2015 Astronomical Calendar

AntaresAntares

HadarHadar

DenebDeneb

MimosaMimosa

AcruxAcrux

SpicaSpica

AltairAltair

FomalhautFomalhaut

VegaVega

AchernarAchernar

ArcturusArcturus

RigilkentRigilkent

SunSun

CanopusCanopus

SiriusSirius

ProcyonProcyon

RegulusRegulus

CapellaCapella

PolluxPollux

AdharaAdhara

AldebaranAldebaran

CastorCastor

RigelRigel

BetelgeuseBetelgeuse

Astronomical Calendar 2015Astronomical Calendar 2015

DenebStellated stars

COVER PICTURE: Stellated Stars. Before we discovered thatstars are huge globes of hot matter, we saw them aspoints of light with spiky rays sticking out. All stars exceptthe Sun are so far away that they would appear as pointsonly, with essentially no radius, but the optics of the eye—and of cameras—spreads the light of the brighter pointsand adds these shimmering spikes. That is why stars areconventionally drawn as little shapes with radiating spikes.And that is why geometric shapes with triangles stickingout of them are called stellated, “starred.” And if the sym-bol is merely made of radiating lines instead of triangles, itis an asterisk, “little star.”

(Merriam-Webster’s website, after briefly defining stel-lated, adds: “This word doesn’t usually appear in our freedictionary, but the definition from our premium UnabridgedDictionary is offered here on a limited basis. To access thecomplete Unabridged Dictionary, with an additional300,000 words, start a free trial . . .” “What,” commentsLarry Bohlayer, who told me about this, “they will takeaway our word? May we no longer use it once the freetrial period is over?” Well, we will use it.)

Here is a row of polygons (many-sided two-dimension-al figures—Greek polys, “much” or “many,” and gônia,“corner” or “angle”):

They are the triangle, quadrangle, pentagon, hexagon,heptagon, octagon (first two names Latin-derived, the oth-ers Greek). Actually these are just the special cases ofthem that have equal sides and angles, the first two beingthe equilateral triangle and the square. And here they arestellated:

The stellations, if that is what they are called—the tri-angles added to each face—can have any height, or theycould even cut inward; I’ve just chosen a radius from thecenter to the tips that is twice that of the radius to the cen-tral polygons’ corners.

You can see what happens if, instead, this distance ischosen carefully so that the stellation’s sides are in linewith the inner polygon’s sides. (This is impossible with,

only, the triangle and square—the lines would run to infin-ity,) The stellated hexagon (“Star of David”) could bedrawn as two triangles superimposed. The stellated pen-tagon (pentagram, a symbol of life, reminiscent of ahuman being, with head and four limbs), and the 7- and 8-pointed shapes, could be drawn continuously with strokesthat cross over each other in running to non-adjacent tips.

Polygons tend to become heavy with symbolism. I’venoticed that some police badges are, for some reason, anonagon (9-pointed, should be enneagon) with not-quite-continuous short stellations.

And then, polyhedrons, or, if you prefer, polyhedra.They are many-faced three-dimensional figures. Whenthe Greeks came to talk about geometrical solids, the termthey chose for what we call a “face” was hedra, “seat.” (In

2 INTRODUCTION

WHERE?

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR?

TIME ZONES

BLOCK CALENDAR

4 ALL-YEAR CHART

ALL-SKY CHART

CONTENTS

6 JANUARY

8 FEBRUARY

10 MARCH

12 APRIL

14 MAY

16 JUNE

18 JULY

20 AUGUST

22 SEPTEMBER

24 OCTOBER

26 NOVEMBER

28 DECEMBER

30 SCENES

32 SUN, EARTH, AND SEASONS

34 COVER PICTURE, CONTINUED

35 MOON

37 SPECIAL MOONS

38 YOUNG MOON, OLD MOON

40 MERCURY; VENUS

42 MERCURY AND VENUS HORIZON SCENES

44 MARS

45 OUTER PLANETS

46 JUPITER

48 SATURN

50 URANUS AND NEPTUNE

51 PLUTO

52 ASTEROIDS

54 COMETS

58 OCCULTATIONS

60 METEORS

63 ECLIPSES

68 ZODIAC CHARTS

72 MAGNITUDE GRAPH

ELONGATION GRAPH

73 GLOSSARY

74 RISING AND SETTING

Continued on page 34

Sponsored by

The Department of Physics, Furman University,

Greenville, South Carolina

The Astronomical League9201 Ward Parkway, Suite 100, Kansas City, MO 64114

816-DEEP-SKY www.astroleague.org

Universal Workshopwww.Universa lWorkshop.comRaynham, Mass., and Lyme Regis, England

ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR

2015

by

Guy Ottewell

2 Astronomical Calendar 2015

Copyright © 2014 by Guy Ottewell. Printed in the United States ofAmerica. All rights reserved. Parts may be reproduced with prior permis-sion and with acknowledgment.

ISBN 978-0-934546-70-6 ISSN 1051-6174

The first small issue of this annual book was for the year 1974.

Some other publications by Guy Ottewell:

The Astronomical CompanionGeneral guide to astronomy (not annual), with many 3-D diagrams

Albedo to ZodiacGlossary of astronomical terms, with pronunciation, origin, meaning

To Know the StarsYoung people’s introduction to astronomy. NEW EDITION 2014

The Thousand-Yard Model, or, The Earth as a PeppercornInstructions for a walk making vivid the scale of the solar system

The Under-Standing of EclipsesThe geometry, history, and beauty of eclipses

Berenice’s HairStory of the stolen tress that became the constellation Coma Berenices.

The Troy Town TaleThe whole legend of Troy, in the form of a novel

Portrait of a MillionPoster conveying the concept of a million, with million-facts

American Indian Map, and Navajo Map

The Arithmetic of VotingLanguage (poems)

Plurry: a musical instrument

The Spiral LibraryStripe Latin: a grammar game

Ten-Minute History of the World; and, Queen Guinevere’s Rules

Think Like a Mother: a photo book of human rights

Turkey, A Very Short History

The Winged Velocipede; or, how to f ly overseas with your bicycle

PrefaceAstronomical Calendar 2015 retains some of the added features of the 2014 issue, while returningto the general layout of previous years. Some readers enjoyed having the material for a monthcollected in one place, others were disconcerted at not finding things where they were accustomedto finding them. Astronomy is multi-dimensional.

I am again heartily grateful to John Goss, now President of the Astronomical League, for proof-reading all parts of the book that I was able to send to him in time. He saved me from many typosand unclarities. And I am grateful to several readers who sent corrections and suggestions.

Alan Hale suggested the comets to be included, and answered my questions about them. The“Meteors” section is founded on the extensive information provided to me by Alastair McBeath.

I’ve been persuaded to start a weblog. I began it with an outburst about the “Multiverse,” andit continues in what may be a wayward manner, with pieces varied rather like the cover-pictureessays of this Astronomical Calendar and not all about astronomy. You might consider visiting it,and if you sign up to it we will stay in touch even if the Astronomical Calendar at last ceases:www.universalworkshop.com/guysblog

Corrigenda to Astronomical Calendar 2014Page 30, section “Earth and Sun in June”: what occurs on June 14 is the earliest sun-

rise, not earliest sunset. This is correct in the “June Events” table on the facing page.72, middle column, paragraph 2: the Earth globes during occultations were oriented,

this time, with celestial north at the top, not ecliptic north.74, column 2, under the heading: delete “The Moon’s varying distance.”85, in the glossary entry for “obliquity”: “98° for Saturn” should be “98° for Uranus.

More information at

www.UniversalWorkshop.com

Earth

Com

et H

alle

y

Oct

May

The path of Halley’s Comet, with sightlinesfrom Earth to Comet during the first four months of 1986

Astronomical Calendar 20145 3

If you are a relative beginner, it may be best to use atfirst only the “Sky Dome” map for the current month(page 6, for instance, if it’s January).

The map is indeed of a dome: it’s center is thezenith (straight overhead), the outer circle is the hori-zon. It’s best as a general rule to have your face (orfeet, if you’re lying on your back or on a long chair) tothe south. This avoids confusion. If at times you wantto face, say, east, rotate the map so that “East” is at thebottom.

If you locate and memorize a few constellationseach month, in a year you’ll know the sky pretty well.

The table on the month’s right-hand page containsbrief entries for many kinds of astronomical events.The times given in parentheses are in Universal Time;TIME ZONES, below, explains how to translate this intoyour clock time.

If the event concerns, say, Jupiter, or a meteor

shower, there will be more information in the JUPITER orMETEORS section later in the book.

Astronomical terms, such as opposition, ecliptic,latitude, retrograde, inferior conjunction, precession,are explained in the GLOSSARY.

Events of the type of “Mars 4.6° N.N.E. of Spica”are conjunctions, or, more exactly, appulses: momentswhen two bodies appear closest to each other from ourviewpoint.

For many events, such as the opposition of a plan-et or the conjunction of two bodies, the exact time maybe when the bodies are below your horizon, but theywill not have moved much a few hours earlier or later.Events most affected by the more exact time and yourposition on Earth are the peaks of meteor showers,and, especially, eclipses and occultations.

The ELONGATION graph, when you get used to it, andeven more richly the ZODIAC CHARTS, allow you to sur-vey the movements of the solar-system bodies in rela-tion to each other throughout the year.

TIME ZONESTimes are mostly given in Universal Time (UT), which is the time at longitude 0°(Greenwich Observatory in England).

To convert UT to the clock time of a time zone, use this map of the zones. For stan-dard time, add the number (if it is negative, subtract it). Then for so-called daylight-saving(summer) time, where used, add 1. If the result is negative, add 24; the date is then in theprevious calendar day. If the result is over 24, subtract 24; the date is in the next day.

For example, UT 0 is these times in America on the previous calendar day:Hawaii 14, Alaska 15, Pacific 16, Mountain 17, Central 18, Eastern 19 Standard TimeHawaii 15, Alaska 16, Pacific 17, Mountain 18, Central 19, Eastern 20 summer Time

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat2015

Julian Date at1.0 UT of month

12457023.5 2 3

4 5 6 7 8

January9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 2425 26 27 28 29 30 31

12457054.5 2 3 4 5 6 78

February9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 2122 23 24 25 26 27 28

12457082.5 2 3 4 5 6 78

March9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 2122 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31 12457113.5 2 3 45 6 7 8

April9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 12457143.5 23 4 5 6 7 8

May9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 2324 25 26 27 28 29 30

31 12457174.5 2 3 4 5 67 8

June9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 2021 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 12457204.5 2 3 45 6 7 8

July9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31 12457235.5

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

August9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 2930 31 12457266.5 2 3 4 5

6 7 8

September 9 10 11 1213 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 2627 28 29 30 12457296.5 2 3

4 5 6 7 8

October 9 1011 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 2425 26 27 28 29 30 31

12457327.5 2 3 4 5 6 78

November 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 2122 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 12457357.5 2 3 4 56 7 8

December 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 1920 21 22 23 24 25 2627 28 29 30 31 12457388.5

Darker blue means less moonlight in the following night.

WHERE?What parts of the book are true for what parts of theEarth?

When it makes a difference, we refer usually to whatcan be seen from around latitude 40° north (the U.S.A.and Europe). “Around” means that for most purposes afew degrees north or south don’t make much difference.The standard longitude is 0° (Greenwich), but often werefer to what can be seen from eastern North America(around 75° west). All this is “unless otherwise men-tioned.”

Longitude (such as whether you’re in California orEurope) makes no difference to the positions of the starsat, say, 10 PM, very little to the planets; only the rapidlymoving Moon is much affected. It will be about 2° fartheralong its course for each time zone you move westward.

Latitude makes more difference: as you go south,different stars come into view, and for the southern hemi-sphere the sky is considerably different. The large SkyDomes in the monthly pages are for mid-evening at lati-tude 40° north; smaller Domes show the difference at50° north, the equator, and 35° south.

BLOCK CALENDARINTRODUCTION

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR(See the calendar pages at the dates, and the SECTIONS emphasized.)• Jan: COMET C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy possibly almost at naked-eye brightness.• Feb 8: JUPITER at opposition.• Feb-Mar: clustering of Venus, Mars, Uranus, and the Moon in the evening sky; see SCENES.• Mar 20: total ECLIPSE of the Sun, visible from Faroe, Spitsbergen, and the North Pole!• Apr 4: total ECLIPSE of the Moon, visible from the Pacific region.• May 7: MERCURY highest in evening sky for north-hemisphere observers.• May 23: SATURN at opposition.• May-Jun: VENUS highest in the evening sky.• Jul 6: COMET C/2014 Q1 PanSTARRS at perihelion, possibly at naked-eye brightness.• Jul-Aug: clustering of Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, and Regulus, and the Moon in the evening sky; see SCENES.• Aug: COMET 141P Machholz 2 at perihelion, perhaps magnitude 11.• Sep 13: partial ECLIPSE of the Sun, visible from southern Africa and Antarctica.• Sep 28: total ECLIPSE of the Moon, visible from the Americas, Africa, Europe, much of Asia.• Sep-Oct: clustering of Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Regulus and the Moon in the morning sky; see SCENES.• Oct: COMET 22P Kopff at perihelion, perhaps magnitude 10.• Oct: VENUS highest in the morning sky.• Dec: COMET C/2013 US10 Catalina possibly reaching naked-eye brightness.


13 h 13 h 13 h 13 h

14 h 14 h 14 h 14 h

15 h 15 h 15 h 15 h

16 h 16 h 16 h 16 h 17 h

17 h 17 h 17 h 18 h 18 h 18 h 18 h

19 h 19 h 19 h 19 h 2 0 h 2 0 h 2 0 h 2 0 h 2 1 h 2 1 h 2 1 h 2 1 h 2 2 h 2 2 h 2 2 h 2 2 h 2 3 h 2 3 h 2 3 h 2 3 h

- 10o

- 10o

- 10o

- 10o - 10 o- 10 o- 10 o- 10 o- 10o

- 10o

- 10o

- 10o

- 2 0o

- 2 0o

- 2 0o

- 2 0o - 2 0 o

- 2 0 o- 2 0 o- 2 0 o

- 2 0 o- 2 0 o- 2 0 o- 2 0 o

- 2 0o

- 2 0o

- 2 0o

- 2 0o

- 30o

- 30o

- 3 0o

- 3 0o - 3 0 o

- 30 o- 30 o- 30 o- 30

o

- 30o

- 3 0o

- 3 0o

- 4 0o

- 4 0o

- 40o

- 4 0o - 4 0 o

- 40 o

- 40 o

- 40 o

- 4 0 o- 4 0

o- 4 0

o- 4 0 o

- 4 0o

- 4 0o

- 40o

- 4 0o

-50o

-50o

-50o

- 50o

-50o

-50o

-50o

- 50o

- 5 0 o- 5 0 o- 5 0 o- 5 0 o

-50o

-50o

-50o

- 50o

-6

0o

-6

0o

-6

0o

-6

0o

- 6 0 o- 6 0 o- 6 0 o- 6 0 o

-6

0o

-6

0o

-6

0o

-6

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

- 7 0 o- 7 0 o- 7 0 o- 7 0 o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-8

0o

-8

0o

-8

0o

-8

0o

-8

-8

-8

-8

- 8 0 o- 8 0 o- 8 0 o- 8 0 o

-8

0o

-8

0o

-8

0o

-8

0o

+ 10 o+ 10 o+ 10 o+ 10 o ++++

+ 10 o+ 10 o+ 10 o+ 10 o

+ 10 o+ 10 o+ 10 o+ 10 o

+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o + 2 0

o

+ 2 0o

+ 2 0o

+ 2 0o

+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o

+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o

+3 0 o+ 30 o+3 0 o+ 30 o +30

o

+30o

+ 30o

+3 0o

+ 3 0 o+ 3 0 o+ 3 0 o+ 3 0 o

+3 0 o+ 30 o+3 0 o+ 30 o

+40 o

+40 o

+40 o

+40 o +4 0o

+ 40o

+4 0o

+4 0o

+ 4 0 o+ 4 0 o+ 4 0 o+ 4 0 o

+40 o

+40 o

+40 o

+40 o

+50o

+50o

+50o

+50o +

50o

+50o

+50o

+ 50o+

50o

+50o

+50o

+50o

+6

0o

+6

0o

+6

0o

+6

0o +

60o

+60o

+60o

+60o

+ 6 0 o+ 6 0 o+ 6 0 o+ 6 0 o

+6

0o

+6

0o

+6

0o

+6

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+7

0o

+7

0o

+7

0o

+7

0o

+ 7 0 o+ 7 0 o+ 7 0 o+ 7 0 o

+7

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+7

0o

+7

0o

+7

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+8

0o

+8

0o

+8

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+8

0o +

80

o+

80

o+

80

o+

80

o+8

0o

+8

0o

+8

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+8

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north

galactic

pole

northecliptic pole

APUS

AQUARIUS

AQUILA

ARA

BOÖTES

CANES

VENATICI

CAPRICORNUS

CENTAURUS

CEPHEUS

CIRCINUS

COMA

BERENICES

CORONA

AUSTRALIS

CORONA

BOREALIS

CORVUS

CRUX

DELPHINUS

DRACO

EQUULEUS

GRUS

HERCULES

HYDRA

INDUS

LACERTA

LIBRA

LUPUS

LYRA

MICROSCOPIUM

MU

SCA

NORMA

OCTANS

OPHIUCHUS

PAVO

PEGASUS

PISCES

PISCIS

AUSTRINUS

SAGITTA

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

SCUTUM

SERPENS

(CAPUT)

SERPENS(CAUDA)

TELESCOPIUM

TRIANGULUMAUSTRALE

TUCAN

A

URSA

MINOR

VIRGO

VULPECULA

G r e a t S q u a r eo f P e g a s u s

Di

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L i t t l e D i p p e r

the Teapot

the Teaspoon

the Ci rc let

IGC4603

Bug

St a

r Cl o

ud

s

Veil

North America

Cocoon

Ring

Dumbbell

Saturn Nebula

Helix Nebula

OmegaCentauri

M13

M98

M99

M10

6

M61

M100

M84

M85

M86

M49

M87

M88

M89

NGC4565

M90M58

Sombrero

M59M60

M94

M64

Blackeye

M63

Centaurus A

Whirlpool

M83

Pinwheel

ο

λ

ικ

αγβ

ζ

γαAltair

βδ

εζ

ηθ

λ

ι

µ

ε

β

α

π

η γζζ

θ

ι

λ

τδ

φ

ψ3

ω

ν

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α

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θ

αArcturus

ρ

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εPulcherrima

ητυπ

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λ

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β

α

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αGiedi

βDabih

ψω

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δ γι θ

ρ

δ

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βHadar

αRigilkent

ζ

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ι

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ηκ

ρ

σ

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φυ1

χ

ψ

αAlderamin

β

γ

ι

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νε

δ

κ

µ

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β

α

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α

β

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γαβδ θ

θβαGemma

γδεξ

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γGienah

δ η

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δ

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λ

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τ

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µ

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αThuban

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δ Sarin

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γ

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θ

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ζ

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βCelbalrai

γ

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ψ

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βScheat

αMarkab

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θ

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αFomalhaut

δ γβ µ

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α

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ι

θ

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ξ

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ζ

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ε Alioth

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δ

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θ

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κ

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δ

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Coordinates of 2000

-1

0

1

2 3 4 5m

ag

ni

tu

de

s

O

B

A

F

G

K

Msp

ec

tr

al

t

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open cluster

nebula

planetary nebula

globular cluster

galaxy

CASSIO

PEIA

ANDRO

MED

A

0 h 0 h 0 h 0 h

ψ1ψ2

SCU

LPTOR

δ2

πξλ

CHAMAE-

LEON

υ2

φ2

12 h 12 h 12 h 12 h

B

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β1

µ1,2

ω1,2

theKeystone

------------vernnal equinox("First Point of Aries")

CAMELO- PARDALIS

Pipe

Coalsack

+ 5 0 o+ 5 0 o+ 5 0 o+ 5 0 o

- 10 o- 10 o- 10 o- 10 o

- 3 0 o- 3 0 o- 3 0 o- 3 0 o

+ 8 0 o+ 8 0 o+ 8 0 o+ 8 0 o

γSadr

CYGNUSηχ

βAlbireo

κι

θο1ο2

σPelican

ν

NGC6992

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Genah

Kuma

TrifidLagoon

Edasich

PHO

ENIX

ALL THE YEAR

ALL THE SKY

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

Altair

FomalhautAntares

Spica

JanVenus

Feb

Nov

Dec

Jan

Mercury

Feb

Mar

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Mars

Feb

Nov

Dec

Saturn

Neptune

Pluto

-30˚

-20˚

-10˚

0˚

+10˚

24h 23h 22h 21h 20h 19h 18h 17h 16h 15h 14h 13h 12h

+10˚

0˚

-10˚

-20˚

-30˚

e c l i p t i c

Mi

lk

yW

ay

Coordinates of 2000

Venus

Mer

cury

Mars


1 h 1 h 1 h 1 h 2 h

2 h 2 h 2 h 3 h

3 h 3 h 3 h 4 h

4 h 4 h 4 h 5 h

5 h 5 h 5 h 6 h 6 h 6 h 6 h 7 h 7 h 7 h 7 h 8 h 8 h 8 h 8 h 9 h 9 h 9 h 9 h 10 h 10 h 10 h 10 h 1 1 h 1 1 h 1 1 h 1 1 h

- 10 o- 10 o- 10 o- 10 o

- 10o

- 10o

- 10o

- 10o - 10 o- 10 o- 10 o- 10 o

- 2 0 o- 2 0 o- 2 0 o- 2 0 o

- 2 0o

- 2 0o

- 2 0o

- 2 0o - 2 0 o

- 2 0 o- 2 0 o- 2 0 o- 3 0 o- 3 0 o- 3 0 o- 3 0 o

- 30o

- 30o

- 3 0o

- 3 0o - 3 0 o

- 30 o- 30 o- 30 o

- 4 0 o- 4 0 o- 4 0 o- 4 0 o

- 4 0o

- 4 0o

- 40o

- 4 0o - 4 0 o

- 40 o

- 40 o

- 40 o

- 5 0 o- 5 0 o- 5 0 o- 5 0 o

-50o

-50o

-50o

- 50o -

50o

-50o

-50o

- 50o

- 6 0 o- 6 0 o- 6 0 o- 6 0 o

-6

0o

-6

0o

-6

0o

-6

0o -

60

o

-6

0o

-6

0o

-6

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o -

70

o

-7

0o

-7

0o

-7

0o

- 8 0 o- 8 0 o- 8 0 o- 8 0 o

-8

0o

-8

0o

-8

0o

-8

0o -

80

o

-8

0o

-8

0o

-8

0o

+ 10 o+ 10 o+ 10 o+ 10 o

+ 10 o+ 10 o+ 10 o+ 10 o+ 10

o

+ 10o

+ 10o

+ 10o

+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o

+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o+ 2 0 o + 2 0

o

+ 2 0o

+ 2 0o

+ 2 0o

+ 3 0 o+ 3 0 o+ 3 0 o+ 3 0 o

+3 0 o+ 30 o+3 0 o+ 30 o +30

o

+30o

+ 30o

+3 0o

+ 4 0 o+ 4 0 o+ 4 0 o+ 4 0 o

+40 o

+40 o

+40 o

+40 o +4 0o

+ 40o

+4 0o

+4 0o

+ 5 0 o+ 5 0 o+ 5 0 o+ 5 0 o

+50o

+50o

+50o

+50o +

50o

+50o

+50o

+ 50o

+ 6 0 o+ 6 0 o+ 6 0 o+ 6 0 o

+6

0o

+6

0o

+6

0o

+6

0o

+ 7 0 o+ 7 0 o+ 7 0 o+ 7 0 o

+7

0o

+7

0o

+7

0o

+7

0o

+7

0o

+7

0o

+7

0o

+7

0o

+ 8 0 o+ 8 0 o+ 8 0 o+ 8 0 o

+8

0o

+8

0o

+8

0o

+8

0o +

80

o+

80

o+

80

o+

80

oANDROMEDA

ANTLIA

ARIES

AURIGA

CAELUM

CAMELOPARDALIS

CANCER

CANISMAJOR

CANISMINOR

CARINA

CASSIO

PEIA

CETUS

CHAM

AELEO

N

COLUMBA

CRATERERIDANUS

FORNAX

GEMINI

HOROLOGIUM

HYDRA

HYDRUS

LEO

LEOMINOR

LEPUS

LYNX

MENSA

MONOCEROS

ORION

PERSEUS

PHOENIX

PICTOR

PISCES

PUPPIS

PYXIS

RETICULUM

SCULPTOR

SEXTANS

TAURUS

TRIANGULUM

URSAMAJOR

VELA

VOLANS

Bi

g

D

ip

pe r

Hyades

Beehive

California

M42

M78

Rosette

Cone

Crab

Owl nebula

Andromeda

G

alaxy

M81

M82

M95M96

M105

M108

M65M66

M109

αδDelta

β

Mirach

γ

Almak

µν

θσ

π

ε

ζη

φ

υ

εα

ι

αHamal β

Sheratan

Mesarthim γεδ

ι

αCapella

βMenkalinan

θ

ζε

ητν

δ

π

κ

α

γ

γ

α

β

βαSirius

π

δWezenσε

Adhara ζFurudωη

ιγ

θ

ν3

τ

αProcyon

βGomeisa

γ

α

Avior

ιScutulum

β

Miap

lacid

us

υθ

ω

χ

βCap

h

α

Shed

ir

γ Tsih

δ

Rukbah

ε

κ

ζ

ο

η

θ

ι

π

ιηθ

ζ

τ

υ βDiphda

οMira

δγ

Kaffaljidhmα

λ µ ξ2

π Cet

α

γ δ

θ

βTarf

δAsellus A

αAcubens

γ Asellus B

ι

βε

αγκ

δ

α

δ

β

γ

θε

ζη

γα

β

λ

χφ

κ

ιθAcamar

υ1

ηAzhaεδ

Ranaπγ

Zaurac

BeidKeid

νµ

ωβλ

νβ

α

εMebsuta

τραCastorσβ

υ

δWasat ζ

Mekbuda

γAlmeisan

ηµTejat

ν

ξ

θ

λ

ι

κ

α

ρη σθ

ι

αAlphard

υ1υ2

µν

ξβ

τ

β

η

α

δε

γ

ν

αRegulus

ηγ Algieba

ζµ

ε λ

κδZosma

θChort

βDenebola

ορχ

φ

σ

ι

υ

βο

εβNihal

γδ

θη ζ

αArneb

µ

ικλ

ν

α

γβ

α

ζ

ε

δ

µλ

δ Mintakaε Alnilamζ Alnitak

β

γBellatrixα

Betelgeuse

κ

ο

φ1λµ

ξ

χ2

ν

ρ

ι τη

ψ

υ

σ

ω

γAlgenib

ρβ

Algol

κ

ι

τη

γ

α

ψδ

νε

ξο

µλ

φ

θ

π

συ

αAnkaaκ

εµ

β

γψ

δ

ζ

η

β

γ

α

δεζµνξα

ο

η

φυ

τ

τ

ν

π

ξρ

ζNaos σ

υ

ο

βα

γ

ζ

βγα

εδ

α

α

ζ

αAldebaran

γ

ε

El Nath

οξ

Pleiades

λ

νµ

δ

κυ

θρ

τι

αMothalla

γ

ββζ

αDubhe

βM

erak

γPhad

ικλµ

νξ

ο

τ

υ

φ

θψ

χ

αPolar

is

δο

γRegor

λ

Alsuhailψ

µ φ κ

ν

β

ζγ

δεβα

e c l i p t i c

c e l e s t i a l e q u a t o r

OCTANS

υ4υ3

τ1τ9 τ6

τ5 τ4 τ3

ο1ο2

ERIDAN

US

φ2

π6 12 h 12 h 12 h 12 h 0 h

0 h 0 h 0 h

TUC

AN

A

CENTAU

RUS

Coordinates of 2000

-1

0

1

2 3 4 5m

ag

ni

tu

de

s

O

B

A

F

G

K

Msp

ec

tr

al

t

yp

es

open cluster

nebula

planetary nebula

globular cluster

galaxy

βM33

Double

Cluster

Sirrah

M74

ξ1

RishaMenkar

M77

southgalacticpole

Achernarα

47 Tucanae

θ

λ

T h r e e L e a p s o f t h e Ga z e l l e

DRACO

Mirfak

ζ

Maaz

βPollux

Propusχ1

π1

π5

π4π3π2

Cursa

RigelSaiph

Mi

lk

y W

ay

ζ δε

λMurzim

ν2ξ2 ξ1ο2 ο1

Aludraλκ

η

Canopus

εFalse

Cross

south eclipticpole

υ2

δDORA

DO

- 7 0 o- 7 0 o- 7 0 o- 7 0 o

Large Magellanic

Cloud

Small

Magellanic

Clo

ud

Muscida

23

CEP

HEU

S

vernnal equinox------------

("First Point of Aries")

Maps of the planets’ movements through-out the year. All the major planets keepto the zodiacal band, not departingmore than 8½° from the ecliptic.Declination (vertical) scale isexaggerated by 1.5.

Maps of the whole celestialsphere. Stars are coloredby spectral type.

Coordinates of 2000

ARIES

CANCER

GEMINI

LEO

PISCES

TAURUS

Procyon

Mira

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Aldebaran

Mar

Venus

AprMay

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

AprM

ercury

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Mar

Mars

Apr

May

JunJul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Jupiter

-10˚

0˚

+10˚

+20˚

+30˚

12h 11h 10h 9h 8h 7h 6h 5h 4h 3h 2h 1h 0h

+30˚

+20˚

+10˚

0˚

-10˚

e c l i p t i c

Mi

lk

yW

ay

Uranus

Pleiades

HELIOCENTRIC VIEW of the orbit of Mars. The view is as in theMercury-Venus picture, but with the constellations omitted from the

front side of the sphere for clarity. A circle on the ecliptic plane showsthe mean distance of Mars from the Sun (1.5237 a.u.). The planets are

exaggerated 700 times in size. Dashed lines (each dash or gap 0.05 a.u.long) connect the positions of Earth and Mars at the dates of several suc-

cessive oppositions, showing how the cycle of oppositions is spaced aroundthe orbit. Before Sun-conjunction Mars is in the evening sky, and after it in the

morning sky, as shown by the respectively black and gray curves. Mars’s summersolstice is (as for the Earth) when its north rotational pole is tilted most toward the Sun,

and autumn equinox is when the pole is tilted most backward. The equatorial plane ofMars makes a circle around the sky perpendicular to this pole, cutting its orbital plane in the

directions of Mars’s equinoxes, which happen to be roughly 90° from those of the Earth.

E CL I P T I CP L ANE

v e r n a l e q u i n ox

d i r e c t i one c l i p t i c

ecliptic

e qu a t o r

equator

AQUAR I US

AR I E S

CANCE R

CAP R I CORNUS

GE M I N I

EO

P I S CE S

T AURUS

E a r t h

M a r s

Sun

m e a n d i s t a n c e

Mar

JanSep

Aug

Jul

Jun

MayApr

OctNov

Dec

Feb

eclip

ticno

rth p

ole

Earth

rota

tional

north

pole

Mar

s ro

tational

north p

ole

2007Dec 24

2005Nov 7

2012 Mar 3

2010 Jan 29

2014

Apr

8

2016

May 2

2

oppositio

n

2018 Jul 27

2003Aug

28

Mar

Jan

Sep

Aug

Jul

May Apr

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feb

northern

winter

solstice

northernmostlatitude

aphelion

spring equinox

Sun-conjunction


ARIESCANCER

GEMINI

LEO

TAURUS

VIRGO

M35Beehive

Procyon Mira

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Betelgeuse

A

AldebaranSpica

AprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec Apr 22

Mercury

May 27

Mercury

Jul 16Mercury

Sep 2

Venus

Nov 3Venus

Oct 17Jupiter

ecliptic longitude

eclip

tic la

titude

-15˚

-10˚

-5˚

0˚

+ 5˚

+10˚

+15˚215˚ 210˚ 195˚ 180˚ 165˚ 150˚ 135˚ 120˚ 105˚ 90˚ 75˚ 60˚ 45˚ 30˚

2 3h

4 h

5 h 6 h 7 h 8 h 9 h 1 0 h

1 1 h 1 2 h

1 3 h

1 4 h

+ 3 0 o+ 2 0 o+ 1 0 o

0 o

- 1 0 oe q u a t o r

e c l i p t i c

Mi

lk

yW

ay

Coordinates of 2015

MarsPleiades

Hyades

Sun-conjunctionJun 14

MARSA non-opposition year, in which Mars is distant and small. It starts low in the sun-set sky, disappears beyond the Sun from about April till August, climbs to quitehigh in the morning sky by December.

Mars alternates between “good” years (when it comes to opposition) and bad ones—approximately.

This fourth planet lies 1½ times farther out from the Sun than Earth, taking 1.88 of ouryears to complete an orbit. On our faster inside track, we take 2.13 years to catch up withMars and pass it at the next opposition. The result of this is that the oppositions arespaced around the sky, slightly less than 1/7 of the circle apart, in a slightly-more-than-15-year cycle.

In an opposition year, Mars makes an apparent retrograde loop as we overtake it; lastyear it did so in Virgo. In a non-opposition year like the present, it travels a semicircle thatkeeps it roughly on the other side of the Sun from us. Thus it appears to move almost incompany with the Sun, only slowly overtaken by it, so on the map of the sky it traces along straight inconspicuous track through eight of the twelve zodiacal constellations.

This semicircle is approximately the northern half of its orbit (it is in the northern celes-tial hemisphere from Feb. 21 till Nov. 18—and is slightly further north still because abovethe ecliptic from April 12 onward). But this northerliness is wasted, since Mars is behindthe Sun almost exactly at the middle of the arching path (Sun-conjunction June 14, north-ernmost declination June 26). Even in years when oppositions fall in the northerly part ofthe orbit they are not the best, since it is also very roughly the outer part of the orbit (aphe-lion Nov. 20).

Earth and Mars are curiously similar in rotation: they spin in 24 and 24½ hours,respectively, around polar axes that are tilted 23.44° and 25° to the planes in which theytravel. Moreover the four cardinal points caused by the tilting, which we call the equinox-es and solstices, are distributed in almost the same four directions around the orbits—but with a right-angle difference: the winter solstice of Mars is in the same direction fromthe Sun as the spring equinox of Earth. The two planets are like a man leaning north anda man leaning east as they walk around in circles (try it but don’t lose your balance!).

If in the low western sky of the early months you manage to get dwindling Mars in your

telescope, you’ll see more of its southern hemisphere, its equator being lifted northward.By contrast, if toward the year’s end you study Mars climbing and modestly swelling in thepre-dawn sky, you’ll glimpse its northern polar icecap.

But the icecaps do not mirror each other. Earth’s perihelion and aphelion eachJanuary and July have almost negligible climatic effect, but Mars’s much more widelyvarying distance from the Sun strongly affects its seasons—it receives 45% more solarenergy when nearest than when farthest. Martian winter solstice (Jan. 11) is only a monthafter its perihelion (2014 Dec. 12). The south hemisphere, bulging toward the relativelynear Sun, has, for Mars, a hot summer; the southern icecap may disappear altogether.The north hemisphere, tipped away, has a relatively mild winter. In contrasting years ofsouthern winter and northern summer, the southern icecap may become larger than thenorthern ever does. Thus the result of the asymmetric orbit is moderate seasons for thenorth hemisphere and extreme ones for the south.

--3--2--1012345

m a g n i t u d e s

mean dist. from sun 1.52 a.u.sidereal period 1.88 years = 687 dayssynodic period 2.13 years = 780 dayseccentricity .093inclination 1.9°diameter 6,790 kmsatellites 2

MAP of Mars’s geocentric track against the starry background, ecliptic-based like the Mercury and Venus maps. The scale for thisyear is 11¤3 mm to 1°. The track is drawn in gray when Mars is in the morning sky (after conjunction with the Sun). Parts of thetracks for the neighboring years are included (in blue). Short blue lines connect Mars to other planets when they appear closest.

TABLE OF PHENOMENA. For explanation see the MERCURY and VENUS section.Mars r.a.(2000)dec. hedis gedis elo mag dia”Jan 1 0 21 34 28 -15 36 1.384 1.970 41 1.1 4.8Jan 10 23 winter solstice 22 4 39 -12 54 1.388 2.015 38 1.1 4.6Jan 19 21 .2ºS of Neptune 22 31 9 -10 18 1.392 2.056 36 1.2 4.6Feb 21 17 on equat.,to nor. 0 5 0 0 -4 1.416 2.203 29 1.3 4.2Feb 21 20 .5ºN of Venus 0 5 17 0 -2 1.416 2.204 29 1.3 4.2Mar 11 20 .3ºN of Uranus 0 55 31 5 33 1.434 2.281 24 1.3 4.1Apr 12 6 ascending node 2 23 44 14 16 1.471 2.404 17 1.4 3.9Apr 23 7 1.4ºS of Mercury 2 55 24 16 50 1.485 2.442 14 1.4 3.8May 27 15 1.7ºN of Mercury 4 36 4 22 30 1.530 2.537 5 1.5 3.7Jun 14 16 conjunc.with sun 5 29 47 23 53 1.553 2.568 -1 1.5 3.6Jun 18 1 spring equinox 5 39 47 24 0 1.557 2.573 -1 1.5 3.6Jun 26 19 max.declin.north 6 5 44 24 9 1.568 2.581 -3 1.6 3.6Jul 16 4 .1ºN of Mercury 7 2 12 23 32 1.590 2.586 -9 1.6 3.6Oct 13 21 max.lat.north 10 53 42 8 29 1.659 2.318 -39 1.8 4.0Oct 17 14 .4ºN of Jupiter 11 2 13 7 37 1.660 2.296 -40 1.7 4.1Nov 3 16 .7ºN of Venus 11 40 60 3 34 1.665 2.184 -47 1.7 4.3Nov 18 10 on equat.,to sou. 12 13 38 0 5 1.666 2.073 -52 1.6 4.5Nov 20 23 aphelion 12 19 14 0-30 1.666 2.053 -53 1.6 4.6Jan 1 0 13 47 28 -9 28 1.658 1.684 -71 1.3 5.6

Sep 12016 Mar 1

2003 Aug 28perihelic opposition

2005 Nov 7opposition

2007 Dec 34opposition

2010 Jan 29opposition

2012 Mar 3opposition

2014 Apr 8opposition2016 May 12

opposition2018 Jul 27opposition

Jan 1Mar 1

2015 Jun 14Sun-conjunction

Sep 1Dec 31

2015

eclip

ticno

rth

equa

toria

lno

rth

north polar cap-----

Ma r s1 P H a l l e y

1982

1 P H a l l e y1987

Ne

pt

un

e

E CL I P T I C P L ANE

--

10

AU--

e q u a t o r

equator

e

ec

li

pt

ic

ecliptic

Ju

pi

te

r

S a t u r n

U r a n u s

P l u t o

opp

osition

Oct

12

opposition Sep 1

opposition Jul 6

opposition May 23

Feb 6

opposition

1 C e r e s

v e r n a le q u i n o x

d i r e c t i on


HELIOCENTRIC VIEW of all the planets from Earth(smallest ellipse) outward. The whole orbits areshown in blue (with stalks to the ecliptic plane atyearly intervals); paths for this year in black (stalksmonthly). Besides the major planets, we show afew minor bodies (of which there could be thou-sands in the picture): dwarf planet Pluto; asteroid1 Ceres (as an example of the Main Belt of aster-oids between Mars and Jupiter); and Comet 1PHalley, which at its last visit was first observed in1982, and now, on the scale of the picture, is 16 cm(6.3 inches) from the Sun, approaching its 2023aphelion. The viewpoint has receded to a distanceof 100 astronomical units. The equatorial andecliptic planes are represented by circles aroundthe sky at a distance from the Sun of 35 a.u. Eachdash or gap in the opposition lines is 0.5 a.u. long.

AQUARIUS

CETUS

PISCES

Mira

JanFebMar Feb 22Venus

Mar 1

1U

ranus

Jan 2

0N

eptu

ne

30˚ 15˚ 0˚ 345˚ 330˚ 315˚+15˚

+10˚

+ 5˚

0˚

-5˚

-10˚

-15˚ 0h

1h

2h

2 2h

2 3h

- 2 0o

e q u a t o r

CAPRI-

CORNUS

2015 Dec 31

Phobos

Deimos

2015 Jan 10-6h UT

OUTER PLANETS

THE DISK OF MARS at some dates in this year, alsoat oppositions from the record-breaking near oneof 2003 through the distant one of 2012 to the nextnear one in 2018. The scale is 1 millimeter to 1 sec-ond of arc. The ecliptic plane (almost the same asthe planet’s orbital plane) is horizontal. Short linespoint to the north and south ecliptic poles; longerlines to the celestial poles. Direction to the Sun isshown by an imaginary stick, starting at the centerof the planet (under the dot) and projecting oneplanet-radius beyond the surface. An arrow alongMars’s equator represents its rotation in 2 hours.

MARS AND SATELLITES at the beginning and end of this year. Equatorial north is at top, tosuit observation in telescopes; lines point from the planet to equatorial north and south,shorter lines to ecliptic north and south. Scale is 1 mm to 1 second. The satellites go aroundMars in almost circular orbits and in planes slightly varying from its equator. Their tracksare shown (in white) for 6 hours, starting at 0h UT, which is 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Timeor 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time ON THE PREVIOUS CALENDAR DATE. The rest of the orbit is inblue, with ticks at 1-day intervals. The orbits are drawn thicker where the satellites are near-er to us than the center of the planet. Phobos goes around in only 7.65 hours, Deimos in30.3 hours. Since Mars rotates in 24½ hours, Phobos travels more than three times fasterthan the planet’s surface: seen by a Martian, Deimos goes over slowly from east to west(more than 2 days from rising to setting), but Phobos goes in the opposite direction, risingin the west and setting in the east, twice a day! (Compare the arrow on Mars’s equator, rep-resenting rotation in 2 hours, with Phobos’s larger movement in half that time.) The satel-lites are exaggerated 30 times in size. Both are elongated: dimensions of Phobos are27x22x19 kilometers, and Deimos 15x12x11 (as against the 6800 km diameter of Mars).Look closely and you will see that they are shown as ellipses. They rotate synchronously:that is, keep the same face to Mars. They are very faint: the magnitude of Mars is 1.1 onJan, 1, 1.3 on Dec. 31, whereas Phobos and Deimos are about 13 and 14 magnitudes fainter.


Meteoroids are bits of solid matter out in space.Encountering Earth’s atmosphere, and still moving atEarth-relative speeds from about 70 to 10 kilometers persecond, they vaporize from friction, giving off light that isseen as meteors or “shooting stars”; sometimes leavingluminous trains for some minutes, or flaring bright enoughto be called fireballs , or causing sounds. Remnants largeenough to reach the ground are meteorites . Most mete-oroids are small—pebbles or dust—and have separatedfrom comets, typically centuries ago. Those that have notdiffused too far apart orbit around the Sun as streams ,appearing as showers when Earth passes through themat about the same dates each year.

Meteors of a shower can appear anywhere in the sky,but, because they are approaching almost in parallel, theirpaths if traced back appear to come from a radiant pointor, rather, small area. From day to day, radiants moveeast because the direction from which the meteors appearto come changes as Earth proceeds around its orbit.

Because streams are vastly wider than the Earth, ashower may be active over days or weeks, though for partof this time shower meteors may have been detected onlyby means of camera or radar. A shower’s peak may bebroad and indefinite or as sharp as hours or minutes.There may be several peaks, implying sub-streams, per-haps of differently sized particles. The times we give arepredictions by experts and may be best guesses. The cal-endar dates may vary by a day because of leap days(which is why scientists prefer to express them by longi-tudes of the Sun); and over centuries they drift later frommonth to month because of the precession of Earth’s axis.

Counts of meteors per hour are the raw data. Azenithal hourly rate (ZHR) is the average number thatwould be seen at the time if the radiant were at the zenithand conditions perfect. Observations help to define astream’s radiant, peak, composition, and origin.

Meteors hitting Earth’s front—because they are trav-eling in retrograde orbits—are seen after midnight andenter the atmosphere at higher speeds. Meteor observingtends to be best before morning twilight!

Sporadic meteors are those untraceable to streams.But also through most of the year (except when maskedby other showers from near the ecliptic in October andNovember) there are meteors coming at low rates from alarge area roughly opposite to the Sun (culminating about1 AM local time). Formerly there were efforts to distin-guish these into many minor showers, but since 2006 theyhave been treated as a general Antihelion Source .

A radiant at or even below the horizon can produce longbright trails across the upper atmosphere. However, thelower the radiant, the fewer meteors from it you will see,so the more favorable observations are made when theradiant is at least 25° to 30° above the horizon.

The other factors are atmospheric conditions and theMoon : if it is in the sky and bright, its light hides all but thebrightest meteors. A First Quarter Moon sets around mid-night, so does not hinder morning observation; LastQuarter rises around midnight. For the more prominentshowers we mention this year’s Moon phase at the end ofthe entry in bold type, or in bold italic if it is markedlyunfavorable.

Make yourself warmly wrapped and comfortable, as ona reclining chair; perhaps face east and gaze up at about45° (easier than overhead, and you notice meteors any-where between horizon and zenith). If the Moon is up,face away from it. Count the shower members you see inan hour. Don’t include those seen by anyone else.Record sporadics separately.

Jan. 4: Quadrantids (peak 2h Universal Time; active Dec.28–Jan. 12, mostly Jan. 1-5). Spoiled this year by FullMoon on Jan. 5. But this shower is worth describing asan introduction to the others. Its radiant is at right ascen-sion 15h20m, declination +49°, about 15° east of Alkaid (hUrsae Majoris at the end of the Big Dipper’s handle). Theradiant’s name is from a defunct constellation. Jérome de

Lalande, in his 1795 edition of Fortin’s celestial atlas, useda dozen faint stars just south of q and i Draconis to formQuadrans Muralis, the “wall quadrant”: a scale of degreesmarked on a wall, for measuring the altitude of a staraligned with a telescope. A constellation isn’t needed inthis star-poor area, and it dropped out of use—except inthe name of these meteors.

They come to us from slightly behind of north (inclina-tion 72° to the ecliptic), so their speed in the atmosphereis medium, about 41 km/s. The radiant is, for people north

of 41° latitude, in the sky all the time. It is down by thenorthern horizon at the beginning of the night; swingsslowly up in the northeast; is 45° high around 3 AM andnearly overhead toward dawn.

Quadrantids may be noticed visually over about 5days. At the peak, rates may be from 60 to 200 per hour.The ZHR is estimated at 120. Faint Quadrantids causedby small particles may peak half a day earlier, and theremay sometimes be a second peak some hours later,detected partly by radio observations. The peak is fairlysharp. At its predicted time this year, the radiant is over-head in Asia. Watch the Quadrantids on the nights beforeand after peak.

Feb. 8: Alpha Cent aurids (12h). The radiant, near aCentauri (Rigilkent, 3rd brightest star), is far south (decli-nation —60°), so most of the meteors are below the hori-zon for northerners. Alastair McBeath notes that, if thisstream is of long orbital period, “there could be a fresh out-burst from it in 2015.” Moon between Full and LastQuarter.

On Feb. 1 and 13 our calendar page lists two show -ers , coming from the directions of Capricornus andSagittarius. These constellations are where the Sun is inFebruary; in other words, the meteors come at us in thedaytime, cannot be observed visually, and have beendetected by researchers using radio waves bounced offthe meteoric particles. Other such ghostly showers areknown in April, May, June, August, and September.

Mar. 25: Gamma Normids , earlier thought to peak aroundMar. 15. A minor and scarcely-observed shower, whoseradiant is around 16h —50° in the deep-southern MilkyWay and so does not rise for those north of Florida. Onlya brief low peak (ZHR 6) that seems to shift betweenMarch 8 and 18. Moon near First Quarter .

Apr . 23: Lyrids (0h; Apr. 16-25). Derived from CometC/1861 G1 Thatcher, which was seen only in 1861, havinga period of 415 years. Coming down at about 80° intoEarth’s orbit, they are medium-swift (49 km/sec throughthe atmosphere); some are spectacularly bright; 20-25%leave persistent trains. The radiant, on the Lyra-Herculesborder not far from Vega, is above the northeast horizon

by 10 PM and overhead by 4 AM. The ZHR isusually around 15-20, but there were outbursts in

1803, 1922 (96/hour), 1982 (250/hour for a few min-utes). The shower has the longest history, beginning with

a Chinese chronicle of 687 BC (when the peak was onMarch 25) and summarized in Gary Kronk’s invaluablebook Meteor Showers. The shower has a narrow peak.Rates may be enhanced in 2015, even more so in 2016and 2017. Moon just before First Quarter .

Apr . 24: Pi Puppids (5h; Apr. 15-28). By contrast withthe Lyrids, they have a southerly radiant, at 7h20m —45°(now 8° farther south than the star p Puppis). They derivefrom Comet 26P Grigg-Skjellerup, which in its 5-year orbit(one of the shortest) has been seen many times since itsdiscovery (by Pons) in 1808. Up to 38 meteors per hourhave been seen from southern countries but only in yearsof the comet’s perihelion, and the comet’s orbit has nowbeen deflected to outside the Earth’s by Jupiter.

May 6: Eta Aquarids (Apr. 19-May 28) are dust from themost famous comet, 1P Halley, which last came by in1986 and will return in 2061. Its retrograde orbit crossesover the October part of Earth’s orbit and back out justunder the May part; so we see sister showers, theOrionids of October (inward) and the Eta Aquarids (out-ward). In both, the meteors are very swift (head-on toEarth), often leaving trains; and there seem to be sub-streams spread over several days, with different averagesizes of particles. The main radiant, near the Urn orWater-Jar or Y of Aquarius, is just below the celestialequator; for latitude 40° north it rises about 2 AM and ishighest toward 8 AM. For the southern hemisphere, nowin autumn, there are more hours of viewing before dawntwilight, and Australians have said this is the best showerof their year. Hourly rates can be as low as 10 for north-erners, as high as 85 for southerners. There may be a 12-year periodicity caused by Jupiter, with one of the low-ratetimes in 2014-2016. Yet the 2013 May 6 Eta Aquaridswere exceptionally strong, up to 140 an hour; meteor sci-entists think this extra dust separated from the cometthree or four thousand years ago. The enhancement isunlikely to continue this year. Moon 2 days past Full.

May 9: Eta Lyrids (May 3-27), from a radiant in Lyrathat is (for the north hemisphere) high in the sky all night,may derive from Comet C/1983 H1 IRAS-Araki-Alcock of1983. Only about 3 per hour, and the “peak” could be 2days later.

June 16: June L yrids (June 11-21). May or may not stillexist. Discovered in 1966, confirmed in 1968 and espe-cially 1969, later dwindled to nothing except for a possibleshowing in 1996. The radiant, 4° south of Vega, is up allnight (for northern observers).

June 24: June Boötids (June 22–July 2), sometimes

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

OPHIUCHUS

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PISCIS

AUSTRINUS SAGITTARIUSSCORPIUS

VIRGO

AltairArcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares Spica

Eta AquaridsMay 6

Piscis Austrinids

Jul 28

Delta AquaridsJul 30

Alpha CapricornidsJul 30

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AntihelionAug 15Antihelion

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Coordinates of 2000

METEORS

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called June Draconids, derive from Comet 7P Pons-Winnecke, which in its roughly 6-year orbit has mademany returns, some quite close to Earth, though now thecomet’s orbit has moved outward. The peak date has var-ied between June 23 and 27. The radiant is given in north-ern Boötes but also varies; for 40° north it is overhead at9 PM and in the sky all night. There were displays of upto 100 per hour in some past years near the comet’s peri-helion; then after a dormancy of 70 years there was anunexpected outburst in 1998, another in 2004. These tan-talizingly variable meteors can be recognized by theirslowness (“only” 18 km/sec). Moon at First Quarter .

July 28: Piscis Austrinids (July 14–Aug. 10). ZHR maybe as low as 5. The radiant, near Fomalhaut, is in view fornorthern observers only briefly and well after midnight,much longer and higher for the southern hemisphere.

July 30: Delt a Aquarids (July 12–Aug. 23). A diffusestream or group of streams. They are better for southerlyobservers, though for latitude 40° north the radiants are inthe sky most of the night, highest around 2 AM. Two mainsub-streams used to be distinguished, South and North,peaking around July 30 and Aug. 7. But the North DeltaAquarids have been found to be merely part of theAntihelion Source. Delta Aquarids appear sparse,because they are spread widely, but may add up to one ofthe most massive of streams. ZHR at maximum is around20. The meteors are mostly faint, a few bright; 5-10%leave persistent trains; they move medium-slowly, about41 km/sec, because coming in sideways across Earth’sorbit. Moon Full July 31.

July 30: Alpha Capricornids (July 3–Aug. 15).Another diffuse complex, hard to distinguish—except bytheir slow speed of about 23 km/sec—from the DeltaAquarids and the Antihelion Source. They were onceassociated with Comet 72P Denning-Fujikawa, later with45P Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, but the orbits differ toomuch. For mid-northern latitudes the radiant is in the skymost of the night, highest at midnight. Though sparse (5per hour, exceptionally 10), the Alpha Capricornids arephotogenic, being often yellow, often bright, with manyfireballs.

Aug. 13: Perseids (6h; July 17–Aug. 24). The morbidnickname “St. Lawrence’s Tears”—he was martyred on ahot gridiron 258 Aug. 10—may date back only to 1839.Long regarded as our greatest and most reliable shower,later rivaled by the Geminids. Derived from Comet 109PSwift-Tuttle, which (with period around 120 years)appeared in 69 B.C., 188, 1737, 1862, and 1992. Theradiant, in the region where Perseus meets Cassiopeiaand Camelopardalis, is in the sky all night (for northern lat-itudes), at first low in the northeast, overhead toward 6AM. The orbit is steeply inclined to Earth’s (113°, techni-cally retrograde), hence passes near no other planet andis little perturbed. Historical records of the shower go back

to China in AD 36 (when it was in July), Europe in 811; the1866 occurrence was the first for which the link with acomet was made, by Schiaparelli. There were someamazing Perseid outbursts in 1980, the 1990s, and 2004.Numbers seen rise slowly to the peak of 50 or more perhour, then drop faster. Sometimes two peaks have beendistinguished, or more. The meteors are swift, 59 km/sec,which helps to distinguish them from the far less numer-ous Aquarids and Capricornids. Many are bright; white,yellow, green, red, orange; leave spectacular long-lastingtrains; end in flares. There may be an earlier peak, Aug.12 18h, of dust trails from the comet’s 1862 passage.Moon New .

Aug. 14: Kapp a Cygnids (Aug. 6-10). The radiant is(for northern latitudes) much higher than that of thePerseids in the early night, near the zenith around 9 PM.There may be only 3 to 5 per hour, but they are charac-teristically bright, even fireballs, moving slowly (25km/sec).

Sep. 1: Aurigids (14h; Aug. 25–Sep. 10). Discovered in1935 by Cuno Hoffmeister (who later wrote a book onmeteor streams); diminished since to ZHRs up to 5, withoccasional outbursts, the last, in 2007, reaching 130. Thepeak has been on Aug. 31 or Sep. 1 depending on leapdays. The meteors are swift (66 km/sec); many are verybright. They apparently follow the orbit of C/1911 Kiess, along-period comet that will not come by again for morethan a thousand years. The chief radiant is south ofMenkalinan (b Aur); the shower was formerly called AlphaAurigids when the radiant was thought to lie near Capella(a Aur). This area of the sky becomes high only after mid-night and is highest after dawn. The predicted peak timeis after dawn for most of America. Moon just past Full.

Sep. 9: September Ep silon Perseids (22h; Sep. 5-21). Not recognized as an annual shower until an outburston 2008 Sep. 9. The ZHR is given as 5; twice as many ormore may be seen in outburst years. They are swift (64km/sec), often bright. The radiant is nearer to b Persei(Algol) than to e. It is in the sky all night, highest 4 AMlocal time. Waning Moon rises about 2 AM.

Oct. 5/6 : meteors from a radiant in Camelopardalis, pos-sibly, but unconfirmed.

Oct. 9: Draconids (6h; Oct. 6-10) used also to becalled Giacobinids because derived from Comet 21PGiacobini-Zinner, which in its 6.6-year orbit passes closeto Earth’s, last doing so in 2012. The radiant is in theLozenge or head of Draco, only 13° from the north eclipticpole, so that unlike other radiants it scarcely shifts fromday to day. Descending vertically onto the plane of theecliptic, the meteors are slow-moving (20 km/sec). They

typically are faint, and fragment easily. The radiant is highin the early night, low to the northern horizon 3-6 AM. Inmany years no Draconids are seen; but there have beenstrong showers or even storms near the comet’s perihe-lion, such as 1926 (a Draconid fireball “lit up the sky”),1933, 1946 (15 days after the comet passed; up to 10,000an hour seen in the southwestern US in full moonlight),1985, 2005. Waning Moon rises about 3 AM.

Oct. 10: Taurids (Sep. 10–Dec. 10). Complex ofstreams derived from 2P Encke, the comet with the short-est period (3.3 years) and mostfrequent visits. The meteorsradiate from a large area thatmoves eastward along the eclip-tic from Pisces through Aries intoTaurus and is in view throughoutthese nights, highest about midnight. Spread over thistime, they appear sparse on most nights. Because thegeneral orbit lies in the inner solar system, with outer endnear Jupiter, the stream has become perturbed intobranches, which can scarcely be distinguished by thevisual observer. The main ones are the SouthernTaurids , the most abundant, with soft maximum inOctober (till recently it was thought to peak in earlyNovember), and the Northern , with peak Nov. 12. 2015should see a return of the Taurid “swarm” of larger parti-cles, in late Oct. and early Nov., producing higher ratesand fireballs. Taurids appear slow, about 28 km/sec,because they are coming in across our orbit from behind.As the stream goes back out, it encounters Earth’s day-time side and thus produces meteors detectable only asradio showers, the Zeta Perseids and Beta Taurids ofJune.

Oct. 11: Delt a Aurigids (Oct. 10-18). There may ormay not be a real shower, from a radiant at 5h36m +44°.There were past indications, mostly unconfirmed, of sev-eral sparse streams coming from the Auriga-Perseusregion.

Oct. 18: Ep silon Geminids (Oct. 14-27). Minor show-er of very swift meteors (70 km/sec), perhaps derived fromnon-periodic Comet C/1987 B1 Nishikawa-Takamizawa-Tago, whose orbit passed 0.05 AU from Earth’s Oct. 7position (and, on the way out, 0.12 AU from Earth’s July 12position). Up to 3 per hour may be seen, but it is hard toseparate these meteors, radiating from near Mebsuta (eGem), from the more numerous Orionids coming fromtheir nearby radiant. Moon 2 days before First Quarter .

Oct. 21: Orionids (Oct. 2–Nov. 7) are part of thestream coming inward along the approximate orbit ofHalley’s Comet, to be seen on the way out as the EtaAquarids of early May. But because the Orionids’ radiant,in the club of giant Orion near the feet of the Gemini twins,is up throughout a long autumn night for the northernhemisphere (highest at 4 AM), they are more familiar andhave been more fully studied. Orionids are, like the EtaAquarids, swift (66 km/sec); they are sometimes bright,and more than half leave persistent trains. The typicalZHR is 20; it can rise to 70, and sometimes there is morethan one peak, presumably representing thicker clouds ofparticles coming along the orbit. There may also be a 12-year cycle (caused by Jupiter), 2014-16 being a low part.Moon at First Quarter .

Oct. 24: Leo Minorids (Oct. 9-27). Such a weak max-imum (the ZHR is given as 2) that there is small chance ofdetecting them visually. The radiant at 10h48m +37° risesafter midnight and is highest at dawn. Moon 3 daysbefore Full.

ARIES

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AurigidsSep 1

September Epsilon Perseids

Sep 9

Southern TauridsOct 10

Delta AurigidsOct 11

Epsilon GeminidsOct 18

Orionids

Oct 21

Northern TauridsNov 12

Leonids

Nov 17

Alpha MonocerotidsNov 21

MonocerotidsDec 9

SigmaHydridsDec 12

Geminids Dec 14

Coma Berenicids

Dec 16December

Leo Minorids

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AntihelionJan 1Antihelion

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The radiants of most showers mentioned are shown in thisecliptic-based map, and/or the monthly sky maps. Shortlines radiate from the radiants at the peak dates. (Mostactual meteor paths are longer and farther from their radi-ant.) Marks at 1-day intervals show the radiants’ eastwarddrifts during their activity. The persistent AntihelionSource of meteors is represented by approximate positionsof its moving radiant. The smaller charts are at a scale of4 millimeters per degree.

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HERCULES

Space-trajectories ofcomet 109P Swift-Tuttleand some of the Perseidmeteors shed from it.

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For the Northern T aurids , see their Southern sisters inOctober.

Nov. 18: Leonids (4h; Nov. 6-30). The most dramati-cally variable of all. They follow the path of Comet 55PTempel-Tuttle, strike Earth’s atmosphere slightly north ofhead-on (the inclination is 162°) and pierce it at 71km/sec—almost the highest theoretical speed for mete-ors belonging to the solar system. This also means theshower is a morning one: the radiant, in the head of Leo(also called the “Sickle”), rises about 11 PM and is highestabout 6 AM. Leonids are often bright, bluish; most leavepersistent trains. Often only 5 to 20 per hour are seen atthe maximum, but fantastic storms happen usually, but notalways, near the times when the comet comes by in its 33-year orbit, Many were vaguely recorded in early annals(such as 902, Arabic “Year of the Stars”), but it was 1833(thousands per hour, woke people from their beds in east-ern North America) that inspired Denison Olmsted tounderstand radiants and the periodic orbiting of the parti-cles, thus founding meteor science. 1966 Nov. 17(144,000/hour in Arizona, reaching 40 per second!)remains the most intense meteor storm known. Thecomet’s last visit was in 1998, the last storm in 2002. Ifthis year’s peak is at 4h UT, it favors Europe; one expertputs the peak earlier, at Nov. 17 21h. Moon 1 day beforeFirst Quarter .

Nov. 22: Alpha Monocerotids (4h; Nov. 15-25).Usually feeble, with up to 3 swift (65 km/sec) meteors anhour at maximum, but there were brief outbursts in 1925,1935, 1985, and especially 1995: a 30-minute show with a5-minute climax from which was calculated a ZHR of 420.There may not be another outburst for a long time. Theradiant, now in Canis Minor rather than Monoceros, is inthe sky after 11 PM and highest at 4 AM. The peak timewould put the radiant overhead for Europe. Moon 3 dayspast First Quarter .

Dec. 6: Phoenicids (22h; Nov. 28–Dec. 9). The radiant is53° south, in Phoenix but just northwest of Achernar (aEridani), so this is for south-hemisphere observers. Theshower made its astonishing debut on 1956 Dec. 5: first R.Lynch in New Zealand, then others in Australia, the IndianOcean, and South Africa, saw up to 100 per hour, manyexploding as fireballs brighter than Venus. Since thenthey have been recorded only in scattered years, withpeak rates from 2 to 5. They move slowly (18 km/sec). Itwas soon realized that they are debris from 289PBlanpain, which after its 1819 discovery was “the long-lostcomet” (despite an only 5.1-year orbit), yet was rediscov-ered by stages from 2003 to 2013, and returned to peri-helion in 2014. Moon 3 days p ast Last Quarter .

Dec. 7: Puppids (Dec. 1-15). A diffuse and vaguelyknown group of streams with as many as 10 radiants in a20°-wide area of Puppis, Vela, and Carina. (So they mightbe called the “Argonauts.”) Up to 10 meteors per hour(some very bright) may be seen from the southern hemi-sphere.

Dec. 9: Monocerotids (Nov. 27–Dec. 17). Medium-

speed (42 km/sec) meteors derived from Comet C/1917F1 Mellish (discovered 1917, not to return till 2062). Theirradiant, 8° south of the celestial equator, is in view most ofthe night (highest 1 AM) for both hemispheres; but theyare very sparse (maybe 2 per hour at most) and difficult toseparate from the Geminids already starting. Moon 2days before New .

Dec. 12: Sigma Hydrids (Dec. 3-15). Sparse (up to 9an hour but more typically 3), faint, swift (58 km/sec) mete-ors from a radiant, just north of the equator, near the headof Hydra, that rises not long before midnight and is high-est at 3 AM. Various studies have given their peak as Dec.6, 12, or 14.

Dec. 14: Geminids (Dec. 4-17) have since about 1960surpassed the Perseids as most reliable among the annu-al showers. Instead of a sharp peak they have a “plateau,”this year from Dec. 14 1h to 23h, during which from 50 to130 an hour may be seen. Their radiant, near Castor, isup for almost all of the long (northern) winter night, high-est at 2 AM (so I once did a “star vigil,” logging Geminidsand waiting for the constellations that first set to comeback around into view). Geminids are medium-slow (35km/sec) because coming sideways into Earth’s orbit.Their long-sought parent body was discovered in 1983 bymeans of the IRAS satellite, and is not a comet but,uniquely, an asteroid: 3200 Phaethon, 5 km wide, with a1.52-year orbit, shorter than any comet’s, passing overEarth’s orbit by less than 1/10 of the Moon’s distance (theasteroid’s next close approach will be in 2017) and thendipping 3 times nearer than Mercury to the Sun. Thisrocky origin explains the nature of the Geminids: mostlybright, very few leaving trains. Moon only 3 days p ast

New.

Dec. 16: Coma Berenicids and December LeoMinorids (Dec. 12-23). These may be one shower or tworesulting from sub-streams of one stream—experts havechanged their minds as to whether they can be separated.If they can, the former may peak about Dec. 16, and thelatter, slightly more abundant, about Dec. 20. Both yieldonly up to 3 meteors an hour, faint and swift (65 km/sec).The radiant in Leo Minor, the obscure constellation aboveLeo’s back, rises about 10 PM and is up the rest of thenight; Coma Berenices (which was once, according tostory, the tuft on Leo’s tail) is 30° southeast, thus risesafter midnight (for northern observers). Over this time theMoon is from 5 to 9 days old.

Dec. 23: Ursids (2h; Dec. 17-26) radiate from nearKokab, the b star of Ursa Minor, at the other end of theLittle Dipper from Polaris. They were also called (beforenames were regulated by the International AstronomicalUnion) Ursa-Minorids or Umids. This radiant is (for lati-tude 40° north) in the sky all night, 26° above the northhorizon in the early night, almost overhead by dawn.These interesting meteors, filling the long cold winter-sol-stice night, are under-observed; it could be an even bettercandidate for a Star Vigil than the night of the Geminids!The parent comet is 8P Tuttle, which at intervals of 13½years drops steeply from the north through a perihelionclose to Earth’s orbit; it last came by in January 2008.(Comet and meteors revolve almost in the plane of theMilky Way, though in the opposite direction to that of thestars.) The meteors are of medium speed (33 km/sec),mostly faint but with a few fireballs; during the shower’sbrief peak 9 or 10 per hour may be seen, up to 50 espe-cially when the comet is near; in 1945 and 1986 the ratewas over 100. If the peak is as predicted around 2h UT, itwill be early night for America, past midnight for Europe.Moon 2 days before Full.

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In these globe diagrams, “radiant overhead” is only oneline, probably far from central, in the particle stream,which is vastly wider than the Earth.

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Paths of some streamsin space (blue when south of

the ecliptic plane) and some of their parent comets.

The Perseid meteors and the comet fromwhich they were shed, 109P Swift-Tuttle.The comet was discovered in 1862 butGary Kronk has found that it was seenby the Chinese in 69 B.C. and A.D.188; it is in a 135-year orbit ofhigh retrograde inclination(114°), which comes close toEarth’s and is locked in a1:11 orbital resonancewith Jupiter; it waslast at perihelion(0.958 a.u.from the

Sun) on1992 Dec.

12. The meteorstream, or rather the part of

it that hits Earth, is suggested by particles trav-eling along five “strands,” in each of which one orbital ele-ment—the longitude of perihelion—is increased or reducedby one or two degrees, as if the particles separated from thecomet somewhat before or after its perihelion. This results inthe particles being increasingly (away from perihelion) spreadout in the plane of the orbit, which is roughly what happens inan actual meteor stream. The stream is really far wider, butthe Earth collides with only a tiny fraction of it. The meteorsare shown blue where they are south of the ecliptic plane; thetransition between gray and blue is where we see the meteors.

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These charts are of the zodiacal band—the zone aroundthe sky within which the Sun, planets and Moon move. (Theband shown is 40° wide, centered on the ecliptic.) Arrowsshow the planets’ courses during each month.

The Sun is shown at the 1st, 16th, and last day of themonth; its disk is exaggerated 8 times in apparent size. Atthe middle of the month, its glare is indicated schematically.

The Moon is shown for each date at 0h Universal Time(Greenwich midnight). For local midnight at longitude 75°west (in America’s Eastern time zone) it will be 5/24 of theway east (left) toward the next date’s position; for the

Central, Mountain, and Pacific zones, 6/24, 7/24, and 8/24of the way. Its position is as seen from the center of theEarth, i.e. not adjusted for parallax. From a northern lati-tude it will be displaced slightly south. Its size is exaggerat-ed 8 times; it appears slightly larger near perigee (such asJan. 21) than apogee (such as Jan. 9). Gray areas are thedark maria (“seas”). We sometimes show stars and planetsin front of the Moon, which, being exaggerated insize, would otherwise hide them much moreoften than it really does.


AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

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OPHIUCHUS

Altair

Arcturus

FomalhautAntares

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Jan 12Moon

13Last Quarter

14

15

16171819

20

21New

22

23

24

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Saturn

Neptu

ne

Pluto

e c l i p t i c

e q u a t o r e q u a t o r

Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

yAQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

Altair

Arcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares

Spica

Feb 8M

oo

9

10

11

12Last Quarter

13141516

17

18

19New

20

21

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Saturn

Neptune

Plutoe c l i p t i c

e q u a t o re q u a t o r

Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

Altair

Arcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares

Spica

Mar 8

9

10

1112

1314Last Quarter

1516

17

18

19

20New

TOTALSOLARECLIPSEMar 20

MercurySatu

rn

Neptune

Pluto e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

Altair

Arcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares

Spica

Apr 16

Apr 1

Apr 16

30

Apr 4

5Full

6

78

9101112

Last Quarter13

14

15

16

May 1

TOTAL

lunar

ECLIPSE

Apr 4

Saturn

Neptune

Pluto

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

Altair

Arcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares

Spica

Apr 16Apr 16

May 1

2

3

4Full

56789

10

11

Last Quarter

12

13

14

28

29

30

31

Jun 1

Saturn

Neptune

Plutoe c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

yAltair

Arcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares

Spica

12

3Full

456

7

8

9

10LastQuarter

Jun 25

26

27

2829

30Jul 1

Saturn

Neptune

Pluto

First

Quarter

ZODIAC CHARTS

January

February

March

April

May

June

Libration is shown in these charts by red tabs on the Moon.Each is at the place on the Moon’s limb (edge) most libratedtoward us, and its outward width is proportional to the amount ofthe libration. At and near this place you can see with your tele-scope a few degrees past the average horizon into the foreshort-ened features of the Luna Incognita (“unknown Moon”) on our

neighbor small planet’s far side. But if the place is on the dark halfof the limb, where you can’t see anything, the libration is of noadvantage; this is indicated with a tab of paler color. The libration-spot is always on the hemisphere nearer to the ecliptic, becausewhen the Moon is south of the ecliptic plane we are looking slight-ly “down” on it—its north pole is in view—and vice versa.


ARIES

CANCER

GEMINI

LEO

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

Capella

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

Aldeb

aran

M35

Jun 11

Moon

12

13

14

151617

New1819

20

21

22

23

24

VenusMars

Jupiter

Uranus

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Beehive

Pleiades

PISCES

Mercury

ARIES

CANCERGEMINI

LEO

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

Aldebaran

M35

May 15

Moon

16

17

18New

202122

23

24

25

26

First Quarter

27

MercuryVenus

MarsJupiter

Uranus

e c l i p t i c

e q u a t o re q u a t o re q u a t o r

Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Pleiades

Beehive

19

PISCES

ARIES

CANCER

GEMINI

LEO

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

Aldebaran

M35

Apr 1

2

3

Apr 17

Moon

18

19New

2021

22232425

26

First Quarter27

28

2930

Mercury

Venus

MarsJupite

r

Uranus

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Pleiades

Beehive

PISCES

ARIES

CANCER

GEMINI

LEO

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

Aldebaran

M35

Mar 16

Mar 12

3

4

5

6Full

7Mar 21

Moon

22

23

24252627

First Quarter2829

30

31

Apr 1

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Uranus

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Pleiades

Beehive

PISCES

ARIES

CANCER

GEMINI

LEO

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

M35

Feb 12

34Full5

6

7

Feb 22M

oon

23

24

2526

First Quarter2728Mar 1

Jupiter

Uranus

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Pleiades

Beehive

PISCESAldebaran

ARIESCANCER

GEMINI

LEO

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

M35

Jan 1Moon

2345

Full67

8

9

10

11

Jan 25

26

27

First Quarter

2829

3031Feb 1

Jupiter

Uranus

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Pleiades

Beehive

Aldeb

aranH

yades

PISCES

The Moon and planets pass through the twelve constellationsof the traditional zodiac plus Ophiuchus, and some of themcan also wander southward into Cetus, Orion, Hydra,Sextans, Corvus, and Crater, or northward into Auriga,Scutum and Pegasus. Pluto can enter Eridanus, ComaBerenices, Serpens (Caput), Serpens (Cauda), and Boötes,and other minor bodies with high inclinations can be inany constellation. (See Jean Meeus, MoreMathematical Astronomy Morsels, p. 333.)

The zodiacal charts are handy for surveying the state of the sky. “Night” isfrom the Sun leftward and all the way back around to the Sun.

Starting at the Sun, you see to its left the stars and planets that are lowin the evening sky and about to set after it; leftward from them, the bodiesthat are prominent in the early night; leftward again, those that are at or nearopposition (including the Full Moon); leftward again, the morning sky, andfinally to the Sun’s right are the bodies that rise in twilight just before it.


AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

yAltair

Arcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares

Spica

Jul 123

4

5

6

7

Jul 22

23

24

25

2627

28293031

Aug 1

Full

First

Quarter

Full

Saturn

Neptune

Pluto

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

e c l i p t i c

e q u a t o re q u a t o rM

il

ky

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

yAltair

Arcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares

Spica

Aug 1

2

3Aug 18

19

20

21

2223

24252627

28

29

30

31

FirstQuarter

Full

Saturn

Neptune

Pluto

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

yAltair

Arcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares

Spica

Sep 15

16

17

1819

20212223

24

25

26

27

First Quarter

Merc

ury

Saturn

Neptune

Pluto

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

yAltair

Arcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares

Spica

Oct 1213

New

14

15

1617

18192021

22

23

24

25

New

FirstQuarter

Mercury

Saturn

Neptune

Pluto

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Nov 8

9

10

11

1213

14151617

18

19

20

21

New

FirstQuarter

Altair

Arcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares

SpicaMercury

Venus Mars

Saturn

Neptune

Pluto

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORNUS

LIBRA

PISCES

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIUS

VIRGO

OPHIUCHUS

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Dec 5

6

7

8

910

11121314

15

16

17

18

New

First Quarter

Altair

Arcturus

Fomalhaut

Antares

Spica

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Saturn

Neptune

Pluto

July

August

September

October

November

December


ARIES

CANCER

GEMINI

LEO

PISCES

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Dec 1

2

3

4

Dec 19

20

21

22

2324

252627

28

29

30

31

2016

Jan 1

Last

QuarterFull

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

Ald

ebaran

M35

Ura

nus

Pleiades

Beehive

Jupiter

ARIES

CANCER GEMINI

LEOPISCES

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Nov 123

4

5

6

7 Nov 22

23

24

25

26272829

30

Dec 1

Last

Quarter

Full

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

Aldebaran

M35

Jupite

r

Uranus

Pleiades

Beehive

ARIES

CANCERGEMINI

LEOPISCES

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

Oct 1

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

M35

Oct 12

3456

78

9

10

11

Oct 26

27

28

293031Nov 1

LastQuarter

Full

VenusM

ars

Jupite

r

Uranus

Pleiades

Aldeb

aran

Beehive

ARIES

CANCERGEMINI

LEOPISCES

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

Sep 30

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

Aldebaran

M35

Sep 1

2

3

4

6789

10

11

1213

1428

Full29

30

Oct 1

LastQuarter

New

partial

SOLAR

ECLIPSE

Sep 13

TOTALlunarECLIPSESep 28

Venus

Mars

Jupite

r

Ura

nus

Beehive

Pleiades

5

ARIES

CANCER

GEMINI

LEO

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

M35

Aug 4

5

6

78

10111213

14

15

16

17 Sep 1

Last QuarterNew

Merc

ury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Uranus

Beehive

Pleiades

9 Aldebaran

PISCES

ARIES

CANCER

GEMINI

LEO

TAURUS

CETUS

ORION

e c l i p t i c


Mi

lk

y

Mi

lk

y

Wa

y

Wa

y

Sirius

Procyon

Castor

Pollux

Regulus

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Algol

Aldebaran

M35

Jul 1

Jul 8

9

10

11

1213

141516

1718

1920

21

LastQuarterNew

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Uranus

Pleiades

BeehivePISCES

2015 Astronomical Calendar

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Transcript of 2015 Astronomical Calendar