Chapter 2 Discovering the Universe for Yourself

1. Chapter 2Discovering the Universe for Yourself Chapter Outline Patterns in the Night Sky The Reason for Seasons The Moon, Our Constant Companion The Ancient Mystery of the Planets 2/7/2005 2:55 PM

2. 2.1 Patterns in the Night Sky What are constellations? How do we locate objects in the sky? Why do stars rise and set? Why don’t we see the same constellations throughout the year?

3. The Celestial Sphere(Two-sphere Geometry)

4. Why do we have constellations in the night sky? • Constellations are not the result of an exercise in imagination. • Constellations serve as an aid to time keeping, i.e., a primitive calendar. • Constellations make nighttime navigation possible. • For modern astronomers, constellations are a first level of organization of the sky with definite north-south and east-west boundaries.

5. Constellation of Orion Red lines mark constellation boundaries

6. (altitude = 90o) Definitions in Your Local Sky (altitude = 0o) (azimuth = 0o) (azimuth = 90o) (azimuth = 270o) (azimuth = 180o) Big Dipper Angular measure is in degrees, minutes, and seconds of arc 1 degree = 60 arcminutes 1 arcminute = 60 arcseconds

7. Common Cyclic Phenomena • Diurnal motion – daily rising and setting • Solar annual apparent motion – yearly motion of Sun from west to east relative to the background stars • Lunar phases – monthly cycle of illumination for the Moon • Solar and lunar eclipses – shadow effect • Planetary configurations – changing position of the planets relative to the background stars

8. Daily Rising and Setting Summer Equinox position Summer solstice Winter solstice Winter

9. Rising and Setting

10. altitude of the celestial pole = your latitude

11. View from Earth in Our Galaxy

12. 2.2 The Reason for Seasons What causes the seasons? How do we mark the progression of the seasons? Does the orientation of the Earth’s axis change with time?

13. The Sun’s Annual Motion • 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.

14. Seasonal Changes

15. Precession of Earth’s Axis of Rotation • Although the axis seems fixed on human time scales, it actually precesses over about 26,000 years. • Polaris won’t always be the North Star. • Positions of equinoxes shift around orbit; e.g., spring equinox, once in Aries, is now in Pisces!

16. 2.3 The Moon, Our Constant Companion Why do we see phases of the Moon? What causes eclipses?

17. Moon’s Orbit

18. Phases of the Moon

19. Phases of the Moon

20. Moon Rise/Set by Phase

21. Why are eclipses important to astronomy? • If one can predict an eclipse then we have an accurate time keeping system • They can help in the study of the Sun (solar eclipse)

22. Conditions for Solar and Lunar Eclipse

23. Inclination of Lunar Orbital Plane to Ecliptic

24. Solar Eclipses • Solar eclipses can occur only at or near new moon. • Solar eclipses can be partial, total, orannular.

25. Lunar Eclipses • Lunar eclipses can occur only at or near full moon. • Lunar eclipses can be penumbral, partial, or total.

26. Solar Eclipses

27. 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?

28. What observations did ancients make of planetary motion? • They did recognize the five naked-eye planets as moving relative to background stars • They observed planetary configurations and measured synodic periods • They observed retrograde motions of planets, such as Mars

29. Superior Conjunction Sun Greatest Western Elongation Greatest Eastern Elongation Inferior Conjunction Earth Inferior Planet Configurations

30. Superior Planet Configurations Conjunction Sun Eastern Quadrature Western Quadrature Earth Opposition

31. Earth’s Orbit  26o One Month Later Sun  26o Month 1 Synodic and Sidereal Month • Sidereal month- 360o revolution measured relative background stars • Approximately 27.3d • Synodic month- 386o revolution measured relative to Earth/Sun line • New moon to new moon • Approximately 29.5d

32. Synodic and Sidereal Periods • Synodic period – time interval between successive occurrences of the same planetary configuration • Sidereal period – time interval for 360o revolution of planet about the Sun measured relative to the stars

33. Understanding Retrograde Motion

34. Mars Retrograde Motion in 2003

35. Retrograde Motion for Mars

36. The Big Picture • You can enhance your enjoyment of learning astronomy by observing the sky. The more you learn about the appearance and apparent motions of the sky, the more you will appreciate the universe of which you are a part. • From Earth, it is convenient imagines that we are at the center of a great celestial sphere-even though we really are on a planet orbiting a star in a vast universe. We can understand what we see in the local sky by thinking about how the celestial sphere appears. • Most of the phenomena of the sky are relatively easy to observe and understand. The more complex phenomena, particularly eclipses and apparent planetary motion, challenged our ancestors for thousands of years and helped drive the development of science and technology.