During 2002 total solar eclipse, the Sun is in southern Ophiuchus. Depending on the geographic location, as many as four naked eye planets and a number of bright stars will be above the horizon within the umbral path. The figures below depict the appearance of the sky during totality as seen from the center line at different locations.
The most conspicuous planet visible during totality will be Venus (mv=-4.5) located 39° west of the Sun in Virgo. Mars (mv=+1.7) is one and a half degrees west of Venus, but offers a much more difficult target since it will be nearly 500 times fainter. From Zimbabwe, the pair will appear 70° high in the northeast. Compared to Venus, Jupiter (mv=-2.2) is the next brightest planet but it will be located in the northwestern sky 114° away from the Sun. None of these planets will be visible from Australia since they all set hours before totality begins. However, Mercury (mv=-0.6) should be discernible from most places along the eclipse track. The innermost planet lies 11° east of the Sun. Since it is nearly at opposition, Saturn (mv=-0.1) will be below the horizon for most locations along the umbral path.
A number of the bright stars may also be visible during totality. Antares (mv=+1.06) is 5° south of the Sun while Arcturus (mv=-0.05) stands 55° to the northwest. Spica (mv=+0.98) lies 10° west of Venus and Mars. Finally, the great southern stars Alpha (mv=+0.14) and Beta (mv=+0.58) Centauri are 45° south of the Sun. Star visibility requires a very dark and cloud free sky during totality.
Each figure is available in two resolutions: 'Low' (web resolution) and 'High' (300 dpi print resolution). You may need to set your printer to 25% reduction in order to print 'High' resolution figures on a single page.
これらは、NASA TP 2001-209990"Total Solar Eclipse of 2002 December 04" から構成されています。