Transcript Constellations - Gardner

Course Announcements
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Homework: “Scale of the Universe” will be available
on-line at the Mastering Astronomy (MA) website
(“masteringastronomy.com”) on Thursday
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ASSIGNMENT #1 IS DUE SEPTEMBER 10th, 11 pm.
These awesome presentations are available on my
home server, http://evilo.dyndns.org/courses You
should take a look at these as you begin to study
for Test I.
When is our first test?
September 17...that's a Thursday in two weeks.
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Did you get the Key
Ideas from the Motion
Lecture Tutorial?
Imagine you are located in the Northern Hemisphere
and see a star directly overhead
(zenith). In what direction will you have to look to see
this star set?
A) southwest
B) west
C) northwest
D) This star will never set.
You are looking toward the north and see the
Big Dipper to the right of Polaris. Fifteen
minutes later, the Big Dipper will appear to
have moved in roughly what direction?
A) east (to your right)
B) west (to your left)
C) up (away from the horizon)
D) down (closer to the horizon)
How much time is there between when a star
rises and when it sets?
A) less than twelve hours
B) about twelve hours
C) more than twelve hours
D) It depends on the star.
So now we understand nightly motion. How
about weekly and monthly changes?
You go out tonight and see the brightest star in the
constellation Orion just rising above your
eastern horizon at 10 PM. One week later at 10 PM
this same star will be
A) slightly higher in the sky.
B) at the same height as before.
C) below your horizon.
D) setting on your western horizon.
These weekly and monthly changes lead to ...
Astrology: The belief that the
positions of the stars and planets
as seen from Earth impact
human events.
Science or Pseudoscience?
Your Birth Sign
ROUGHLY, it is the constellation that the
Sun is covering up during the day you
are born if you were born 2000 years
ago.
Zodiac The 13 Zodiacal constellations that our
Sun covers-up (blocks) in the course of
one year
(used to be only 12)
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Aquarius
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Pisces
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Aries
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Taurus
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Gemini
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Cancer
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Leo
Libra
Virgo
Scorpius
Ophiuchus
Sagittarius
Capricornus
Constellations – the 88 semi-rectangular
regions that make up the sky
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Northern constellations have Latinized
Greek-mythology names:
 Orion, Cygnus, Leo, Ursa Major, Canis Major, Canis
Minor
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Southern constellations have Latin names:
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Telescopium, Sextans, Pyxsis
The actual constellation boundaries were
drawn up by Eugène Delporte in 1930 then
later approved by the IAU (International
Astronomical Union).
Use the Summer Triangle to find
constellations during summer evenings
Use the winter
triangle to find
constellations
during winter
evenings
Anyone recognize any shapes here?
Islamic(ish) Star Names
Betelgeuse
Aldebaran
Rigel
SIRIUS
Using Orion in to find other
objects
Pleiades
Aldebaran
Sirius
Pleiades
Seven
Sisters
Subaru
Using Orion in to find other
objects
Pleiades
Aldebaran
Great Orion Nebula
Sirius
Use the
Big
Dipper in
the
northern
sky as a
way to
find other
groups of
stars
How to find stuff in the sky – Star Charts
http://skymaps.com/
http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/cities.html
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellationjavalist.html
Tutorial: Seasonal Stars – p. 7
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Work with a partner!
Read the instructions and questions carefully.
Discuss the concepts and your answers with one another.
Come to a consensus answer you both agree on.
If you get stuck or are not sure of your answer, ask another
group.
If you get really stuck or don’t understand what the
Lecture Tutorial is asking, ask me for help.
Post Tutorial Question

What component of Earth’s motion causes〠the
stars to rise earlier on successive nights?
A) its rotation about its axis
B) its orbit around the Sun
C) the tilt of its rotation axis
Post Tutorial Question

One night, you see the star Sirius rise at exactly 7:36
PM. The following night it will rise
A) slightly earlier.
B) at the same time.
C) slightly later.
Post Tutorial Question
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One evening at midnight, you observe Leo high in
the southern sky at midnight. Virgo is to the east of
Leo and Cancer is to the west. One month earlier,
which of these constellations was high in the
southern sky at midnight?
A) Leo
B) Virgo
C) Cancer
GO CONFIDENTLY (To the Physics
Lab) IN THE DIRECTION OF YOUR
DREAMS!! LIVE THE LIFE YOU’VE
IMAGINED