massalia

Comet

67P/C-G

Nysa

Venus

Asteroid Iris reaches

opposition January 13

4 3 2 1

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14

Mercury

Venus

Ceres

Mars

Uranus

Neptune

Saturn

Jupiter

Jupiter

Earth

Perihelion is

January 3/4

Venus
Inferior conjunction
is January 8

Mercury

Greatest eastern elongation

is January 7

Pluto

Solar conjunction

is January 16

36 ASTRONOMY • JANUARY 2022

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

Jan. 1

–0.7

5.9"

78%

1.142

0.363

20h01.5m

–22°22'

Jan. 31

–4.8

50.0"

14%

0.334

0.719

18h44.8m

–16°15'

MERCURY VENUS

PATHS OF THE PLANETS