Positional Astronomy

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Program: STP2025–FirstCourse Worksheet: Introductory 1

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Understanding the changing sky1

Pune coordinates: Latitude: 18.◦ 5 Longitude: 73.◦ 8

Alternate coordinates: Longitude: Latitude:

1 Horizontal coordinate system

1.1 Locations on Earth: latitude and longitude coordinate system
https://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/longlat.html
Question 1. What is the longitude and latitude of your location? Use these coordinates
and the radius of the Earth (approximately 6400 km) to determine the distances from
your location to the (i) the North pole (ii) the closest point on the equator, and (iii) the
south pole.

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Produce for ACE IUCAA by Prakash Arumugasamy. You are free to use these questions or adapt them
as per your teaching needs. For any comments or questions, please email us at nrciucaa@gmail.com

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Question 2. The Indian Standard Time (IST) uses longitude 82◦ 30′ East as reference
meridian. What is the angular separation between your longitude and the IST reference
meridian? If the 360◦ of longitude is equated to 24 hours of time, the angular separation
computed above corresponds to what time interval? What is the physical interpretation of
this time difference?

1.2 Cardinal directions and meridian

Question 3. If local North is given a reference angle of 0◦ and the angular separation
increases toward East, what is the angular separation between the North and West cardinal
points? What is the angular separation of South-West (midway point between cardinal
South and West) from the North?

Question 4. What is the angular separation of the point directly overhead from the
cardinal points N, E, S, & W? The local Meridian in an imaginary line that connect the
local cardinal South to the North passing through the Zenith (the point directly overhead).
What is the total angle subtended by the local meridian on the sky?

1.3 Altitude and Azimuth definitions

Altitude is the angular separation of any location on the sky from the closest point on
the local horizon. Azimuth of a direction is the angular separation, along the horizon, of
the direction from the North cardinal point.
The Altitude/Azimuth (Alt/Az) coordinate system is visualized in the following interac-
tive animations: https://javalab.org/en/horizontal_coordinate_system_en/
https://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/altazimuth.html

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Question 5. For your latitude, what is the altitude of the North celestial pole point —
the point in the sky directly above the Earth’s north pole?

Question 6. What are the altitude and azimuth of a star visible 10 degrees away from
the zenith and exactly in between the West and North directions?

Question 7. If an observer ‘A’ at latitude 20◦ North observes a star at an altitude of 75◦
and azimuth of 0◦ , an observer ‘B’, at latitude 50◦ North and same longitude as observer
‘A’ and observing at the same time, will see the star at what altitude and azimuth?

1.4 Daily changes in the sky viewed in local coordinates

Check the following interactive animation that visualizes the daily changed in the local
sky: https://javalab.org/en/constellations_en/
Question 8. You can select the ‘Run’ option to make the animation simulate the daily
changes in the sky. How would you describe the motion of the stars, constellations, and
the Sun in the sky during the course of a day? In which directions do they rise and where
do they set?

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Question 9. For your location and current time of the year, the Sun rises and sets from
which direction? Exactly the east/west direction, or north/south of east/west? Include
your location and current time of the year in your answer.

Question 10. The interactive animation above marks the constellations by lines and
labels them. Find out the Sun is against (or nearest to) which constellation and if the
constellation Orion is visible in the night sky.

1.5 Local timekeeping

The following interactive animation is useful for understanding the Sun’s path in the local
sky. https://www.earthspacelab.com/app/solar-time/. Select the current month us-
ing the slider on the right panel and also set the Latitude and Longitude to your location.
Question 11. In the animation above, the time shown in the bottom-left panel is the
local solar time. What is the location of the Sun in the sky at 12:00 noon?

Question 12. The Indian Standard Time corresponds to local solar time on 82.◦ 5 East
longitude. Accounting for only the difference in your longitude and this reference longi-
tude, at what IST do you expect the Sun to cross your meridian? You may ignore the
effect of Sun’s motion with respect to the stars to get the approximate time.

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Question 13. If the star Sirius crosses the IST reference meridian at 10:00 PM IST,
when do you expect Sirius to cross your meridian according to the Indian Standard Time?

2 Earth’s orientation and motions

2.1 Earth’s rotation about its axis
Question 14. If you are standing at the Earth’s pole, you will not see any of the stars
rise or set but just going in circles around the zenith (circumpolar). Thus the ‘cir-
cumpolar’ stars are within 90◦ of the north celestial pole. For your latitude, what is
the angular size of the circumpolar region? https: // astro. unl. edu/ classaction/
animations/ coordsmotion/ celhorcomp. html

Question 15. What is the main practical inconvenience of using the rotation of the Earth
with respect to the stars as the definition of a day?

Question 16. Mean Solar day of 24 hours is defined as the average time taken for the
Sun to come back to its original position after one rotation of the Earth. If the Sun moves
Eastward with respect to the fixed stars at the rate of about 1◦ per day, what is the time
taken for the Earth to face the same fixed stars in their original locations on the sky after
one rotation of the Earth?

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2.2 Earth’s orbital motion around the Sun
Question 17. Viewed from above the Earth’s orbit (looking down onto the Earth’s north
pole), in which direction does the Earth revolve around the Sun? Viewed from the Earth,
what apparent motion does the Sun assume solely due to the orbital motion of Earth?
https: // astro. unl. edu/ classaction/ animations/ coordsmotion/
eclipticsimulator. html
https: // javalab. org/ en/ celestial_ equator_ and_ the_ ecliptic_ en/

Question 18. What are Solstices and Equinoxes in the Earth’s orbital motion? What is
the location of the Sun on the sky during equinoxes and in what direction does the Sun
move as it passes the spring and autumnal equinoxes?

2.3 Inclination of Earth’s axis

Question 19. When are the zero shadow days at the equator? When are the lengths of
day and night equal at your latitude?
https: // javalab. org/ en/ diurnal_ motion_ of_ sun_ en/

Question 20. What is the inclination angle of the Earth’s axis with respect to the eclip-
tic plane? What is the maximum altitude the Sun reaches at your latitude during the
equinoxes and the solstices?

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3 Equatorial coordinate system
An interactive equatorial coordinate system simulation can be accessed here:
https://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/radecdemo.html
Also https://javalab.org/en/equatorial_coordinate_system_en/

3.1 Sun’s path on the sky, Equinox and Solstice

Question 21. What are the right ascension and declination of the Sun at Summer solstice
and autumnal equinox, if the origin of the equatorial coordinate system is chosen to be
the Sun’s location at spring equinox of the current year?

Question 22. What declinations are always visible from your location and what declina-
tions are never visible from your location?

3.2 Right ascension and Declination

Question 23. Is a star at Right Ascension α = 4h 30m and Declination δ = 23.◦ 8 visible
from 20◦ North latitude at midnight in October?

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Question 24. A star at right ascension 21h will transit your meridian (reach the highest
point in the sky) at approximately what time on the day of the summer solstice?

3.3 Solar and Sidereal time

Question 25. What is the main practical inconvenience of using the rotation of the Earth
with respect to the stars as the definition of a day?

Question 26. How many solar days and sidereal days are there in a tropical year? The
tropical year is defined as the time the Sun takes to appear at its original position with
respect to the fixed stars after one orbit of Earth.

3.4 Precession and epoch

Question 27. If the precession of the Earth’s axis has a period of 25,772 years, what is
the approximate error in positions one makes by ignoring the effect of precession on the
equatorial coordinate system between the reference epoch year 2000 and the current year
2025?

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4 Spherical trigonometry
4.1 Spherical triangles
Question 28. Which of the following are great circles?

□ Your local meridian

□ Equator

□ lines of longitude

□ lines of latitude

□ ecliptic

□ line of constant azimuth

□ lines of constant declination

Question 29. Intersection of which of the following lines form a spherical triangle?

□ Equator, 0◦ longitude, and 90◦ E longitude

□ Ecliptic, Celestial equator, and line of 23.◦ 5 right ascension

□ line of 0◦ right ascension, line of 23.◦ 5 right ascension, and line of 45◦ declination

□ Local meridian, celestial equator, and ecliptic