Planetary positions

Armagh Observatory Human Orrery
Armagh Observatory home page

The following plots show the positions of planets projected on to the ecliptic at 1 month intervals. Planetary data were read from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's ephemeris DE406 using the NAIF SPICE toolkit and the plots were made using PGPLOT.

The colours used are yellow (Sun), brown (Mercury), green (Venus), blue (Earth), red (Mars), orange (Jupiter), grey (Saturn), pink (Uranus) and purple (Neptune). The first point of Aries (the direction of the Sun as viewed from the Earth at the time of the northern vernal equinox) is towards the right. Relative sizes of Sun and planets are not to scale.

Positions in 2000 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2001 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2002 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2003 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2004 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2005 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2006 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2007 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2008 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2009 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2010 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2011 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2012 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2013 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2014 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2015 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2016 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2017 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2018 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Positions in 2019 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

Plot for date of your choice at Heavens-Above

Alignment of Earth, Venus, Mars, Saturn in 2002 May
Alignment of Earth, Venus, Mars in 2002 May
Joe Rao article on 2002 May alignment
Center for Astrophysics press release and images
Windows to the Universe page on 2002 May alignment

Last revised: 2009 December 1st