Sky & Telescope - February 2019 - 44

FEBRUARY 2019 OBSERVING
Planetary Almanac

PLANET VISIBILITY Mercury: visible at dusk after the 12th * Venus: visible at dawn
all month * Mars: visible at dusk, sets before midnight * Jupiter: visible at dawn all month *
Saturn: visible at dawn all month

Mercury

Feb 1

10

28

19

February Sun & Planets

Venus
Date

Declination

Elongation

Magnitude

Diameter

Illumination

Distance

1

20h

56.1m

-17° 19′

-

-26.8

32′ 28″

-

0.985

28

22h

41.8m

-8° 15′

-

-26.8

32′ 18″

-

0.990

1

21h 03.9m

-18° 56′

2° Ev

-1.5

4.8″

100%

1.397

10

22h 06.6m

-13° 22′

8° Ev

-1.3

5.1″

96%

1.312

19

23h

04.7m

-6° 17′

15° Ev

-1.1

5.9″

80%

1.144

28

23h

45.7m

+0° 20′

18° Ev

-0.4

7.4″

44%

0.903

1

17h 44.6m

-20° 49′

45° Mo

-4.3

19.2″

62%

0.869

10

18h 28.7m

-21° 13′

44° Mo

-4.2

17.8″

66%

0.935

19

19h

13.5m

-20° 52′

43° Mo

-4.2

16.7″

69%

1.000

28

19h

58.5m

-19° 44′

41° Mo

-4.1

15.7″

72%

1.063

1

1h

15.8m

+8° 20′

69° Ev

+0.9

6.1″

89%

1.527

15

1h 51.4m

+11° 58′

64° Ev

+1.0

5.7″

90%

1.647

28

2h 25.1m

+15° 04′

60° Ev

+1.2

5.3″

91%

1.758

1

17h 06.0m

-22° 14′

54° Mo

-1.9

33.6″

99%

5.859

28

17h

23.1m

-22° 32′

77° Mo

-2.0

36.1″

99%

5.461

1

19h

03.6m

-22° 11′

27° Mo

+0.6

15.2″

100%

10.928

28

19h

15.2m

-21° 53′

51° Mo

+0.6

15.6″

100%

10.645

Uranus

15

1h 48.5m

+10° 38′

63° Ev

+5.8

3.5″

100%

20.282

Neptune

15

23h 06.8m

-6° 44′

19° Ev

+8.0

2.2″

100%

30.867

Sun

Mercury
28

1

Mars

1

15

Venus

28

Jupiter

Mars

15

Jupiter
Saturn

Saturn
15
Uranus

Neptune

The table above gives each object's right ascension and declination (equinox 2000.0) at 0h Universal Time on selected dates,
and its elongation from the Sun in the morning (Mo) or evening (Ev) sky. Next are the visual magnitude and equatorial diameter.
(Saturn's ring extent is 2.27 times its equatorial diameter.) Last are the percentage of a planet's disk illuminated by the Sun and
the distance from Earth in astronomical units. (Based on the mean Earth-Sun distance, 1 a.u. is 149,597,871 kilometers, or
92,955,807 international miles.) For other dates, see skyandtelescope.com/almanac.

10"

PLANET DISKS have south up, to match the
view in many telescopes. Blue ticks indicate the
pole currently tilted toward Earth.

+40°

18h

16h

14h

12h
10h
RIGHT ASCENSION

Vega

+30° CYGNUS

BOÖTES
HERCULES

+20°

Castor GEMINI
Pollux

4h

2h

0h

15

Saturn

CANCER

Spica

IP
CL

TI

C

SAGITTARIUS

Sirius

CORVUS

Jupiter

Mars

PISCES

Uranus

Rigel
ERIDANUS

6 am

2 am

Midnight

10 pm

8 pm

+30°
+20°
+10°

-30°
6 pm

LOCAL TIME OF TRANSIT
4 pm
2 pm

-40°

The Sun and planets are positioned for mid-February; the colored arrows show the motion of each during the month. The Moon is plotted for evening dates in the Americas when it's waxing (right side
illuminated) or full, and for morning dates when it's waning (left side). "Local time of transit" tells when (in Local Mean Time) objects cross the meridian - that is, when they appear due south and at
their highest - at mid-month. Transits occur an hour later on the 1st, and an hour earlier at month's end.

44

FE B RUA RY 2 019 * SK Y & TELESCOPE

0°

-20°

CANIS
MAJOR

4 am

+40°

Feb 9
Neptune
Mercury
CETUS

HYDRA

SCORPIUS

8 am

12

EQUATOR

ORION

Antares

-30°

TAURUS
Betelgeuse

E

26
Venus

ARIES

Procyon

23

LIBRA

-10°

10 am

Regulus

VIRGO

AQUILA

22h
PEGASUS

Pleiades

Feb 19 - 20

OPHIUCHUS

-40°

6h

LEO

Arcturus

+10°
0°

8h

D ECLIN ATION

15

Right Ascension
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/almanac
Sky & Telescope - February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - February 2019
