Lecture Outlines

Chapter 1

Astronomy Today
9th Edition

Chaisson/McMillan

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 Chapter 1
Charting the Heavens

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 Units of Chapter 1
1.1 Our Place in Space
1.2 Scientific Theory and the Scientific Method
1.3 The “Obvious” View
1.4 Earth’s Orbital Motion
More Precisely 1-1 Angular Measure
1.5 The Motion of the Moon
1.6 The Measurement of Distance
More Precisely 1-2 Measuring Distances with Geometry

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 1.1 Our Place in Space
• Earth is average—we don’t occupy any
special place in the universe
• Universe: totality of all space, time, matter,
and energy

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 1.1 Our Place in Space

• Astronomy: study of the universe

• Scales are very large: measure in light-years,

the distance light travels in a year—about 10
trillion miles

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 1.1 Our Place in Space
• This galaxy is about 100,000 light-years across.

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 1.2 Scientific Theory and
the Scientific Method
Scientific theories:
• Must be testable
• Must be continually tested
• Should be simple
• Should be elegant
Scientific theories can be proven wrong, but
they can never be proven right with 100 percent
certainty.

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 1.2 Scientific Theory and the
Scientific Method
• Observation leads to theory
explaining it.
• Theory leads to predictions
consistent with previous
observations.
• Predictions of new
phenomena are observed. If the
observations agree with the
prediction, more predictions can
be made. If not, a new theory
should be made.

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 1.3 The “Obvious” View

Simplest observation:
Look at the night sky
About 3000 stars visible
at any one time;
distributed randomly
but human brain tends
to find patterns

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 1.3 The “Obvious” View
Group stars into
constellations: Figures
having meaning to those
doing the grouping
• Useful: Polaris, which
is almost due north
• Useless: Astrology,
which makes
predictions about
individuals based on
the star patterns at
their birth

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 1.3 The “Obvious” View
Stars that appear close in the sky may not
actually be close in space

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 1.3 The “Obvious” View

The celestial sphere:

Stars seem to be on the
inner surface of a sphere
surrounding Earth
They aren’t, but can use
two-dimensional spherical
coordinates (similar to
latitude and longitude) to
locate sky objects

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 1.4 Earth’s Orbital Motion

• Daily cycle, noon to

noon, is diurnal motion
—solar day
• Stars aren’t in quite the
same place 24 hours
later, though, due to
Earth’s rotation around
the Sun; when they are
once again in the same
place, one sidereal day
has passed
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 1.4 Earth’s Orbital Motion
Seasonal changes to night sky are due to
Earth’s motion around the Sun

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 1.4 Earth’s Orbital Motion
Twelve constellations the Sun moves through
during the year are called the zodiac; path is
ecliptic

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 1.4 Earth’s Orbital Motion
• Ecliptic is plane of Earth’s path around the Sun; at
23.5° to celestial equator
• Northernmost point of path (above celestial equator)
is summer solstice; southernmost is winter solstice;
points where path crosses celestial equator are
vernal and autumnal equinoxes
• Combination of
day length and
sunlight angle
gives seasons
• Time from one
vernal equinox
to next is
tropical year

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 1.4 Earth’s Orbital Motion
Precession: rotation of Earth’s axis itself;
makes one complete circle in about 26,000
years

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 1.4 Earth’s Orbital Motion

Time for Earth to orbit once around the Sun,

relative to fixed stars, is sidereal year

Tropical year follows seasons; sidereal year

follows constellations—in 13,000 years July
and August will still be summer, but Orion will
be a summer constellation

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 More Precisely 1-1: Angular
Measure
• Full circle contains 360°
(degrees)
• Each degree contains
60′ (arc-minutes)
• Each arc-minute
contains 60′′ (arc-
seconds)
• Angular size of an object
depends on its actual
size and distance from
viewer
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 1.5 The Motion of the Moon
The Moon takes
about 29.5 days to
go through whole
cycle of phases—
synodic month
Phases are due to
different amounts of
sunlit portion being
visible from Earth
Time to make full
360° rotation around
Earth, sidereal
month, is about 2
days shorter
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 1.5 The Motion of the Moon
Eclipses occur when Earth, Moon, and Sun form
a straight line

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 1.5 The Motion of the Moon
Lunar eclipse:
• Earth is between the Moon and the Sun
• Partial when only part of the Moon is in
shadow
• Total when all of it is in shadow

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 1.5 The Motion of the Moon
Solar eclipse: The
Moon is between
Earth and the Sun
• Partial when
only part of the
Sun is blocked
• Total when all of
it is blocked
• Annular when
the Moon is too
far from Earth for
total
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 1.5 The Motion of the Moon

Eclipses don’t occur every month because Earth’s

and the Moon’s orbits are not in the same plane

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 1.6 The Measurement of Distance

Triangulation:
Measure baseline
and angles, can
calculate distance

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 1.6 The Measurement of Distance

Parallax: Similar to
triangulation, but look at
apparent motion of object
against distant
background from two
vantage points

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 1.6 The Measurement of Distance
Measuring Earth’s radius:
Done by Eratosthenes about
2300 years ago; noticed that
when the Sun was directly
overhead in one city,
it was at an angle in
another
Measuring that
angle and the
distance between
the cities gives
the radius

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 More Precisely 1-2:
Measuring Distances with Geometry
Converting baselines and parallaxes into
distances

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 More Precisely 1-2:
Measuring Distances with Geometry
Converting angular diameter and distance into
size

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 Summary of Chapter 1
• Astronomy: Study of the universe
• Scientific method: Observation, theory,
prediction, observation, . . .
• Stars can be imagined to be on inside of
celestial sphere; useful for describing location
• Plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun is ecliptic;
at 23.5° to celestial equator
• Angle of Earth’s axis causes seasons
• The Moon shines by reflected light, has phases

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 Summary of Chapter 1 (cont.)
• Solar day ≠ sidereal day, due to Earth’s
rotation around the Sun
• Synodic month ≠ sidereal month, also due to
Earth’s rotation around the Sun
• Tropical year ≠ sidereal year, due to
precession of Earth’s axis
• Eclipses of the Sun and the Moon occur due
to alignment; only occur occasionally as
orbits are not in same plane
• Distances can be measured through
triangulation and parallax
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