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Astro 102 Notes

1) The document provides an overview of celestial coordinate systems and constellations as seen from Earth. It defines important lines and points on the celestial sphere including the meridian, zenith, horizon, altitude, azimuth, and celestial poles. 2) Common celestial objects like stars, constellations, and the Milky Way are described in the context of how they appear to move across the celestial sphere due to Earth's rotation. 3) Key concepts about seasons and how the tilt of Earth's axis affects the intensity of sunlight throughout the year at different latitudes are summarized.

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Sam Brown
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104 views2 pages

Astro 102 Notes

1) The document provides an overview of celestial coordinate systems and constellations as seen from Earth. It defines important lines and points on the celestial sphere including the meridian, zenith, horizon, altitude, azimuth, and celestial poles. 2) Common celestial objects like stars, constellations, and the Milky Way are described in the context of how they appear to move across the celestial sphere due to Earth's rotation. 3) Key concepts about seasons and how the tilt of Earth's axis affects the intensity of sunlight throughout the year at different latitudes are summarized.

Uploaded by

Sam Brown
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sep 4 

 
Prof. Kayhan Gultekin (Gyool-teck-een) 
Prof. Douglas Richstone 
3 GSI’s 
Get a clicker 
Homeworks are due tuesday in general 
Expected to do readings before coming to the lecture 
Observatory lab project, angel hall student observatory thursday evenings 
HW will have lots of d=rt (x=vt)  
 
Sep 6 
 
Frequency CB on iclicker 
The local sky (the dome around you): 
Meridian=line passing through zenith and connecting north and south 
points on horizon (edge of a slice of the dome from north to south through 
zenith) 
Zenith=the point directly overhead 
Horizon=all points 90 degrees away from zenith 
Altitude=how far above horizon something is 
Direction(azimuth)=How far east from north  
(Direction,Altitude) are your local coordinates (both are in angles) 
 
We measure using angles because things are too far away to use 
distances 
 
Fist in front of you is about 10 degrees, finger is one, outstretched 
hand is about 20 
1 degree = 60’ = 60 arcminutes 
1’=1 arcminute=60”=60 arcseconds 
 
A constellation is a region of the sky 
88 constellations fill the entire sky 
 
The celestial sphere: 
Stars at different distances all appear to lie on the celestial sphere 
88 official constellations cover the entire celestial sphere 
Basically the distance-compressed map of stars such that the 
constellations link up to cover the sphere, as we would see from our 
perspective 
Earth spins west to east, so sky appears to spin east to west 
North Celestial pole= projection of earth’s north pole onto the sphere. 
Doesn’t really move with other constellations. 
South celestial pole 
Celestial equator 
Ecliptic=diagonal line, path of sun throughout the year 
When we look in any direction into the galactic plane, we see the stars and 
interstellar clouds that make up the milky way 
Our view from earth: 
Stars near the north celestial pole are circumpolar and never set 
We cannot see stars near the south celestial pole 
All other celestial bodies rise in east and set in west 
Altitude of the celestial pole = your latitude 
 
Angular size/360deg = physical size / (2 times pi times distance to the object) 
Above thing is only valid if angular size is fairly small 
At midnight, the stars on our meridian are opposite the sun in the sky 
Seasons depend on how earth’s axis affects the directness of sunlight 
Sun’s altitude also changes with seasons 
Seasonal changes are more extreme at high latitudes 
Summer occurs in your hemisphere when sunlight hits it more directly; winter 
occurs when the sunlight is less direct 
Variation of earth-sun distance is only about 3% 
Equinox, axis is perpendicular to sun 
Solstice 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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