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The superior planets, orbiting outside the Earth's orbit, do not exhibit a full range of phases since their maximum phase angles are smaller than 90°. Mars often appears significantly gibbous, it has a maximum phase angle of 45°. Jupiter has a maximum phase angle of 11.1° and Saturn of 6°, [1] so their phases are almost always full.
Superior planets, dwarf planets and asteroids undergo a different cycle. After conjunction, such an object's elongation continues to increase until it approaches a maximum value larger than 90° (impossible with inferior planets) which is known as opposition and can also be examined as a heliocentric conjunction with Earth. This is archetypally ...
The Astronomical Almanac [1] is an almanac published by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office; it also includes data supplied by many scientists from around the world.On page vii, the listed major contributors to its various Sections are: H.M Nautical Almanac Office, United Kingdom Hydrographic Office; the Nautical Almanac Office, United States Naval Observatory; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ...
Rather, since the planets all orbit along or near the plane of our solar system, called the ecliptic, they appear in a line across the sky. It's the same reason the sun always follows the same ...
For some objects, such as the Moon (see lunar phases), Venus and Mercury the phase angle (as seen from the Earth) covers the full 0–180° range. The superior planets cover shorter ranges. For example, for Mars the maximum phase angle is about 45°. For Jupiter, the maximum is 11.1° and for Saturn 6°. [1]
Jupiter on Saturday will shine at its brightest for the year, as Earth’s orbit swings our planet between Jupiter and the sun. Weather permitting, the gas giant will not only be brighter than ...
The apparent brightness of Mercury as seen from Earth is greatest at phase angle 0° (superior conjunction with the Sun) when it can reach magnitude −2.6. [14] At phase angles approaching 180° (inferior conjunction) the planet fades to about magnitude +5 [14] with the exact brightness depending on the phase angle at that particular ...
The planets will form a line, but it is almost never a straight line as the orbits are not the same. There are four different kinds of planetary alignments. Each is dependent upon the number of ...