Scribd
Upload
31 views

chapterII-1

Uploaded by

23010026
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
31 views

chapterII-1

Uploaded by

23010026
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 30

Chapter II

Spherical astronomy
Position and time

Prof. Dr. Dinh Van Trung


Institute of Physics
Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology
Observer and Celestial Sphere
Prime meridian located at
the Royal Greenwich
Observatory and marked
by a brass strip.
Circles and spherical triangle
Sine and Cosine laws for spherical triangle

cosa cos Asin bsin c cosbcosc

sin a sin b sin c


 
sin A sin B sinC
Horizontal system

Elevation (altitude) a
Azimuth A measured
clockwise from the
South.
Circumpolar motion of stars
near the celestial North pole
The Earth spins on its axis (once per day)
We can define a coordinate system as on Earth:

Absolute coordinates:
Declination (~ latitude)
Right Ascension (~ longitude)
The Earth orbits the sun (once per year).
This makes a convenient way to define RA=0…

RA = 0

Ecliptic path = apparent path of sun through the stars.


Ecliptic plane = plane of the earth’s motion (or the sun’s apparent motion)
Equatorial system

Declination δ measured from


the equator.
Right ascension α measured
counterclockwise from the
Vernal equinox direction.

H is the hour angle of the star


Θ is the local sidereal time.
  H 
sin H cos   sin Acos a
sin   cos Acos acos   sin asin 
sin a cos H cos  cos   sin  sin 
Rising and setting time for any object

cos H  tan  tan 


Suppose that the coordinates of star A are 1= 10 h, 1 =
70o and those of star B are 1 = 11h, 2 = 80o. Determine
their angular separation ?

The coordinates of Arcturus are  = 14h 15.7 min,  =


19o 11’. Find the sidereal time at the moment Arcturus
rises or sets in Boston (latitude = 42o 19’) ?

Find the altitude and azimuth of the Moon in Helsinki at


midnight at the beginning of 1996, knowning that the
right ascension is α=2h 55min 7s=2.9186h and
declination δ = 14◦42′ = 14.70◦, the sidereal time is
Θ=6h 19min 26s=6.3239h and latitude φ = 60.16◦.
Ecliptic coordinate system
Geocentric, Heliocentric or Topocentric
Galactic coordinate system
Precession of the Earth’s
rotation axis

Aberration due to motion


of the Earth
The Earth precesses (like a top) once per 26,000 yrs.
The Celestial north pole moves in a circle over time.
Proper motion of the object

30 000 years ago Now After 30 000 years


Stellar parallax

Distance (parsec) = 1/parallax (arcsec)


Seasons

The Earth orbits the sun (once per year) …on a tilt!

The Earth’s spin-axis is tilted 23.5o


relative to the plane of the orbit.
Heating depends on Energy per unit Area!

Experience confirms! (Sun feels hotter at 1pm than 5pm.


Shoulders/head gets sunburned first.)
Astronomical time systems
Standard unit of time, second, is defined using atomic clock
UT = Universal Time
UTC = Coordinated Universal Time

Solar time is defined using the daily motion of the Sun.


One solar day = amount of time between two successive
appearances of the Sun on the meridian. 1 solar day = 24 hours =
24 x 60 minutes.

Sidereal time is defined using the daily motion of the stars.


One sidereal day = amount of time for the star to return to the
meridian.
1 sidereal day = 23h 56m 04s.
Solar/Sidereal time

Solar time: relative to sun


Solar day = 1 revolution
relative to the sun

Sidereal time: relative to stars


Sidereal day = 1 revolution
relative to the stars
The length of solar day varies slightly as the Sun
moves along the ecliptics.
Mean solar day = average length of solar days.
Apparent solar day could be different from mean
solar day up to 16 minutes.

Time zone is introduced because the Sun crosses


the meridian at different moments for different
longitudes.

Within each time zone, the standard time is the


same.
How do we know the Earth is rotating ?

The Earth spins on its axis


… rather than the Sky spinning around the Earth?

First real proof that Earth spins:


1851, Foucault’s pendulum

Imagine a pendulum at the North Pole.


The only force on it is gravity,
so it swings 1 plane forever.

The fact that it appears to spin


means the Earth moves under it!
Which of the following is used by navigators to find their location
on Earth by using the stars?
A/ circle of least confusion
B/ diurnal circle
C/ circle of position
D/ zero hour circle

If a star rises at 8:30 p.m. tonight, it will rise two months from now
at
A/ 8:30 p.m.
B/ 10:30 p.m.
C/ 12:30 p.m.
D/ 4:30 p.m.

The hour angle of the sun at local apparent noon on July 21 in


Greenwich, England is
A/ 0h B/ 8h C/ 12h D/ 6h

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy