Elongation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This diagram shows the elongations (or angle) of the Earth's position from the Sun.
This diagram shows the elongations (or angle) of the Earth's position from the Sun.

Elongation is an astronomical term that refers to the angle between the Sun and a planet, as viewed from Earth.

When an inferior planet is visible after sunset, it is near its greatest eastern elongation. When an inferior planet is visible before sunrise, it is near its greatest western elongation. The value of the greatest elongation (west or east), for Mercury, is between 18° and 28°; and for Venus between 45° and 47°. This value varies because the orbits of the planets are elliptical, rather than perfect circles.

Refer to astronomical tables and websites such as www.heavens-above.com to see when the planets reaches their next elongations.

In 2007 Venus has a greatest eastern elongation on June 9, and a western one on October 28.

In 2007 Mercury has greatest eastern elongations on February 7, June 2, and September 29. Western ones happen on March 22, July 20, and November 8.


Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../e/l/o/Elongation.html"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.