Sky and Telescope - July 2016 - 44

OBSERVING

Planetary Almanac
Sun and Planets, July 2016

Mercury

July

Sun

31

21

11

Venus
Mercury

1

16

31

Mars
Venus

16

1

31
Mars

Jupiter

Jupiter

Saturn
16
Uranus

Saturn

Neptune
Pluto

Uranus
Neptune

+40°

GEMINI
+30°

0h

2h

4h

+23° 06′

-

-26.8

31′ 28″

-

1.017

31

8h 41.6m

+18° 16′

-

-26.8

31′ 31″

-

1.015

1

6h 08.5m

+23° 57′

7° Mo

-1.6

5.2″

95%

1.287

11

7h 42.6m

+23° 04′

5° Ev

-1.7

5.1″

98%

1.329

21

9h 05.0m

+18° 26′

15° Ev

-0.7

5.3″

86%

1.261

31

10h 10.0m

+12° 07′

22° Ev

-0.2

5.9″

73%

1.143

1

7h 09.8m

+23° 22′

7° Ev

-3.9

9.7″

99%

1.719

11

8h 02.5m

+21° 39′

9° Ev

-3.9

9.8″

99%

1.702

21

8h 53.6m

+18° 55′

12° Ev

-3.9

9.9″

98%

1.679

31

9h 42.7m

+15° 18′

15° Ev

-3.9

10.1″

97%

1.651

1

15h 18.9m

-21° 01′ 133° Ev

-1.4

16.3″

93%

0.573

16

15h 25.7m

-21° 37′ 121° Ev

-1.1

14.6″

90%

0.640

31

15h 43.4m

-22° 41′ 111° Ev

-0.8

13.1″

88%

0.717

1

11h 13.5m

+6° 18′

67° Ev

-1.9

34.3″

99%

5.751

31

11h 31.2m

+4° 21′

44° Ev

-1.7

32.1″

100%

6.136

1

16h 38.6m

-20° 21′ 152° Ev

+0.2

18.2″

100%

9.126

31

16h 33.2m

-20° 16′ 122° Ev

+0.3

17.6″

100%

9.464

16

1h 30.5m

89° Mo

+5.8

3.5″

100%

19.940

16

22h 53.2m

-8° 02′ 132° Mo

+7.8

2.3″

100%

29.264

16

19h 07.8m

-21° 09′ 172° Ev

+14.1

0.1″

100%

32.130

20 h

22h

TAURUS

Betelgeuse

0°

27

Uranus

ORION

-30°
-40°

18h

16 h
BOÖTES

ER ID A N U S

CETUS

CANIS
MAJOR
10 am

10 h

14 h
12h
RIGHT ASCENSION
LEO

Arcturus

Mercury
Venus

AQUILA
Regulus

OPHIUCHUS
AQUARIUS

Neptune
C A P R IC O R N U S

ECLI

2 am

VIRGO
E Q U AT O R
LIBRA

July
19 - 20

15
Pluto

SAGITTARIUS
Midnight

Jupiter

0°

11
H Y D R A

Mars
CORVUS

Antares

SCORPIUS
10 pm

8 pm

6 pm

4 pm

+10°

8

Spica

Saturn

PTIC

Fomalhaut

LOCAL TIME OF TRANSIT
8 am
6 am
4 am

+40°
+30°

HERCULES

PISCES

24
Rigel

-10° Sirius
-20°

+8° 49′

CYGNUS

ARIES
PEGASUS

30

Distance

6h 40.8m

Vega

+10°

Illumination

1

Castor

Pleiades

Diameter

Planet disks at left have south up, to match the view in many telescopes. Blue ticks indicate the pole currently tilted
toward Earth.

10"

6h

Magnitude

The table above gives each object's right ascension and declination (equinox 2000.0) at 0 h 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.

16

Pluto

Elongation

DECLINATION

July 1

Right Ascension Declination

2 pm

The Sun and planets are positioned for mid-July; 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

July 2016 sky & telescope

-10°
-20°
-30°
-40°
http://www.SkyandTelescope.com/almanac
Sky and Telescope - July 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - July 2016
