Module One Our Place in the Universe

Our study of Astronomy requires us to look UP and not DOWN. Today humans are not used to looking UP, we are not used to observing the sky - it appears to be of little use - and city living with its extensive light pollution often prevents us from seeing, and hence exploring, the "heavens". Most of us have some awareness that we are part of a system of planets encircling a star we call the Sun, and that we are part of a galaxy called the Milky Way, but beyond that our knowledge is often sketchy, cloudy, or even just plain wrong. We can get a sense of our Place in the Universe, the title of this very first Lesson in AS101, by looking at a very famous setting in the heart of CERN, a high-energy, physics research facility near Geneva, Switzerland. We will examine this initial setting more shortly. In this tour of our cosmic environment, we will expand our view in each sequence step by a factor of about 100 (in area) until we get to the limit of the edge of the universe. We accomplish this by increasing our distance to Earths surface by a factor of 10 as we move from one view to the next. Im sure you will catch on to this quickly. So, to return to our first step, imagine your backyard. Lets imagine its about 20 metres wide and 15 metres deep. This is a good-sized backyard, if not a comfortable one. However, Figure 1.1 is a picture of an interesting outdoor sculpture in the garden of the CERN visitor centre a scientists backyard if you wish. CERN is a lively particle physics research facility in Geneva, Switzerland. This picture is taken from a distance of about 10 m from the gardens centre.

Lets now expand our field of view by a factor of 10 in both directions. We now see the visitor centre from a distance that is about 100 m away from the garden. (This is 10 times further away from the object we saw in Figure 1.1) Now you can see complete buildings and part of a parking lot as well as the central garden.

For the next step, Figure 1.3, weve pulled back another factor of 10 so that we are now about 1000 m (1 km) from our garden feature in Figure 1.1. Here you can readily see roads and fields and side streets and buildings, some of which make up the CERN facility.

Now we get to Figure 1.4 which is an incorrect image in the textbook (sorry about this publication glitch which was not caught during the final proofreading). The correct image for Figure 1.4 is shown correctly below. I think you will agree that it doesnt look all that much different from the one in the textbook. For this picture weve pulled back another factor of 10 so that we are now 10 km above the CERN garden centre. Here you can clearly see what seems like the edge of a major settlement in the lower right and clusters of buildings elsewhere in the field of view. Also evident is what appears to be parts of a meandering river at the bottom of the picture.

Immediately below is the correct Figure 1.5 again the one in the textbook is wrong. The correct figure below shows Lake Geneva and the Alps and is ten times farther away than Figure 1.4. You can readily see the blue Lake Geneva in the upper right and a little bit of the Alps mountain range just below the Lake.

Moving another factor of 10 away yields the vista shown below in Figure 1.6 (this is the last of the corrected pictures). Here you can see Lake Geneva pretty much in the middle and the Alps mountain range clearly south of the Lake in northern Italy. The blue sections at the bottom of the picture show the Mediterranean Sea.

Our next step, increasing by a factor of 100 in each direction, might surprise you because it takes in the entire planet Earth. Earth has a diameter of about 13,000 km and the picture here shows our planetary home with its typical blue (oceans) and white (cloud cover) view. Can you make out the visible land mass? What a magnificent place to live! We have just the right temperature, sufficient oxygen to keep us alive, clear and healthy water to drink and plenty to eat. In spite of our growing population, now over 7 billion, we seem to be able to survive, although some of us are more privileged than others. You are one of the privileged few please do something important with your life!

Yet another step in our sequence brings us to a vista that is 100 million km from Earths surface. Earth is now just a blue dot in the middle of the picture and the orbit of the Moon, a circle centred on the Earth, takes up about half of the picture. The numbers are starting to become large; we must do something about that! Within the past 50 years humans have actually journeyed to the Moon, walked on its surface, and returned to Earth to tell about it. Wow! We wonder what the next 50 years will bring.

If the last step was a dramatic one, the next one is even more so. Here we have expanded our field of view to about 150,000,000 km in each direction. Thats 150 million km! In scientific notation we write this as 1.5 x 108 km. We will return to this later in the course but this value, 1.5 x 108 km, is also known as 1 Astronomical Unit, or 1 AU. Here we see the Earth but also the so-called inner planets (Venus and Mercury) along with the Sun. In fact, the average distance from the Sun to the Earth, about 1.5 x 108 km, is defined to be 1 AU. Notice the inset at the bottom right where we see the relative sizes of the Sun and Earth. Yes, that black dot at the tip of the red arrow is Earth and, yes, the Sun really is that big compared to Earth. Oh, my!

As we take the sixth step in our sequence we get a view of our entire solar system. The radius of our outermost planet, Neptune, is about 40 AU which in kilometers is about .. well, you do the math. Where is Pluto, you ask? Well, as you now know that is another story, but a recent one. That is something addressed later on in the course. Notice how relatively bunched the inner four planets are compared to the outer four gas giants.

The next step will astound you. Its picture is virtually empty space. This is a little misleading because we know that surrounding the solar system are two regions of comets and asteroids. However, these objects are small and generate no visible light of their own. Furthermore, in this part of space the Sun is the only star.

Our next step in the sequence is over 1 million AU across and shows the Sun at the centre and some of the other stars in this corner of our galaxy. Again the distances are becoming large, even using our new AU unit. Astronomers have designed a new distance measurement, a light-year which is simply the distance light travels in one year. In light-years (ly) this picture is about 17 ly across. Our closest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 ly away.

Weve got a few more steps to go in this sequence before we get to the edge of the universe so lets keep going. Our next step gets us to a 1700 ly square that shows many more stars, all just dots of light. No telescope can resolve these Sun-like objects (some larger and some smaller than our Sun) into anything but mere dots of light.

Our next step shows us our very own galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy. This spiral galaxy, one of three major types of galaxies shows a swirling mass of over 1 billion stars spread over the cosmos about 100,000 ly in diameter. Our Suns position in our galaxy is shown by the red arrow. Before about 90 years ago, astronomers thought

that this was the extent of our universe. At that time a man named Edwin Hubble convinced humanity that our galaxy was not the only such conglomeration of stars in the universe. But thats another story; one that is told in AS102.

Our next-to-last step displays our nearest galactic neighbours. This diagram, about 17 million ly across, displays galaxies as mere dots in the cosmic landscape. Do these galaxies harbor life? Hmmmm.

Our last step gets us to a view of the universe that is about 1.7 billion ly across. We could take yet another smaller step to get to the very edge of the universe but the picture wouldnt change much. The picture shows a network of clusters of galaxies with voids of seemingly empty space in between them. We are not yet sure if empty space really is entirely void of anything but we are starting to get a picture that such may not be the case.

Module One The Cosmic Calendar - Concepts of Time (to infinity ... and beyond)
In Chapter 1 you were taken on a journey through the universe from a spatial perspective to give you a sense of the immensity of the universe and how small our little corner of the universe really is. Equally important is that you gain an appreciation for the concept of time and how the average human lifetime, for instance, compares to the age of the universe. Our current understanding of the formation of the universe and its age leads us to believe that it has been about 13.7 billion years since the Big Bang, the instant the universe commenced and, perhaps, the beginning of time itself. Lets imagine that the time our universe has existed is spread over a one year calendar where each month is a little in excess of one billion years we have, then, a cosmic calendar (a concept devised by Carl Sagan who was a well-known astronomer in the latter part of the 1900s).

As shown in the Figure on this page, the Big Bang occurred precisely at midnight on January 1; the Milky Way galaxy starts to coalesce in late February or early March which makes it one of the oldest galaxies (although there remains debate about the age of the galaxy recent estimates place its age possibly as old as 13 billion years); our solar system starts being built around mid-August and by the end of September primitive life exists on Earth. However, it is not until mid-December on this cosmic calendar that complex living structures such as invertebrate life formed and not until December 24 or 25 when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The end of the dinosaur era, which took place 65 million years ago, occurred yesterday, December 30, on the cosmic calendar.

The next day, December 31, is when all of recorded history occurred and even then not until much later in the day, within the last 30 seconds, in fact. The Egyptian pyramids were built about 11 seconds ago; Copernicus and others convince humanity that the Earth orbits the Sun about one second ago; Elizabeth II becomes Queen of England about 0.14 seconds

ago; you were born about 0.04 seconds ago (assuming your age is 18); Canada won the Olympic Gold Medal in Womens and Mens hockey in 2002 about 0.023 seconds ago; you started reading this Chapter about 2 millionths of a second ago; and it is now exactly midnight on December 31 - Happy New Year!!!

Module One Seeing Stars

Patterns in the Night Sky Looking up at the sky reveals up to 3,000 individual stars visible to the naked eye (away from city centres and light pollution). Many of the stars form identifiable patterns. These star patterns have remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years and have been studied by many different peoples and many different cultures. People have always seen patterns of stars as they appeared night after night, and have imagined all sorts of nightly creatures, constantly peering down on them, affecting thought patterns and becoming intertwined with their religion. Many of these patterns are called constellations; all of them have names and some you will recognize (Orion, Cassiopeia, Canis Major, Taurus, Scorpio, Libra, Pisces).

The Constellation Orion

Orion, The Hunter The most prominent night sky object, however, is our Moon. Imagine what life would be like, how we would "feel" about our environment, or how we would sense our night sky if we didn't have the Moon. On the other hand, imagine what life would be like on a planet with two moons, or ten moons, some bigger than our Moon and some smaller, some closer to us and some farther away!!

The picture shown below shows the Earth and Moon drawn roughly to scale on the same diagram. The Moon's distance from Earth is about 30 times the Earth's diameter (a distance of about 384,000 km) and the Moon's diameter is 3476 km, one fourth the size of the Earth. (It takes light about 1.3 seconds to travel between Earth and Moon) (more about the Moon later)

When we look at the night sky, especially on a clear night, we can see as many as 3,000 stars with the naked eye (meaning no visual aids such as binoculars or telescopes). All these stars are part of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Even with large telescopes it is difficult to see individual stars in other galaxies. Although it appears as if the stars all "hang" from a giant celestial sphere completely surrounding the Earth (and this is certainly how it was believed to be to ancient peoples) we now know that this is very far from the truth, although it is still often convenient to think about the heavens in this way.

If we consider an imaginary sphere around our solar system whose radius is 10 lightyears (ly) (circle on the right) we would find about 10 stars, represented by the dots, in this sphere.

If we increase the radius of the sphere to 100 ly we would find about 10,000 stars (104). Notice that our first sphere is just a very small part of our new sphere.

If we once more increase the radius of the sphere by another factor of 10 to 1000 ly (see diagram here) we now embrace 10 million stars (107)!

This artist's rendition of the Milky Way Galaxy shows this last sphere on the left side of the galaxy to demonstrate how little of our galaxy is actually enclosed by this largest sphere.

As we view these stars from our planet home we see patterns of stars, as discussed at the outset of this lesson. It should now be clear that when we look at a particular pattern, such as the constellation Orion, we are seeing stars that lie at different distances from Earth; these stars are not in a plane but are spread out in all three dimensions (shown below) and, furthermore, these stars are moving in different directions.

As we look at different parts of the sky we see different patterns AND as we look at the sky from different places on Earth we will see other patterns.

Module One Seeing Stars

Precession The Earth's rotational axis is pointed toward Polaris, a star we traditionally call the North Star, but this wasn't always so.

2000 years ago the axis didn't point to any particular star and 2000 years from now it won't either. This is all due to the precession of the Earth's rotational axis; as shown below this motion is analogous to a spinning top, wobbling in a circular motion while it spins about its axis. The precessional period for the Earth is about 26,000 years, all the while maintaining its 23.5 tilt.

Module One Seeing Stars

The Night Sky and Its Motions

Here, the concept of the celestial sphere is vital. You can imagine how the ancients viewed the sky. To them it appeared as if there was a great sphere surrounding Earth and the sphere, distant as it was, had stars as little points of light stuck all over it. Of course, we now know this is not a valid picture of our universe but it was a good start. The two-page spread in Section 2.2 shows The Sky Around Us. If you study this wonderful spread you will learn the following points: 1. The objects in the sky appear to rotate from east to west each day but it is, in fact, the Earth that is rotating from west to east in front of the Sun, giving up both day and night. 2. What you see in the sky depends where you are on Earth. Canadians see constellations and stars that Australians never see and visa-versa. 3. Astronomers measure distances across the sky as angles in units of degrees, arc minutes and arc seconds. Some definitions here are very important. Your zenith is the point in the sky directly overhead (nadir is its counterpart directly below your feet on the other side of the celestial sphere but we wont use that term much). As you move around on the surface of the Earth your zenith moves around with you, of course. Just remember its always the point directly overhead. The celestial equator is an extension of the Earths equator onto the celestial sphere. It always cuts your horizon due east and arcs across the sky falling into the horizon due west. Your textbook calls the point due east on your horizon the east point (same for the west point). Most people use due east, due west, due north and due south to represent these points. Your meridian is the line going from due north, through your zenith and finishing due south. It always cuts the celestial equator at a right angle. The North Celestial Pole is coincident with the Earths rotational north pole and the northern point of the apparent rotation of the celestial sphere. The same definition is used for the South Celestial Pole as shown in the diagram here. As an example of these terms lets imagine you are standing at the equator. The celestial equator would start due east and arc across the sky passing through your zenith ending at the horizon due west. Of course, it doesnt actually end there as it continues around the Earth as the big circle it is but you just cant see the rest of it because the Earth is in the way. To be really honest, you can't see any of it anyway because it's an imaginary line in the sky but if you could actually see it you would only ever see just half of the line. Your textbook uses the terms "east point" and "west point" rather than "due east" and "due west"; I prefer the latter although I don't care which term you decide to use.

Your meridian (not shown in the picture) is an imaginary line starting at the north celestial pole arcing across the sky to pass through your zenith and ending at the south celestial pole. Here at the equator your meridian and the celestial equator nicely divides the visible sky into quarters but its only this way when youre at the equator.

Module One Seeing Stars

Angular Measurements When we see stars or other objects on the "dome of the sky" we often refer to the size of objects (or the separation of two objects) by the angle they subtend in degrees () - the angular kind, not the temperature kind. The angular distance (size or separation) is the angle made by the two lines emanating from the observer's eye or vantage point to the two outer edges of the object (or the two point objects in the case of separation). The angular size of the Moon is about 1/20 (about the same as the angular size of the Sun, even though the Sun is much bigger (psst - it's farther away)). The angular size of a finger on your outstretched arm is about 1. Your fist has an angular size is about 10 while your spread-out hand is about 20. Angular degrees are subdivided into arc minutes (60' in one degree); an arc minute is further subdivided into 60 arc seconds (").

Module One Seeing Stars

Stellar Motions The motion of the stars at night depends where on the Earth's surface you are located. Another way of stating this is to realize that the "turning of the sky" looks different depending on your latitude on Earth.

At the North Pole, the stars circle the zenith and do not rise or set. If you don't see a star, because it is below the horizon, you will never see it. At the equator, the celestial poles are on the horizon, and stars rise straight up in the east, follow a semicircular path in the sky, and set straight down in the west. Throughout one complete year you will see all the stars on the celestial sphere. At any other point on the Earth's surface (the diagram shows an observer at a latitude of 60) the north pole is at some position between overhead and the horizon (depending where you are in Canada) and you see stars rotating about the north pole, which is where Polaris is right now, so the stars appear to rotate about Polaris.

Because of our location in south-western Ontario (about 44 N latitude and 80 W longitude) the stars we see move around Polaris in big circles; stars that trace out complete circles are said to be circumpolar stars. The night time pattern of stars changes little from one night to the next. But gradually, the star patterns shift as the Earth orbits the Sun.

Module One The Cycle of the Sun

The last lesson dealt with patterns of stars and the movement of stars visible at night. During the day the stars are still present in the sky, of course, but we cannot see them because of the overpowering light of our very own star, the Sun. If you could see the stars during the day you would observe that, over a timeframe of several weeks, the Sun moves eastward relative to the distant stars, all the while moving from east to west each day. This apparent backward motion through the sky is due to the fact that the Earth moves around the Sun on its annual orbit. This is shown nicely in the diagram shown here.

As you know, as the Earth moves along the ecliptic path its rotational axis, on which it makes one revolution each day, is tipped to the ecliptic plane at a constant angle of 23.5 resulting in seasons on Earth. A common misconception is that the seasons are caused by the variation in the distance between the Sun and Earth, even though the Earths orbit is almost circular. If this was the case then we should experience winter in July when the Earth is furthest from the Sun. Instead, the seasons are a result of the changes in the amount of solar energy received by the northern and southern hemispheres. This is all shown nicely on the second two-page spread, entitled The Cycle of the Seasons, in Chapter 2 of your textbook. Please look it over carefully.

At the time of the summer solstice (around June 21) the sunlight strikes the Earths s urface in Canada at a much steeper angle (closer to perpendicular) than at the time of the winter solstice and this should be evident from a careful inspection of this diagram. Because the angle is this steep the light spreads out less than when it strikes the ground at a shallower angle in January. Naturally, this warms the surface more and we have summer!

Module One The Cycle of the Sun

The Daily Path of the Sun The location of the Sun in the sky depends on the time of day, the time of year and your location on the face of the Earth. First, lets think about the time of day dependency. Even the casual observer knows the Sun rises in the east, arcs through the sky as the day progresses and finally sets somewhere in the west. Sunrise and sunset times vary constantly through out the year as the Earth rotates around the Sun while its rotational axis continuously points in the same direction (towards Polaris right now). Secondly, the Suns path across the sky does not change noticeably from one day to the next but gradually it is moving either closer to your zenith or further away from it. Between the summer solstice and the winter solstice the Suns path is moving slowly southward away from your zenith. From the winter to summer solstice its path is moving just a little more northward each day. If you are standing on the equator and the date is March 21 (vernal equinox) the Suns path is coincident with the celestial equator. Each day thereafter the Suns path is a little more northward each day remaining parallel with the celestial equator. When the date becomes June 21 (summer solstice) the Sun follows the 23.5 latitude line (called declination on the celestial sphere, more about this later in this module). This latitude is also known as the Tropic of Cancer (if you were standing at this latitude on Earth on June 21 the Sun would rise north of due east, cross your meridian at your zenith and set north of due west). After June 21 the Suns path moves across the sky a little further south each day until September 21 (autumnal equinox) when again it rises due east and follows the celestial equator across the sky crossing your meridian at the zenith and sets due west. This pattern is repeated after June 21 but now, of course, the Suns path is south of the celest ial equator reaching its most southward path on December 21 (winter solstice) at the Tropic of Capricorn. Although a little more difficult to imagine, you should be able to figure out the Suns path across your sky throughout the year from your current location. If your current location is within about 100 km of the Laurier campus (Waterloo, Toronto or London, for instance) then your latitude is about 44. To help you imagine this you might think about starting out on the equator and walking north along a longitudinal line until you get to your current location. As you make this trek try to imagine what is happening to the Suns path in the sky for each of the days described in the paragraph above. I know that this means that you will encounter some oceans, lakes and rivers on your walk north but you do walk on water, dont you?

Module One Looney Tunes

The Moon Because the Moon is such an important part of the night (and day) sky we must treat this one sky object separately. Again, imagine what our sky would be like without any moon (as on Venus) or, conversely, imagine what it might be like with two, or more, moons (such as Jupiter). The Moon takes about a month to circle the Earth (hence the timeframe month - moonth). The moon's orbit is not precisely circular, its distance from Earth varying from about 356000 km to 406000 km. As it circles the Earth it goes through phases of reflected sunlight (called the cycle of lunar phases) AND as it does the times of rising and setting change throughout the cycle!! Is this something you have noticed? Actually, the orbital period (from one full moon to the next) is almost exactly 29.5 days. However, its sidereal period, the time for one revolution relative to the stars, is a little over 27 days. We'll discuss sidereal periods more in a few lessons. The reason for the difference between these two "periods" is because as the Moon orbits the Earth the Earth moves in its orbit around the Sun, naturally taking the Moon with it.

However, in this lesson we wish to study primarily the cycles of phases of the Moon. The Moon's phases are shown in the next diagram, something we will study carefully.

Module One Looney Tunes

The Phases of the Moon

The foregoing diagram is chock full of information about the mechanics of lunar phases. For purposes of sorting out these mechanics consider the Sun generating sunlight at the right, the Earth remaining fixed in space but spinning on its axis once each day, and the Moon circling the Earth. We see a new moon when it is exactly between the Earth and Sun. In this position it is the back side of the Moon which gets illuminated so we can't really see the Moon at all. Furthermore, we can observe a new moon (or an almost new moon) during the day, so a new (or almost new) moon rises early in the morning (at 6 am) and sets in the evening (at 6 pm). You should be able to figure this out on your own by thinking about the Moon fixed between the Earth and Sun and imagine when and how you see the Moon from the surface of the spinning Earth. This business about a new moon or an almost new moon might be confusing. Why an "almost" new moon? Well, since the lunar cycle is about 29.5 days the precise time of a new moon varies from one new moon to the next. For example, if a new moon occurred at exactly noon on one day, then the next new moon occurs 29.5 days later, or at midnight 29 days and twelve

hours later. Naturally, on this second occasion you wouldn't see the new moon at the precise time of occurrence because, for you, it occurs at midnight and you can't see through the Earth to the Sun. However, six hours later (at sunrise) you can "see" the new moon rising over the eastern horizon. To be sure, the new moon is now 6 hours old so it's not really a new moon at all but it's so close to being one we might call it an "almost" new moon. On the other hand, we see a full moon when the Moon has traveled around to the other side of the spinning Earth (taking about 14 days to do so) where once again it is on a line with the Earth and Sun. This time we see the fully-illuminated near side of the Moon and we see such an event during the night. On this occasion the full moon rises in the evening (at about 6 pm) and sets in the morning (at about 6 am). You should be able to use similar logic to verify the mechanics for a first quarter and third quarter moon (and a waxing gibbous or waning crescent, for that matter). Yet another two-page spread should be studied carefully. The third such spread entitled The Phases of the Moon spells out important information using text and diagrams. So, can you now answer the following questions? It seems that half of the moon is always illuminated but we don't always see it like that. Why? Why do we always see a full moon at night and a new moon during daytime?

Module One Looney Tunes

Eclipses Based on what we've seen (and understood!) so far, there should be two eclipses (a blocking of the light) every month. First, at each new moon there should be a solar eclipse (the moon should block out the sunlight at high noon for a period of time) and there should be a lunar eclipse at each full moon (the Earth should block out the Sun's light at midnight for a period of time). This does not happen because the Moon's orbit is inclined at about 5 to the ecliptic plane. Thus, the Moon spends most of its time either above or below the ecliptic plane. Only when it is crossing through this plane, at points called nodes, is an eclipse possible. The next picture is an illustration of the Moon's motion during one Earth orbit.

As you can see from this picture, only when the Sun, Earth and Moon are all lined up is an eclipse possible. Also, the phase of the Moon must be either new or full.

Module One Looney Tunes

Lunar Eclipse Lunar Eclipses can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon lie along (or close to) a straight line and they must be lined up in that order (Earth between Sun and Moon). As well, the nodes of the Moon's orbit must be nearly aligned with the Sun and Earth and the phase of the Moon must be full. There are three types of lunar eclipses.

Lunar Eclipse Types Penumbral - most common, Moon passes through only the penumbra (sunlight is only partially blocked). Result is that the Moon darkens only slightly. Partial - part of Moon passes through the umbra while the rest passes through the penumbra. Result is the part of the Moon is darkened completely but rest only slightly darkened with no clear demarcation between the areas. Total - Moon passes entirely through the umbra. Result is that the Moon is completely dark during the eclipse.

Module One Looney Tunes

Solar Eclipse We talk about solar eclipses here (in this lesson about the Moon) because solar eclipses involve the Moon. Solar eclipses also occur when the Sun, Earth, and Moon lie along a straight line (or nearly so). However, in this case it is the Moon that is in the middle. In other words, a solar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes through the Moon's shadow or when the Sun, Moon and Earth are lined up in that order. As with a lunar eclipse, the nodes of the Moon's orbit must be nearly aligned with the Sun and Earth. Clearly, the phase of the Moon must be new.

If you are fortunate to be in the path of a solar eclipse you will have a rare and moving experience. You must take the precaution of not looking directly at the Sun (ever, as a matter of fact) during the entire eclipse cycle; otherwise, you will probably become blind. The entire show takes place over a two-hour period. First the Moon begins to cross in front of the Sun and appears to take a bite out of the Sun. As the size of the bite grows slowly we get to the point where the Moon has almost covered the Sun and it gets very dark, almost the same as night time with no birds singing and automatic lights coming on. The Moon completely covers the Sun because of an accident of orbital mechanics the size of the Moon and the size of its orbit are just right to allow the Moon to have the same angular size for us earthlings. Sometimes, because of lunar mountains, and sunlight breaking through the mountain ranges a spectacular diamond ring effect is displayed (shown here). Totality lasts for just a few minutes and then the opposite happens over the next hour or so as the Sun is slowly revealed again behind the moving Moon. During this entire eclipse cycle the shadow of the Moon is racing across the surface of the Earth at a speed of around 1600 km/hr.

There are also three types of solar eclipses. Solar Eclipse Types Total a total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is relatively close to the Earth in its orbit and the Moon's umbra touches a small area of the Earth's surface anyone within this area sees the Sun totally blocked out (the umbra races across the Earth's surface at about 1700 km/hr resulting in a totality view lasting only a few minutes!) Partial surrounding the small area of totality lies a larger area falling inside the Moon's penumbral shadow anyone within this area sees the Sun only partially blocked out (the amount blocked out depends where in this area the observer actually is). Annular an annular eclipse (perhaps the most spectacular) occurs when the Moon is relatively far from Earth and the Moon's umbra may not reach the Earth surface at all anyone within the small area behind the umbra will see all of the Sun blocked out except a ring of sunlight surrounding the Moon's disk.

Module One Looney Tunes

Eclipse Cycles Putting all this together you can easily understand that we can now predict eclipses with great accuracy, and have been able to do so for some years, although this was not always the case. From this study we can see that eclipses should occur every 6 months. This isn't quite right because of the precession of the Earth which makes the cycle instead about 173 days, slightly less than exactly 6 months. Combining all of these "orbital mechanics", it turns out that a cycle of both lunar and solar eclipses occurs over a period of about 18 years 11.3 days, a timeframe known as the saros cycle, "saros" is a Greek word meaning repetition. Tables 2.1 and 2.2 in your textbook list the solar and lunar eclipses from 2010 up to 2017. Review these to see when the next such event occurs.

An Interesting Fact (Coincidence?) Solar eclipses happen because of an interesting coincidence. The Moons diameter is 400 times smaller than the Suns. But, the Sun is 400 times further from the Earth than is the Moon (on average). The result of this is that the Sun and the Moon appear to be the same size in our sky (youve probably noticed this). This means that when the Earth, Moon and Sun are exactly aligned (during a solar eclipse) the Moon can just cover the Sun (if you are in the path of totality). In fact, the Moon so precisely covers the Sun that we can see the edge of the Sun peeking around lunar mountains giving us the famous diamond-ring effect. If a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is at or around its apogee (furthest from the Earth) the Moons apparent size is slightly smaller (because its further away) and we have an annular eclipse (such as the one on May 20, 2012). Strange universe, eh?

Module One Planet Wanderings

Planet Watching Recall that the five planets closest to Earth are visible to the naked eye (Mercury-at sunrise or sunset, Venus-close to the horizon and bright, Mars-reddish colour, Jupiter-at night and comparatively bright and Saturn-if you know where to look). Of course, we also see the Moon, during either or both day and night, as we now know. The word "planet" actually means "wanderer" (Greek origin), so the title of this section is actually redundant how many of you picked up on that? During the summer of 2002 all five planets were lined up in the western sky perhaps you saw them an event that occurs rarely. Actually, that was about 10 years ago when many of you were in the junior grades of elementary school and looking up at the sky at night was probably not something you even thought of. Here's a picture of what it looked like at that time. In this picture you see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter in order from the horizon toward the zenith. Interestingly, only Saturn seems to be misplaced, at least as far as the correct planetary order is concerned.

The next such grouping of visible planets will not occur until 2040 hope you're around to enjoy it! We have observed, since our childhood, that the Moon and Sun progress regularly but steadily across the sky from east to west. However, relative to the stars, the Sun and Moon move eastward! The planets generally follow the motions of the Sun and Moon in that they also move eastward relative to the stars. Occasionally all planets appear to change direction and move westward relative to the stars, a motion referred to as retrograde motion. The next picture demonstrates this retrograde motion for the Mars during 2012, an event which happens most years.

Early astronomers (pre-Copernican) had great difficulty explaining this motion of the planets in an Earth-centred universe and, consequently, devised some quite clever models of planetary motion. In a Sun-centred, or helio-centred universe the situation becomes very simple indeed, as shown in the following diagram.

In fact, Aristarchus (Greek) (260 BC) was the first to suggest that the Earth revolved around the Sun but the idea was so foreign to all beliefs of the day that it was never seriously considered until 1800 years later when Copernicus promoted the idea again.

What is clearly demonstrated in this diagram is that the inner planet moves faster in its orbit. As the inner planet catches up to and passes the outer, slower-moving planet, the outer planet "appears" to move backwards in the sky. Although astronomers now know the precise orbits of each planet it is not readily obvious to us mortals (non-astronomers) where each planet is in our sky on any given day. This is why it is useful to refer to a monthly astronomy magazine (such as Sky and Telescope or Astronomy) as a guide to spotting the planets.

Module One Planet Wanderings

Stellar Parallax This important concept results from the fact that humans have stereo vision (as well as stereo hearing). Try looking at an object close to your eyes (within several metres), first with one eye and then the other. What you should observe is a lateral shift in the object's position relative to the background this is called parallax. Stellar parallax occurs when we look at a nearby star from two vantage points (first when the Earth is at one extreme of its orbit around the Sun, and second when the Earth is at the opposite extreme six months later). The same sort of thing described in the paragraph above happens in this case the nearby star (object) appears to shift laterally against the background of stars behind it.

Stellar parallax allows us to measure distances to nearby stars AND also provides direct evidence that the Earth really does revolve around the Sun. In actual fact, stellar parallax is not detectable with the naked eye because the amount of shift in a nearby star's position relative to the far-away background of stars is too small. However, with telescopes such shifts are readily measured, thereby allowing us to measure distances to nearby stars while also demonstrating that the Earth really does orbit the Sun.

Module One Stellar Coordinates

Picture the Earth hanging at the center of the celestial sphere. Imagine the Earth's latitude and longitude lines expanding outward and printing themselves onto the celestial sphere. This provides a coordinate grid on the sky that tells the position of any star, just as latitude and longitude tell the position of any point on Earth. In the sky, "latitude" is called declination and "longitude" is called right ascension. Declination is expressed in degrees, arcminutes, and arcseconds north (+) or south () of the celestial equator (just as latitudinal positions are described). Capella, the brightest star in the constellation Auriga, has a declination of +46 0 and is, therefore, about halfway between the celestial equator (dec = 0) and the north celestial pole (dec = +90). Right ascension (RA) is expressed not in degrees but in hours (h), minutes (m), and seconds (s) of time, from 0 to 24 hours. Astronomers set up this arrangement long ago because the Earth completes one turn in 24 hours, so the celestial sphere appears to take 24 hours to complete one turn around Earth. The zero of right ascension is, by convention, the longitudinal line that runs through the spring equinox. The RA for Capella is 5 hours 17 minutes east of the spring equinox (thinking about RA in angular degree terms results in Capella being about 80 east of the spring equinox). The celestial coordinates of stars remain constant over many years because they are so far away, even though the stars are moving relative to Earth. On the other hand, the Sun, being much closer, moves along the ecliptic throughout the year, traveling through the complete 24 hour right ascension zones over the calendar year.

This page was copied from Nick Strobel's Astronomy Notes. Go to his site at [Link] for the updated and corrected version.

Module One Timekeeping

Even to the casual observer it is clear that the length of our day is related to the Earths rotational period, the number of days in a month must be associated with the lunar phase period and the length of a year corresponds to the period of the Earths orbit around the Sun. By now you will realize that astronomy is much more precise that vague correspondences and so in this section we explore various ways of measuring important timeframes. Finally we review the development of timekeeping over the years to learn how we have arrived at our current calendar.

Module One Timekeeping

Timekeeping by Day Our local meridian is the imaginary line ending at the north and south celestial poles which cuts through our zenith. The average length of time between successive passes across the local meridian is called a solar day (this time varies slightly throughout a year which is why

the word average is used). Another way of determining the length of a day is to measure the time it takes for any star to make successive passes across the local meridian which we call a sidereal day (pronounced sy-deer-ial). A sidereal day is about 23 hours 56 minutes, shorter than a solar day by about 4 minutes because during a solar day the Earth has travelled along its orbit around the Sun and the Earth needs a little more time to rotate before the Sun crosses the meridian (a simple mathematical calculation shows that the Earth moves about 1 per day around its orbit).

Module One Timekeeping

Timekeeping by Month Timekeeping involving months comes from the lunar phases cycle which is about 29.5 solar days, corresponding roughly to the average month length, known as a synodic month. Synodic comes from the Latin word synod meaning meeting the meeting of the Sun and the Moon at each new moon phase. If, however, we use the stars to measure the length of the lunar cycle, a sidereal month, the time turns out to be 27.3 days, shorter than a synodic month for the same reason a sidereal day is shorter than a solar day.

Module One Timekeeping

Timekeeping by Year The length of a year is clearly related to the time required for the Earth to complete one full orbit around the Sun, about 365.25 days. Again there are two slightly different timeframes. A sidereal year is the time taken for a complete orbit relative to the stars, whereas the time between successive spring (or autumnal) equinoxes is called a tropical year (or solar year) and it should come as no surprise that these two years differ. A sidereal year is longer than a tropical year by about 20 minutes, the difference due to the precession of the Earths rotation. This 20-minute difference, if the sidereal year was employed as a calendar, would result in seasons slowly shifting throughout the year, although this pattern would take 26,000 years to repeat.

Module One Timekeeping

What time is it? So, after all this messing around with various options for timekeeping what do we actually use? The answer is that we use an aspect of solar time sort of! The apparent solar timeis determined by the Suns position in the sky relative to our local meridian; when the Sun is right on the meridian it is noon; before the Sun gets to the meridian we say that it is ante meridian (ante meaning before), hence a.m. or am; after noon, when the Sun has passed the meridian we say that it is post meridian (post meaning after), hence p.m. or pm. However, each solar day differs from 24 hours by a slight amount because the Earths orbit is not perfectly circular and because of the Earths 23.5 tilt. Thus,

the average solar day is the more important concept and the one used to keep track of time. Using apparent solar time would mean adjusting clocks each day, an unnecessary complication. Clearly, apparent solar time varies with longitude (owing to the Earths spin on its axis) and so everybodys apparent solar time will be different, unless they happen to be at precisely the same longitude. To alleviate this problem Sandford Fleming, a Canadian, proposed a system of dividing the Earth into 24 different time zones such that within each time zone the time would be exactly the same. Such a system was eventually adopted universally by the late 1800s.

Module One Timekeeping

Calendars The tropical year (equinox to equinox) is about 365.25 days. If we choose 365 days for one year (the Egyptian concept) then the seasons drift through the year by one day in every 4 years, not a great concept. Julius Caesar introduced the idea that every four years an extra day would be added to account for this discrepancy (hence the leap year), a definite improvement. This is the so-called Julian calendar. However, life is rarely this simple. The tropical year is not exactly 365.25 days but rather about 11 minutes short of this value resulting in the spring equinox moving backwards through the calendar by 11 minutes each year, or about 14.5 hours/lifetime of 80 yrs, or about 12 days every 1600 years. So, in 1582, Pope Gregory XII introduced a slight variation in the calendar, which became known as the Gregorian calendar (the one we use today), which first set the spring equinox to March 21 and then adjusted the leap day schedule such that each century year (normally a leap year) would be skipped as a leap year unless that year was divisible by 400 (i.e., year 2000 would be a leap year, but not 1900, nor 2100), making the calendar good for thousands of years into the future and now used globally.

Inscription on the tomb of Gregory XIII showing the introduction of the Gregorian calendar