Discovering The Universe For Yourself

From the previous class
What is smaller a typical planet or a light

second?
Light second correspond approximately to a Moon-Earth
distance. Therefore, the answer is a typical planet. ( by the
way radius of the Earth is 6,378 km)
Why the plane travel to

Europe is shorter?
As you guessed the answer is the
wind
2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

publishing as Addison-Wesley
Chapter 2
Discovering the Universe for Yourself
We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars,
and we used to lay on our backs and look up at
them, and discuss about whether they was made,
or only just happened.
Mark Twain (1835 1910)

American author, from Huckleberry Finn
In chapter 2 we will study the motions of

the stars, sun, moon and planets across our
sky.

2.1 Patterns in the Night Sky

Our goals for learning:
What are constellations?

How do we locate objects in the sky?
Why do stars rise and set?
Why dont we see the same constellations
throughout the year?

What are constellations?

A constellation is a
region of the sky.
(every point in the sky belongs to
some constellation; it is to the
sky as a state is to the US)
88 constellations
fill the entire sky.
Official borders
set in 1928, by
IAU.
Most of the names of northern constellations date back to ancient middle eastern
th
civilizations; the names of southern
mostly
given
2005are
Pearson
Education
Inc., by European explorers in 17
century.
Thought Question
The brightest stars in a constellation
A. All belong to the same star cluster.
B. All lie at about the same distance from
Earth.
C. May actually be quite far away from each
other.

The brightest stars in a constellation

A. All belong to the same star cluster.
B. All lie at about the same distance from
Earth.
C. May actually be quite far away from
each other.

The Celestial Sphere

We lack depth perception when
we look into spaceit seems
like all the stars are surrounding
us on a sphere.
The ancient Greeks believed that
stars actually lie on a celestial
sphere.
There are four special elements on the
celestial sphere:
north celestial pole
south celestial pole
celestial equator
ecliptic

The Celestial Sphere

The sphere shows:
star patterns,
borders of 88 constellations,
ecliptic,
celestial equator
and poles.
Question: where would the Earth be on this sphere?

Question: Explain the shape
Milky
way.
2005of
Pearson
Education
Inc.,
The Milky Way

A band of light
making a circle around
the celestial sphere.
What is it?
Our view into the
plane of our galaxy.

How do we locate objects in the sky?

Now we move from celestial sphere to the local sky.
Question: why does
the local sky look
like a dome?
Key features on the
local sky:
Horizon: boundary
between earth and sky
Zenith: the point
overhead.
Meridian: half circle
which contains south,
zenith and north.
We can locate any object by its

altitude (above horizon) and
direction (along horizon)
If we want to measure sizes of objects and

distances we do it in angles...
Question: why we do not measure actual sizes and distances on the

sky? (hint: angular sizes of Moon and Sun are about the same)
Angle measurements:
Full circle = 360
1 = 60 (arcminutes)
1 = 60 (arcseconds)

Thought Question
The angular size of your finger at arms length is
about 1. How many arcseconds is this?
A. 60 arcseconds
B. 600 arcseconds
C. 60 60 = 3,600 arcseconds

The angular size of your finger at arms length is

about 1. How many arcseconds is this?
A. 60 arcseconds
B. 600 arcseconds
C. 60 60 = 3,600 arcseconds

Earth rotates east to west, so

stars appear to circle from
west to east.

Our view from Earth (local sky):

Stars near the north celestial pole are circumpolar and
never set.
We cannot see stars near the south celestial pole.
All other stars (and Sun, Moon, planets) rise in east and
set in west.
Question: would you see more
circumpolar stars if you would
live in Canada or in the US?
Celestial Equator
Your horizon
Thought Question
What is the arrow pointing to?
A. the zenith
B. the north celestial pole
C. the celestial equator

What is the arrow pointing to?

A. the zenith
B. the north celestial pole
C. the celestial equator

Why dont we see the same

constellations throughout the year?
1. Depends on whether you stay travel:
Constellations vary with latitude.
2. Depends on time of year: Constellations vary as
Earth orbits the Sun.

1) Lets review how we locate coordinates on the Earth

Latitude: position north or south of equator
Longitude: position east or west of prime meridian (runs
through Greenwich, England)

The sky varies with latitude but not longitude.
If the south celestial pole appears

in your sky at an altitude of 34
above your south horizon, your
latitude is 34 - important for
navigation!
altitude of the celestial pole = your latitude

Star motion:

Thought Question
The North Star (Polaris) is 50 above your horizon,
due north. Where are you?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
You are on the equator.

You are at the North Pole.
You are at latitude 50N.
You are at longitude 50E.
You are at latitude 50N and longitude
50E.
The North Star (Polaris) is 50 above your horizon,

due north. Where are you?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
You are on the equator.

You are at the North Pole.
You are at latitude 50N.
You are at longitude 50E.
You are at latitude 50N and longitude 50E.

2) The (night) sky varies as Earth orbits the Sun

As the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun appears to move eastward
along the ecliptic.
At midnight, the stars on our meridian are opposite the Sun the
in the sky.

zodiac: constellations along the ecliptic!
Special Topic: How Long is a Day?

Solar day = 24 hours
Sidereal day (Earths rotation period) = 23hr, 56min

What have we learned?

What are
constellations?
A region of the sky;
every position on the
sky belongs to one of
88 constellations.
How do we locate
objects in the sky?
By its altitude above
the horizon and its
direction along the
horizon.

Because of Earths rotation.
Why dont we see the same

constellations throughout the
year?
The sky varies with latitude.
The night sky changes as Earth
orbits the Sun.

2.2 The Reason for Seasons

What causes the seasons?
How do we mark the progression of the
seasons?
Does the orientation of Earths axis change
with time?

Thought Question
TRUE OR FALSE? Earth is closer to the Sun in summer
and farther from the Sun in winter.

TRUE OR FALSE? Earth is closer to the Sun in summer

Hint: When it is summer in the U.S.,

it is winter in Australia.

TRUE OR FALSE! Earth is closer to the Sun in summer

Seasons are opposite in the N and S

hemispheres, so distance cannot be the reason.
The real reason for seasons involves Earths
axis tilt.

Sunlight strikes the northern
hemisphere at steeper angle
(warmer) and it is higher in the
sky (longer days).

Axis tilt causes uneven heating by

sunlight throughout the year.
Question: Jupiter has an
axis tilt of about 3 and
nearly circular orbit
around the Sun. Does it
have seasons?

Summary: The Real Reason for Seasons

Earths axis points in the same direction (to
Polaris) all year round, so its orientation relative
to the Sun changes as Earth orbits the Sun.
Summer occurs in your hemisphere when sunlight
hits it more directly; winter occurs when the
sunlight is less direct.
AXIS TILT is the key to the seasons; without it,
we would not have seasons on Earth.

Why doesnt distance matter?

Only small variation of Earth-Sun distance about 3%;
this small variation overwhelmed by effects of axis tilt.
Note: Some planets have greater distance variation that DOES affect their
seasons notably Mars, Pluto.
Question: If the southern and north hemisphere get the same amount of
sunlight over the year, how come that seasons are milder in the southern
part?
How do we mark the progression of the seasons?

Ancient men used to track the change of seasons by observing the Suns position
in the sky
To do it now, we define four special points:
summer solstice
winter solstice
spring (vernal) equinox
fall (autumnal) equinox

around March
21st
Jun 21st
December 21st
September 22nd

Question: at what latitude the

Sun is overhead during the
summer solstice? (hint: tropic
of cancer.
We can recognize solstices and equinoxes by Suns

path across sky:
Equinoxes: Sun rises precisely
due east and sets precisely due
west. The day is exactly 12
hours long.
Summer solstice: highest path,
rise and set at most extreme
north of due east.
Winter solstice: lowest path,
rise and set at most extreme
south of due east.
The beginnings of seasons coincide with the days of equinox and solstice, as
they are seen from northern hemisphere.
Question: How about the Southern hemisphere? And the region of Equator, how
do the seasons look like there?
Seasonal changes are more

extreme at high latitudes
Path of the Sun on the summer solstice at the Arctic Circle

Sun becomes circumpolar.
Question: how does the winter solstice look like at the Arctic Circle?
Does the orientation of Earths axis

change with time?
Although the axis seems fixed on human time scales, it
actually precesses over about 26,000 years.
All spinning objects precess, i.e. spinning top.

Question: Is Polaris really a North Star?
Question: are equinoxes always on the same position in the orbit?

No! Polaris has been a good North Star only for couple of
centuries. In 13,000 years Vega will be a North Star. The axis
does not point near any bright star during most of its cycle!

No! Polaris has been a good North Star only for couple of
centuries. In 13,000 years Vega will be a North Star. The axis
does not point near any bright star during most of its cycle!

No. For example summer equinox used to be in Aries (2000 years
ago), but now it is in Pisces. So, if you are born on March 21st, your
astrological sign would appear to be Aries, even though, the Sun was really in
Pisces when you were born. (horoscope is based on the star sky mapped by
Ptolemy, in old Greece).
Also, summer solstice is not in Cancer anymore, it is in Gemini.


The tilt of the Earths axis causes sunlight to hit
different parts of the Earth more directly during the
summer and less directly during the winter.
How do we mark the progression of the

seasons?
The summer and winter solstices are when the
Northern Hemisphere gets its most and least direct
sunlight, respectively. The spring and fall
equinoxes are when both hemispheres get equally
direct sunlight.

Does the orientation of the Earths axis change with
time?
Yes. The tilt remains about 23.5 degrees (so the season
pattern is not affected), but Earth has a 26,000 year
precession cycle that slowly and subtly changes the
orientation of the Earths axis.

2.3 The Moon,

Our Constant Companion
Why do we see phases of the Moon?
What causes eclipses?


The Moon is always
half illuminated by
Sun and half dark
Depending on the angle
under which see the
moon we see some
combination of the
bright and dark faces

Phases of the Moon

Moon Rise/Set by Phase

Different phases of the
Moon rise and set at
different times above our
horizon.
Question: Is it true that we see
moon only during the night?

Phases of the Moon: 29.5-day cycle

new
Months is actually a moonths
crescent
first quarter
gibbous
waxing
Moon visible in afternoon/evening.
Gets fuller and rises later each day.
full
gibbous
last quarter
crescent
waning
Moon visible in late night/morning.
Gets less and sets later each day.
Thought Question
Its 9 am. You look up in the sky and see a
moon with half its face bright and half dark.
What phase is it?
A.
B.
C.
D.
First quarter
Waxing gibbous
Third quarter
Half moon

Its 9 am. You look up in the sky and see a

moon with half its face bright and half dark.
What phase is it?
A.
B.
C.
D.
First quarter
Waxing gibbous
Third quarter
Half moon


The Earth and Moon cast shadows.
When either passes through the others shadow, we have an
eclipse.
Lunar eclipse: when Earth lies directly between Sun and Moon.
Solar eclipse: when Moon lies between Sun and Earth, then people
living where the Moon shadow falls can not see the Sun.
Light partially blocked

Light completely blocked

Lunar eclipses
Lunar eclipses can occur only at full moon.
Lunar eclipses can be penumbral, partial, or total.
The full moon darkens only slightly.
Lasts about one hour. The Moon

appears red because Earths
atmosphere bends some of the red
light toward the Moon.
Lunar Eclipse

Do we have lunar eclipse at every full moon?

No!
The Moons orbit is tilted 5 to ecliptic plane
So we have about two eclipse seasons each year, with a lunar
eclipse at new moon and solar eclipse at full moon.

Solar Eclipses
Solar eclipses can occur only at new moon.
Solar eclipses can be partial, total, or annular.
Moons umbra touches the Earth, covering
about 270 km in diameter and traveling at a
speed of 1,700 km/hr. Eclipse lasts for few
minutes.
If the Moon is farther and the shadow

does not reach the Earth we see annular
eclipse - a ring of sunlight surrounds the
disk of the Moon.
Solar Eclipse

Summary: Two conditions must be met

to have an eclipse:
1. It must be full moon (for a lunar eclipse) or new moon
(for a solar eclipse).
AND
2. The Moon must be at or near one of the two points in its
orbit where it crosses the ecliptic plane (its nodes).

Predicting Eclipses
We have about two solar eclipses each year, but since positions of the
eclipse seasons slowly move around the orbit, eclipses do not occur in fixed
parts of the year.
Eclipses actually recur with the 18 yr, 11 1/3 day saros cycle, but type (e.g.,
partial, total) and location may vary.
Any two eclipses separated by one saros cycle share very similar
geometries. They occur at the same node with the Moon at nearly the same
distance from Earth and at the same time of year. Because the saros period is
not equal to a whole number of days, its biggest drawback is that subsequent
eclipses are visible from different parts of the globe.
Since there are two to five solar eclipses every year, there are approximately
forty different saros series in progress at any one time.
Paths of totality for solar eclipses till 2030.


Half the Moon is lit by the Sun; half is in shadow.
The appearance of the Moon to us is determined by
the Sun, Earth, and Moon positions.

Lunar eclipse: Earths shadow on the Moon. Can be
penumbral, partial, or total.
Solar eclipse: the Moons shadow on Earth. Can be
partial, total, or annular.
Tilt of Moons orbit means eclipses
occur during two periods each year.
Eclipses recur with the
18 yr, 11 1/3 day saros cycle

Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 16th, 2006.
The robotic Casini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn recently drifted in giant planet's shadow for about 12
hours and looked back toward the eclipse Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other. First, the night side
is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves
appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn and
slightly scattering sunlight, in the above exaggerated color image.
Taken from the Nasa site: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061016.html

2.4 The Ancient Mystery of the Planets

What was once so mysterious about the
movement of planets in our sky?
Why did the ancient Greeks reject the real
explanation for planetary motion?

Planets Known in Ancient Times

Mercury
difficult to see; always close
to Sun in sky
Venus
very bright when visible
morning or evening star
Mars
noticeably red
Jupiter
very bright
Saturn
moderately bright
What was once so mysterious

about planetary motion in our sky?
Planets usually move eastward from night to night
relative to the stars.
You cannot see this motion on a single night; rather,
planets rise in the east and set in the west.
But sometimes they go westward for a few weeks or

months: apparent retrograde motion

We see apparent retrograde motion when

we pass by a planet in its orbit.

Explaining Apparent Retrograde Motion

Easy for us to explain: occurs when we
lap another planet (or when Mercury or
Venus lap us)
But very difficult to explain if you think that
Earth is the center of the universe!
In fact, ancients considered but rejected the
correct explanation

Their inability to observe stellar parallax was a major factor.

The Greeks knew that the lack of observable

parallax could mean one of two things:
1. Stars are so far away that stellar parallax is
too small to notice with the naked eye
2. Earth does not orbit Sun; it is the center of
the universe
With rare exceptions such as Aristarchus, the Greeks
rejected the correct explanation (1) because they
did not think the stars could be that far away
Thus setting the stage for the long, historical showdown
between Earth-centered and Sun-centered systems.

What was so mysterious about
planetary motion in our sky?
Like the Sun and Moon, planets
usually drift eastward relative to
the stars from night to night; but
sometimes, for a few weeks or few
months, a planet turns westward in
its apparent retrograde motion.
Easy for us to explain: occurs
when Earth passes a planet by
(laps it) in its orbit. But difficult
to explain if you think Earth is the
center of the universe.


They could not detect stellar parallax.
Most Greeks concluded that Earth must be
stationary, because they thought the stars could not
be so far away as to make parallax undetectable.


Discovering The Universe For Yourself

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Discovering The Universe For Yourself

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

From the previous class

What is smaller a typical planet or a light

Why the plane travel to

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

Mark Twain (1835 1910)

In chapter 2 we will study the motions of

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

2.1 Patterns in the Night Sky

What are constellations?

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

What are constellations?

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

The brightest stars in a constellation

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

The Celestial Sphere

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

The Celestial Sphere

Question: where would the Earth be on this sphere?

The Milky Way

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

How do we locate objects in the sky?

We can locate any object by its

If we want to measure sizes of objects and

Question: why we do not measure actual sizes and distances on the

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

The angular size of your finger at arms length is

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

Why do stars rise and set?

Earth rotates east to west, so

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

Our view from Earth (local sky):

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

What is the arrow pointing to?

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

Why dont we see the same

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

1) Lets review how we locate coordinates on the Earth

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

The sky varies with latitude but not longitude.

If the south celestial pole appears

altitude of the celestial pole = your latitude

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

You are on the equator.

The North Star (Polaris) is 50 above your horizon,

You are on the equator.

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

2) The (night) sky varies as Earth orbits the Sun

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

zodiac: constellations along the ecliptic!

Special Topic: How Long is a Day?

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

What have we learned?

What have we learned?

Why dont we see the same

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

2.2 The Reason for Seasons

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

TRUE OR FALSE? Earth is closer to the Sun in summer

Hint: When it is summer in the U.S.,

2005 Pearson Education Inc.,

TRUE OR FALSE! Earth is closer to the Sun in summer