Knowing the Heavens

Chapter 1 sections 5, 6, 7
Chapter 2 sections 2, 3, 4; Box 2-1
 Announcements
• Path to Q-drive
 10 kpc

Solar System

Galaxy Illustration
 Galactic Neighbourhood

Solar system

Nearly all ‘stars’

we see at night
with the naked
eye are located
in our own Orion Nebula
galaxy
What we see depends upon time of
night and time of year

•The Earth spins on its axis once every 23hours 56minutes

•The Earth orbits the sun once every 365.25 days
Eighty-eight constellations
cover the entire sky
• Ancient peoples looked
at the stars and
imagined groupings
made pictures in the
sky
• We still refer to many of
these groupings
• Astronomers call them
constellations (from
the Latin for “group of
stars”)
 Modern Constellations
• On modern star charts,
the entire sky is divided
into 88 regions
• Each is a constellation
• Most stars in a
constellation are
nowhere near one
another
• They only appear to be
close together because
they are in nearly the
same direction as seen
from Earth
 Simple Star Chart

Star charts and maps plot the location of celestial objects.

 Landmarks on typical star charts
Ecliptic

Summer Solstice Equator

ox
i n
q u
Au l E
a
t um rn
na Ve
lE
qu
in Winter Solstice
o x

Declination Date Scale Right

Ascension
Equatorial Region Star Chart

y
Wa
ky
Mil
Equatorial Region Star Chart

Stars visible in early evening in February

Galaxies, nebula and star clusters
North
Polar
Star
Chart
Equatorial Region Star Chart
 Photograph
of the
Orion
region

SkyNews magazine, Jan/Feb 2004 page

11. Photo by Alan Dyer
Orion +10 degrees

0 degrees = Celestial equator

Declination
(Dec.)

6 hours 5 hours

-10 degrees
Right Ascension
(R.A.)
Orion

North

East
 Exploring the night sky with
software

• Celestial sphere
• Horizon and Zenith
• Altitude and azimuth
• Stars, nebulae, star clusters, galaxies
• Right ascension and Declination
Geometry Tools

Chapter 1
 Angular Measure

• The basic unit of angular measure is the degree (°).

• Angular measure describe the apparent size of and distance
between celestial objects.
• The Moon subtends an angle of ½°.
 Angular separation

If you draw lines from your eye to each of two stars, the
angle between these lines is the angular separation or
distance between these two stars
Simple Celestial Protractor
Simple Instrument
150

200

The adult human

hand held at arm’s
length provides a
means of estimating
angles
 Angular Size vs. Linear Size

The angular size does not help us know the true size unless
the distance is also known.
 Other Angular Units
• radians (r), • Hours
• degrees (o), • Minutes
• minutes of arc (’), • Seconds
• seconds of arc (”).
24 hours = 360 degrees
1 = 180 /π = 57.30
r o o
1 hour = ____ degrees
1° = 60 arcmin = 60´
1 minute = ____ arc minutes
1´ = 60 arcsec = 60”
 Geometry and Angles
a2+b2=c2
c
a β sin α = a/c
cos α = b/c
α tan α = a/b
90
o

α + β + 90 = 180
b
Circles and Angles
Circumference
C = 2π r

Arc length, s
s
α s=αr
r r = radius
s = arclength
α = angle in radians
C = circumference
 Small Angle Formula D
If α is expressed in arc radians:
D  d
If α is expressed in arc seconds:

αd
D= d
206,265
If α is expressed in degrees
α
D  d tan( )

Which is simpler to use and remember?

 Distances in Astronomy
• Kilometres (km)
• Astronomical Unit (AU)
– One AU is the average distance between Earth and the Sun
– 1.496 X 108 km
• Light Year (ly)
– One ly is the distance light can travel in one year
– 9.46 X 1012 km
– 63,240 AU
• Parsecs (pc)
– The distance at which 1 AU subtends an angle of one arc
second
– 3.26 LY
– 206,265 AU
 Small Angle Formula Example
• The Andromeda Galaxy is
about the same size as our own
galaxy, 150,000 LY. The
angular size of the Andromeda
Galaxy is about 3.0 degree.
• Determine the distance to the
galaxy in light years.

αd
? D=
206,265
D  d tan( ) D  d

Answer: d = 2.9 x106 LY

 Brightness of Stars
Apparent
Magnitudes

-27 Sun
-12 Moon
-5 Venus
fainter

-1.5 Sirius
0 Vega
0.5 Betelgeuse
0.9 Aldebaran
2 Polaris
6 Naked eye limit
29 Hubble Space
Telescope limit
 Magnitude System
• Absolute magnitude (M) is the magnitude
a star would have if the star was located at a
standard distance of 10 parsecs.
• Apparent magnitude (m) is the magnitude
observed at the stars actual distance.
• Luminosity (L) is the total amount of
power emitted by a star in Watts.
• Brightness (b) is the power that reaches the
observer diminished by distance, absorption
and reflection (Watts per square metre)
Relationship between magnitude and
brightness
m1 - m2 =2.5 log (b2 /b1)
Brightness of Sun (solar constant) = 1370 W/m2
Magnitude of Sun = -27
Magnitude of Moon = -12
What is the brightness of the Moon?
• Magnitude represents the human’s eye’s response
to the light from stars
• Brightness is the power measured by electronic
light sensors.
• The faintest star that a human eye can detect is 6th
magnitude. What is the brightness of a 6th
magnitude star? (assignment question)
– This is the sensitivity limit of the human eye
– Corresponds to the limit of hearing of the human ear,
which is zero dB.
Magnitudes on Star Charts

Legend
 Terminology
• Star Chart • Arc seconds
• Constellation • Arc minutes
• Celestial sphere • Radians
• Right Ascension (R.A.) • Astronomical units
• Declination (Dec.) • Light Years
• Magnitude • Parsecs
– apparent • Small angle formula
– absolute
• Luminosity
• Brightness
End of Presentation