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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.
In the reference frame of the Earth, where the terms were originally used, the inferior planets are Mercury and Venus, while the superior planets are Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Dwarf planets like Ceres or Pluto and most asteroids are 'superior' in the sense that they almost all orbit outside the orbit of Earth.
A planet that orbits a pulsar or a rapidly rotating neutron star. PSR B1257+12 A, B and C: Rogue planet: Also known as an interstellar planet. A planet that is not bound to any star, stellar remnant or brown dwarf. OGLE-2016-BLG-1928: Superior planets: Planets whose orbits lie outside the orbit of Earth. [nb 1] Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and ...
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 ...
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 ...
Diagram showing the eastern and western quadratures of a superior planet like Mars. In spherical astronomy, quadrature is the configuration of a celestial object in which its elongation is a right angle (90 degrees), i.e., the direction of the object as viewed from Earth is perpendicular to the position of the Sun relative to Earth.
An asteroid called 2020 CD3 was bound to Earth for several years before leaving the planet's orbit in 2020 and another called 2022 NX1 became a mini-moon of Earth in 1981 and 2022 and will return ...
In astronomy and celestial navigation, an ephemeris (/ ɪ ˈ f ɛ m ər ɪ s /; pl. ephemerides / ˌ ɛ f ə ˈ m ɛr ɪ ˌ d iː z /; from Latin ephemeris 'diary', from Ancient Greek ἐφημερίς (ephēmerís) 'diary, journal') [1] [2] [3] is a book with tables that gives the trajectory of naturally occurring astronomical objects and artificial satellites in the sky, i.e., the position ...