Analysis : The Night Sky Planisphere

There are three main sections to this module: terrestrial coordinates, celestial equatorial coordinates, and understanding how the ecliptic is related to seasons on the Earth. Each of these sections has its own simulator(s). The background material necessary to utilize these tools is contained in each section.

A constellation is the group of a bright star that forms shapes and patterns in the sky but are far apart in space. According to (Bennett, 2012) the start in a particular constellation appear to look closer to one another, but in reality, they are quite far apart because they lie at different distances from Earth. To measure the nearby star the astronomers use a technique called parallax.

Astronomy was a highly debated topic between scientists and the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and there was a place for all of the gods/zodiacs in it. An astronomer from the Middle Ages, Ptolemy, created the drawing of the universe which depicted the Earth in the very center of the universe, or geocentric. The geocentric universe, also contained an outer name in latin translating directly to “The Empire of Heaven and the Home of God and the Elect( document C )”. Contrary to the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church another astronomer from The Renaissance created a sun centered universe or heliocentric. This astronomers name was Copernicus, he created his universe based on observation of the movement of the planets and mathematics. During the Middle Ages it was strongly believed that the universe was geocentric, but now astronomers like Copernicus have disproved these beliefs with concrete

Astronomy and astrology are very similar, yet different. Astronomy is the study of the universe and what's inside of it, as well as other universes. Astrology is the study of how the actions and movements of things in our universe affect what happens on earth, and people. Although they both deal with the universe and one was founded by the other, they also have many things that set them apart from one another. This essay will talk about the differences and similarities of astronomy and astrology and how each is used.

Long ago, people began to observe the sky and astronomical objects to make predictions and modify calendars. Until early Ming Dynasty, China was way more developed in astronomy than that of European countries’. Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory was built in 1279 in China that enabled astronomers to calculate the accurate time of one year that was 300 years ahead of European scholars working it out (K.G 37). However, in the 18th century, Chinese star catalog was “relying on European data and the ephemerides were calculated on the basis of Newtonian theory” (Renn 283). Besides the failure to compute data

11. What are the March and September equinoxes? What are the northern and southern solstices? How are the four points related to the ecliptic and celestial equator? (Page 15 – 17)

A parallax is used to measure a star’s distance. During every 6 months’ astronomers look at a star and record it they then measure the distance it moved to find the actual distance from the sun.

Nathan also attended an Earth, Moon, and Sun projection at the Hudson River Planetarium, wherein lunar phases, eclipses, and other puzzles were explored. We introduced the study and identification of constellations and dabbled with sky maps and a stargazing mobile app as initial

REBEKAH-- The Earth is in an oval around the sun which is called an orbit. The time it takes for the Earth to completely move around the sun, is an Earth year. The Earth also has an axis. What is an axis? An axis is an imaginary line that runs diagonally through the middle of the Earth. The axis is also the thing that helps us know where the equator is.

The movement of the stars in the night sky can be categorised into two different motions. The first is diurnal, and it is an astronomical term referring to the motion of the stars every 24 hours around the two celestial poles (Earth). The diurnal motion of the stars is caused by Earth’s rotation on its axis from west to east, resulting in every star moving in a circle (the diurnal circle). One sidereal day (23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.09 seconds) is the time it takes for one complete rotation. If one were to look into the night sky in the southern hemisphere, the stars would appear to rotate from east to west around the South Celestial Pole (due to the rotation of Earth). Stars are also only visible during certain times of the year, as the brightness

A constellation is simply a recognisable patterned formed by stars in the sky. There are different names dedicated to the different stars in a constellation. The brightest of them all is the Alpha star, the next brightest is the Beta star. The magnitude or brightness of the stars is determined by its mass and depends of the amount of energy it radiates. Stars also appear brighter the closer they are to Earth. The apparent magnitude of a star is its measure of brightness viewed from Earth. The scale goes from -10 (very bright) to +10 (very dim). The absolute Magnitude of a star is its actual brightness (measured from a set distance). The absolute magnitude of a massive star such as Rigel is -6.8 (bright), but it has an apparent magnitude of

In the 16th Century a Polish astronomer, Copernicus ,made a model that placed the Sun in the centre of the Solar System. Before then, astronomers had very complicated models which tried to explain the movement of the planets. They were said to move forwards then backwards. Astronomers had a theory that the planets were spheres in spheres which could explain the movement of the planets. Although Copernicus simplified it all and showed that the Earth was orbiting the Sun and the weird motions of the planets was easier to understand as the Earth caught up to them then passed them in orbit

Inclination: the distance between the orbital plane of the satellite and the equator of its primary (Braeunig)

Earth’s galaxy, the Milky Way consists of more than 100 billion stars, many of which can be interpreted by human visual perception, while other can only be observed with the aid of a magnifying or light-collecting optical device such as a telescope. The stars are organized into various groupings according to their visible arrangement as observed in earth’s atmosphere. Human beings from cultures of eras bygone such as the Greeks, Romans, and Babylonians, and bestowed most, if not all of the titles upon the constellations as we know them today. Earth’s atmosphere comprises eighty-eight constellations, of which I have chosen the following five to discuss for my laboratory report: Andromeda, Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Draco

1. As seen from temperate or tropical latitudes, the positions of the constellations shift gradually westward in the sky from night to night because