Zodiac Constellation Cards Aquarius Pisces January 21 – February 20 – February 19 March 20 Aries Taurus March 21 – April 21 – April 20 May 21 Zodiac Constellation Cards Gemini Cancer May 22 – June 22 – June 21 July 22 Leo Virgo July 23 – August 23 – August 22 September 23 Zodiac Constellation Cards Libra Scorpio September 24 – October 23 – October 22 November 22 Sagittarius Capricorn November 23 – December 23 – December 22 January 20 Zodiac Constellations There are 12 zodiac constellations that form a belt around the earth. This belt is considered special because it is where the sun, the moon, and the planets all move. The word zodiac means “circle of figures” or “circle of life”. As the earth revolves around the sun, different parts of the sky become visible. Each month, one of the 12 constellations show up above the horizon in the east and disappears below the horizon in the west. If you are born under a particular sign, the constellation it is named for can’t be seen at night. Instead, the sun is passing through it around that time of year making it a daytime constellation that you can’t see! Aquarius Aries Cancer Capricorn Gemini Leo January 21 – March 21 – June 22 – December 23 – May 22 – July 23 – February 19 April 20 July 22 January 20 June 21 August 22 Libra Pisces Sagittarius Scorpio Taurus Virgo September 24 – February 20 – November 23 – October 23 – April 21 – August 23 – October 22 March 20 December 22 November 22 May 21 September 23 1. Why is the belt that the constellations form around the earth special? 2.
Naming the extrasolar planets W. Lyra Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, K¨onigstuhl 17, 69177, Heidelberg, Germany wlyra@mpia.de Abstract and OGLE-TR-182 b, which does not help educators convey the message that these planets are quite similar to Jupiter. Extrasolar planets are not named and are referred to only In stark contrast, the sentence“planet Apollo is a gas giant by their assigned scientific designation. The reason given like Jupiter” is heavily - yet invisibly - coated with Coper- by the IAU to not name the planets is that it is consid- nicanism. ered impractical as planets are expected to be common. I One reason given by the IAU for not considering naming advance some reasons as to why this logic is flawed, and sug- the extrasolar planets is that it is a task deemed impractical. gest names for the 403 extrasolar planet candidates known One source is quoted as having said “if planets are found to as of Oct 2009. The names follow a scheme of association occur very frequently in the Universe, a system of individual with the constellation that the host star pertains to, and names for planets might well rapidly be found equally im- therefore are mostly drawn from Roman-Greek mythology. practicable as it is for stars, as planet discoveries progress.” Other mythologies may also be used given that a suitable 1. This leads to a second argument. It is indeed impractical association is established. to name all stars. But some stars are named nonetheless. In fact, all other classes of astronomical bodies are named.
2/9/09 Why don’t we see the same Mastering Astronomy Assignment 3 constellations throughout the year? • Due Feb 17, 11 am • Read Sections 2.1, 2.2 and S1.2 The Earth also revolves around the Sun, From our perspective... which changes our view of the stars March September Earth circles the Sun in 365.25 days and, The Ecliptic consequently, the Sun appears to go once around the ecliptic in the same period. If we could see • As the Earth orbits background stars in the daytime, our Sun would the Sun, the Sun appears to move a) appear to move against them at a rate of 360° per eastward among the day. stars following a path b) appear to move against them at a rate of about called the ecliptic 15° per day. • The ecliptic is a c) appear to move against them at a rate of about 1° projection of Earth’s per day. orbit onto the The tilt of the Earth's axis d) remain stationary against these stars. celestial sphere causes the ecliptic to be tilted to the celestial equator 1 2/9/09 The sky varies as Earth orbits the Sun • As the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun appears to move along the Zodiac ecliptic. • At midnight, the stars on our meridian are opposite the Sun in The 13 Zodiacal constellations that our Sun the sky. covers-up (blocks) in the course of one year (used to be only 12) • Aquarius • Leo • Pisces • Libra • Aries • Virgo • Scorpius • Taurus • Ophiuchus • Gemini • Sagittarius • Cancer • Capricornus The Zodiacal Constellations that our Sun blocks in the course of one year (only 12 are shown here) North Star Aquarius Pisces Capricornus Aries 1 day Sagittarius Taurus Scorpius 365 days Libra Gemini Virgo Cancer Leo North Star Aquarius Pisces Capricornus In-class Activities: Seasonal Stars Aries 1 day Sagittarius • Work with a partner! Taurus Scorpius • Read the instructions and questions carefully.
AGES 8+ 2009 ® Planetarium Projector with Astronomy Software Instruction Manual Table of Contents Discover the Universe! .......................................................................................................3 Your Own Planetarium ......................................................................................................3 What Is a Constellation? ....................................................................................................3 The Star Sphere ....................................................................................................................4 Assembly and Operation ..................................................................................................4 Installing Batteries .......................................................................................................4 Operating Your Planetarium ....................................................................................5 Setting the Date and Time ........................................................................................6 Care and Maintenance.......................................................................................................6 Meteors and Comets ..........................................................................................................7 The Constellations...............................................................................................................7 The Moving Sky..................................................................................................................10
MAUI STARGAZING OBSERVING LIST FEBRUARY TELESCOPE OBJECTS FEBRUARY LASER POINTER OBJECTS GALAXIES ASTERISMS M 31 (Andromeda) Belt (Orion) M 32 (Andromeda) Big Dipper (Ursa Major (Rising) M 33 Pinwheel (Triangulum) Great Square (Pegasus) M 81 (Ursa Major) Guardians of the Pole (Ursa Minor) M 82 Ursa Major) Milk Dipper (Orion) M 101 (Andromeda) Little Dipper (Ursa Minor) Shield (Orion) MUTLIPLE STAR SYSTEM Sickle (Leo) Castor (Gemini) Sword (Orion) W or M or Chair (Cassiopeia) BRIGHT NEBULAE Winter Circle M 1 Crab (Taurus) Winter Triangle M 42 Orion (Orion) CONSTELLATIONS GLOBULAR STAR CLUSTER Andromeda (Chained Maiden) M 79 (Lepus) Aries (Ram) Auriga (Charioteer) OPEN STAR CLUSTERS Cancer (Crab) Caldwell 41 Hyades (Taurus) (Bare Eye) Canis Major (Big Dog) M 38 Starfish (Auriga) Canis Minor (Little Dog) M 41 Heart of the Dog (Canis Major) Cassiopeia (Queen of Ethiopia) M 44 Beehive (Cancer) Cepheus (King of Ethiopia) M 45 Pleiades (Taurus) Cetus (Whale) NGC 869 Double Cluster (Perseus) Columba (Dove) NGC 884 Double Cluster (Perseus) Eridanus (River) NGC 1976 Trapezuim (Orion) Hydra (Water Snake) rising NGC 7789 Caroline’s Rose (Cassiopeia) Leo (Lion) rising Lepus (Hare) BARE EYE OBJECTS Orion (Hunter) Rising Satellites and Meteor Showers! Pegasus (Flying Horse) Perseus (Hero) FIRST MAGNITUDE STARS Taurus (The Bull) Achernar (Eridanus) Triangulum (Triangle) Aldebaran (Taurus) Ursa Major (Big Bear) Betelgeuse (Orion) Ursa Minor (Little Bear) Bellatrix (Orion) Capella (Auriga the Charioteer) Canopus (Carinae the Keel) Pollux (Gemini) Procyon (Canis Minor) Regulus (Leo) Rigel (Orion) Sirius (Canis Major) .
The Night Sky December Equipment you will need Because of the darkness of our forest locations, you can see many wonders of the night skies with your naked eye, although your eyes will Boötes need a good 20 minutes to adjust to the darkness. Any bright lights, such as that from your torch, will set them back again. You can reduce this effect by putting a red filter on your torch. Equipment worth investing in includes: Lynx • Binoculars – cheaper and easier to carry than a telescope. Look for ones with glass lenses. • Camera – to capture that fantastic star scene forever • Tripod – essential for use with your camera • Telescope – worth investing in for the really committed stargazer • Google Skymaps – a superb free app, available for Android and Delphinius iPhone. You point your phone towards the sky and it shows you the constellations and identifies the stars using inbuilt GPS Lepus Getting started – your first 5 constellations to spot • Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) has been used by sailors since ancient times to locate the fixed-point Pole Star and navigate home • Leo (the lion) is it a lion, as the Greeks decided? Or is it K9 from Doctor Who? • Cassiopeia (the queen of Aethiopia) is one of the easiest constellations to locate and looks like a huge W, almost directly overhead • Cepheus (the king of Aethiopia) is one of 48 constellations Eridanus identified by 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy. Imagine a child’s drawing of a house, complete with roof • Orion (the hunter), with belt and sword, is perhaps the most famous constellation – and one of the few that actually bears some slight resemblance to its namesake Stargazing facts for kids • You can see the International Space Station without using binoculars, and you can track it moving across the sky • The sun is 300,000 times bigger than earth and 93 million miles Boötes Lynx Delphinus Lepus Eridanus away.
2. Descriptive Astronomy (“Astronomy Without a Telescope”)
2. Descriptive Astronomy (“Astronomy Without a Telescope”) http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html • How do we locate stars in the heavens? • What stars are visible from a given location? • Where is the sun in the sky at any given time? • Where are you on the Earth? An “asterism” is two stars that appear To be close in the sky but actually aren’t In 1930 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) ruled the heavens off into 88 legal, precise constellations. (52 N, 36 S) Every star, galaxy, etc., is a member of one of these constellations. Many stars are named according to their constellation and relative brightness (Bayer 1603). Sirius α − Centauri, α-Canis declination less http://calgary.rasc.ca/constellation.htm - list than -53o not Majoris, α-Orionis visible from SC http://www.google.com/sky/ Betelgeuse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Messier_objects (1758 – 1782) Biggest constellation – Hydra – the female water snake 1303 square degrees, but Ursa Major and Virgo almost as big. Hydrus – the male water snake is much smaller – 2243 square degrees Smallest is Crux – the Southern Cross – 68 square degrees Brief History Some of the current constellations can be traced back to the inhabitants of the Euphrates valley, from whom they were handed down through the Greeks and Arabs. Few pictorial records of the ancient constellation figures have survived, but in the Almagest AD 150, Ptolemy catalogued the positions of 1,022 of the brightest stars both in terms of celestial latitude and longitude, and of their places in 48 constellations. The Ptolemaic constellations left a blank area centered not on the present south pole but on a point which, because of precession, would have been the south pole c.
Sydney Observatory Night Sky Map September 2012 a Map for Each Month of the Year, to Help You Learn About the Night Sky
Sydney Observatory night sky map September 2012 A map for each month of the year, to help you learn about the night sky www.sydneyobservatory.com This star chart shows the stars and constellations visible in the night sky for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth for September 2012 at about 7:30 pm (local standard time). For Darwin and similar locations the chart will still apply, but some stars will be lost off the southern edge while extra stars will be visible to the north. Stars down to a brightness or magnitude limit of 4.5 are shown. To use this chart, rotate it so that the direction you are facing (north, south, east or west) is shown at the bottom. The centre of the chart represents the point directly above your head, called the zenith, and the outer circular edge represents the horizon. h t r No Star brightness Moon phase Last quarter: 08th Zero or brighter New Moon: 16th 1st magnitude LACERTA nd Deneb First quarter: 23rd 2 CYGNUS Full Moon: 30th rd N 3 E LYRA th Vega W 4 LYRA N CORONA BOREALIS HERCULES BOOTES VULPECULA SAGITTA PEGASUS DELPHINUS Arcturus Altair EQUULEUS SERPENS AQUILA OPHIUCHUS SCUTUM PISCES Moon on 23rd SERPENS Zubeneschamali AQUARIUS CAPRICORNUS E SAGITTARIUS LIBRA a Saturn Centre of the Galaxy Antares Zubenelgenubi t s Antares VIRGO s t SAGITTARIUS P SCORPIUS P e PISCESMICROSCOPIUM AUSTRINUS SCORPIUS Mars Spica W PISCIS AUSTRINUS CORONA AUSTRALIS Fomalhaut Centre of the Galaxy TELESCOPIUM LUPUS ARA GRUSGRUS INDUS NORMA CORVUS INDUS CETUS SCULPTOR PAVO CIRCINUS CENTAURUS TRIANGULUM
Rules & Requirements for an SBAS Observing Certificate 1. You Must
Rules & Requirements for an SBAS Observing Certificate 1. You must be a member of the SBAS in good standing to receive a certificate. 2. No Go To or Push To aided attempts will be accepted. Reading charts and star hopping are essential skills in our hobby. (You may use these methods to confirm your findings.) 3. Honor system is in full effect. These lists benefit your knowledge of the sky. Cheating only cheats yourself and the SBAS membership. Observations will be verified against digital planetarium charts. You may be required to answer questions about the objects you observed to verify your work. You may also be asked to show one of these objects at a star party. Once a list is completed, it is assumed you are familiar with every object on that list to the point where you can find it again and describe it to another person. 4. Upon completion of a list, submit the original paper version in person to Coy Wagoner at an SBAS meeting, public star party, or informal observing at the Worley. No digital submissions will be accepted at this time. 5. No observations may overlap. If one object is on two lists, your observations must be done on separate dates/times for credit. Copies of your observing logs will be saved and later compared to additional lists to make sure nothing overlaps. No observations prior to January 1, 2015 will be accepted for credit. 6. Observations should be done on your own. If you observe an object in someone else’s telescope or binoculars, the observation does not count unless you did the work to find it.