Sky & Telescope - May 2020 - 44
MAY 2020 OBSERVING
Planetary Almanac
PLANET VISIBILITY (40°N, naked-eye, approximate) Mercury: visible at dusk after the 11th *
Venus: remains visible at dusk until the end of the month * Mars: a pre-dawn object throughout May *
Jupiter and Saturn lie within 5° of each other all month and are positioned reasonably high before dawn
Mercury
May 1
11
May Sun & Planets
31
21
Venus
Date
Declination
Elongation
Magnitude
Diameter
Illumination
Distance
1
2h
33.6m
+15° 04ƍ
-
-26.8
31ƍ 45Ǝ
-
1.008
31
4h
32.3m
+21° 55ƍ
-
-26.8
31ƍ 33Ǝ
-
1.014
1
2h 16.8m
+12° 53ƍ
5° Mo
-1.8
5.1Ǝ
98%
1.326
11
3h 41.1m
+20° 35ƍ
7° Ev
-1.6
5.2Ǝ
95%
1.281
21
5h 05.0m
+24° 58ƍ
18° Ev
-0.7
6.0Ǝ
72%
1.115
31
6h
11.7m
+25° 28ƍ
23° Ev
0.0
7.4Ǝ
47%
0.910
1
5h
09.7m
+27° 45ƍ
38° Ev
-4.7
38.9Ǝ
25%
0.429
11
5h 21.6m
+27° 34ƍ
31° Ev
-4.7
45.6Ǝ
16%
0.366
21
5h 17.1m
+26° 23ƍ
20° Ev
-4.4
52.7Ǝ
6%
0.317
31
4h
+24° 01ƍ
6° Ev
-
57.4Ǝ
1%
0.291
1
21h
37.1m
-15° 55ƍ
79° Mo
+0.4
7.6Ǝ
86%
1.229
16
22h
17.5m
-12° 44ƍ
84° Mo
+0.2
8.4Ǝ
85%
1.120
31
22h 56.3m
-9° 20ƍ
88° Mo
0.0
9.2Ǝ
85%
1.016
1
19h 54.9m
-20° 57ƍ
104° Mo
-2.3
40.7Ǝ
99%
4.844
31
19h 54.4m
-21° 03ƍ
133° Mo
-2.6
44.6Ǝ
99%
4.425
1
20h
15.4m
-19° 54ƍ
99° Mo
+0.6
16.9Ǝ
100%
9.810
31
20h
14.5m
-20° 00ƍ
128° Mo
+0.4
17.8Ǝ
100%
9.356
Uranus
16
2h 20.9m
+13° 34ƍ
18° Mo
+5.9
3.4Ǝ
100%
20.762
Neptune
16
23h 26.0m
-4° 48ƍ
65° Mo
+7.9
2.3Ǝ
100%
30.344
Sun
Mercury
1
16
31
Venus
Mars
1
Right Ascension
16
31
Jupiter
Mars
Jupiter
16
Saturn
Saturn
16
Uranus
57.0m
Neptune
10"
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 timely information about the planets, visit skyandtelescope.org.
PLANET DISKS have south up, to match the
view in many telescopes. Blue ticks indicate the
pole currently tilted toward Earth.
2h
+40°
0h
22h
20h
18h
16h
14h
12h
RIGHT ASCENSION
Vega
+30°
Uranus P I S C E S
PEGASUS
AQ UAR I US
-30°
- 40°
Neptune
DECLINATION
-20°
VIRGO
CETUS
Fomalhaut
11
Saturn
Antares
8 am
ECL
IPT
IC
CORVUS
6 am
4 am
S CORP IUS
2 am
Midnight
+30°
Mercury
TA U R U S
Procyon
0°
Rigel -10°
Sirius
-20°
H Y D R A
CANIS
MAJOR
LOCAL TIME OF TRANSIT
10 pm
8 pm
6 pm
4 pm
-30°
2 pm
The Sun and planets are positioned for mid-May; 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
M AY 2 0 2 0 * S K Y & T E L E S C O P E
+10°
ORION
CAPR I CO R NUS
SAGITTARIUS
10 am
Spica
LIBRA
Jupiter
Mars
14
4h
Betelgeuse
EQUATOR
May
6 -7
17
29
CA NCER
AURIGA
Venus
Regulus
OPHIUCHUS
0°
-10°
2
AQ UI LA
+10°
6h
GEMINI
26
LEO
Arcturus
HERCULES
8h
Castor
Pollux
BOÖTES
CYGNUS
ARIES
10h
- 40°
http://www.skyandtelescope.org
Sky & Telescope - May 2020
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Contents
Sky & Telescope - May 2020 - Cover1
Sky & Telescope - May 2020 - Cover2
Sky & Telescope - May 2020 - 1
Sky & Telescope - May 2020 - Contents
Sky & Telescope - May 2020 - 3
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