Sky and Telescope - August 2016 - 44

OBSERVING

Planetary Almanac
Sun and Planets, August 2016

Mercury

August

Elongation

Magnitude

Diameter

Illumination

Distance

+18° 01′

-

-26.8

31′ 31″

-

1.015

+8° 39′

-

-26.8

31′ 41″

-

1.009

10h 15.6m

+11° 27′

23° Ev

-0.2

5.9″

72%

1.130

11

11h 04.2m

+4° 59′

27° Ev

+0.1

6.8″

59%

0.992

21

11h

37.6m

-0° 28′

27° Ev

+0.4

7.9″

44%

0.847

31

11h

49.2m

-3° 18′

21° Ev

+1.1

9.5″

24%

0.710

1

9h 47.5m

+14° 54′

15° Ev

-3.8

10.1″

96%

1.648

11

10h 34.6m

+10° 32′

18° Ev

-3.8

10.3″

95%

1.614

21

11h

20.3m

+5° 43′

21° Ev

-3.8

10.6″

94%

1.575

31

12h

05.0m

+0° 38′

23° Ev

-3.8

10.9″

92%

1.533

1

15h 44.9m

-22° 46′

110° Ev

-0.8

13.0″

87%

0.722

16

16h 11.8m

-24° 00′

102° Ev

-0.5

11.6″

86%

0.804

31

16h

45.4m

-25° 05′

95° Ev

-0.3

10.5″

85%

0.889

1

11h

31.8m

+4° 17′

43° Ev

-1.7

32.1″

100%

6.146

31

11h 53.6m

+1° 54′

20° Ev

-1.7

30.9″

100%

6.387

1

16h 33.1m

-20° 16′

121° Ev

+0.3

17.5″

100%

9.479

31

16h

33.6m

-20° 23′

92° Ev

+0.5

16.7″

100%

9.952

Uranus

16

1h

30.4m

+8° 47′

119° Mo

+5.8

3.6″

100%

19.441

Neptune

16

22h 50.7m

-8° 18′

162° Mo

+7.8

2.4″

100%

28.988

Pluto

16

19h 04.9m

-21° 18′

142° Ev

+14.2

0.1″

100%

32.355

Sun

Venus

Mercury

1

16

31
Venus

Mars

16

1

31
Mars

Jupiter

Jupiter

Saturn
16

Saturn

Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
8h

+30°

GEMINI

6h

2h
4h
RIGHT ASCENSION

Pollux

Pleiades

+20°

- 40°

CANIS
MAJOR
10 am

8 am

AQ UI LA

CETUS

Aug 17 -18
Pluto

CAPRI CO RN US

ECLI

Midnight

8 pm

6 pm

H Y D R A
4 pm

0°
-10°

Mars
SCORPIUS

+10°

Mercury
CORVUS

Saturn

PTIC

SAGITTARIUS
10 pm

7

10

13

Fomalhaut

LOCAL TIME OF TRANSIT
6 am
4 am
2 am

Venus
Jupiter

AQ UARI US

Neptune

+20°

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA
ERIDANUS

10 h
+30°

Arcturus

HERCULES

E Q U AT O R
Rigel

12h

14 h
BOÖTES

CYGNUS

22

ORION

-30°

16h

18h
Vega

OPHIUCHUS

Procyon

Sirius

20 h

Uranus

TA U R U S

-20°

22h

0h

PEGASUS
PISCES

Betelgeuse

-10°

1

ARIES

25

28

0°

37.9m

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

10"

Castor

31

10h

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

+40°

1

45.5m

31

21

11

8h

2 pm

DECLINATION

Aug 1

Right Ascension Declination

-20°
-30°
- 40°

The Sun and planets are positioned for mid-August; 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

August 2016 sky & telescope
http://www.SkyandTelescope.com/almanac
Sky and Telescope - August 2016

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