Video 1:
● Changes in the night sky can't be noticed in only 1 day, but subtle differences can be
noticed in 1 week
● This effect is more pronounced in 1 month
● This happens because the Earth is going around the sun
● 6 months from your initial observation, the star is directly opposite the sun, and the sky,
and then the angle starts to shrink again as the star approaches the sun from the
opposite side
● Stars in the east rise about 4 minutes earlier every night
● Stars in the west set about 4 minutes earlier
● Stars appear to be fixed, and as earth and as it spins around the sun, the sun moves
through the stars over the course of the year making a complete circle arround the sky
once per year
● It is a reflection of the earths path around the sun
● This path or line across the sky is called an ecliptic
●
● Every year during a given month the sun will appear to be in a certain zodiac
constellation
● The effect is only caused by earths movement around the sun and our perspective on
the stars changing
● Inner planets move faster
● Planet means wanderer in greek
● The earths axis is tilted 23.5 degrees
● Nothing in astronomy is permanent because our planet’s axis is moving
● It's called precession when the axis wobbles like how a top would
● This takes 26000 years to complete
● This is why polaris wont always be the pole star
● Zodiacs also change because of this
● The earth and the stars allow one to tell the time of year just by looking up and paying
attention
Video 2:
● The moon changes every day, and its surface is dark but it is illuminated by the sun
● This is caused by geometry and the sun only illuminates portions of the moon,
depending on its rotation and orientation around the earth
● The line dividing the moon from the night side and day side is called the terminator
●
● The phase of the moon we see depends on what direction the sunlight is hitting it, and
the angle from which we see it from earth
● The moon orbits the Earth once per month. This is where the word month comes from
● New moon (sun, moon, and earth are in line), we only see the dark, unilluminated half of
the moon
● At new moon, the moon stays near the sun, so it rises at sunrise and sets at sunset
(hard to spot)
● If the crescent is getting thicker, it is called a waxing crescent moon
● 7 or so days after the first moon is the first milestone of 1 quarter orbit
● Our perspective is straight down the terminator
● This is called first quarter moon
● As time marches on and the moon is more than half full, it is called the gibbous.
● Because the moon is still getting bigger, it would be called waxing
● So it is the waxing gibbous moon
● 2 weeks after the new moon, the moon is opposite the sun, and the moon is full moon
● A few days after the full moon, the lit side is shrinking calling the moon phase a waning
gibbous phase
● 3 weeks after new moon and a week after full, the moon is once again split by the
terminator line (third quarter moon)
● A few days later it is a crescent again getting thinner (waning crescent)
● These phases also occur on the moon but 180 degrees reversed
● When you see a crescent moon, you can still see the true moon just not fully
● The earth is bigger and 50 times as bright as a full moon
● This glow is called earth shine
Video 3:
● The sun is 400 times wider than the moon and 400 times as far
● They appear to be about the same size in the sky
● Eclipses happen when the moon moves in front of the sun
● Solar eclipses happen when the moon covers the sun and lunar eclipses happen when
the earth covers the moon
● The umbra is a point where the moons shadow covers the entirety of the sun
● The penumbra is the region where the sun is only partially blocked
● Once the moon completely covers the sun, totality begins and it is not night outside
because of the suns corona
● It is the suns atmosphere that stretches into space for millions kilometers and it is usually
overwhelmed by the suns bright light
● Because the moon's edge isn't smooth, sunlight can stream past creating bailey’s beads
● Totality only lasts 7-8 minutes
● A total eclipse is a local event
● An annular eclipse is when there is a ring of sunlight around the moon
● It is not true that you can't go permanently and completely blind when you watch an
eclipse
● When the sun is getting uncovered and turning into a waning crescent, there is a flash,
and your pupils are more dilated to let more light but this can cause damage.
● Lunar eclipses don't hurt your eyes
● Solar eclipses are localized to a swath across the ground
● Lunar eclipses can be seen by anyone on earth who faces the moon
● The Earth has an umbra and penumbra
● When the moon enters the penumbra, it starts to darke,n and as it gets closer, it turns
red or orange
● This is because the only light that is being let through is being let through our
atmosphere
● Ancient Greeks used the Earth's shadow on the moon to calculate the relative sizes of
the Earth and moon
● Moon is moving 4 cm away each year