Lecture Notes

ASTR 1000
Fall 2009
Slide Set #1
Celestial Motions
Dr. H.A. McAlister
Dept. of Physics & Astronomy
Georgia State University
 The Constellations
• 88 constellations in the sky. Those in the northern celestial
hemisphere named by the Greeks. Constellations in the
extreme southern sky were named in modern times.

• Subsets of constellations are called asterisms. For example,

the “Big Dipper” is an asterism of the constellation Ursa
Major (the big bear).
• While constellations were named by the Greeks, Arabic
names have been mostly adopted for individual stars. Stars
within a constellation are assigned Greek letters in
accordance with their brightest. For example, the brightest
star in Orion has the Arabic name Betelgeuse, but it is also
known as  Orionis. Orion’s second brightest star, Rigel, is
also called  Orionis.
• The twelve constellations lying along the projection of the
Earth’s orbit onto the sky (the ecliptic) comprise the zodiac.
Winter Sky – Facing North
Winter Sky – Facing South
 Orion
as Depicted by
J. Hevelius
(1690)
(Note that this is as
viewed from outside
celestial sphere)
Spring Sky – Facing North
Spring Sky – Facing South
 Celestial Motions

• The rotation of the Earth about its spin axis once every
24 hours causes diurnal effects including day and night
and the rising and setting of celestial objects.
• The revolution of the Earth about the sun once every
365.2422… days produces annual effects such as the
sun appearing to move with respect to the stars along a
path in the sky called the ecliptic. The twelve
constellations lying along the ecliptic comprise the
zodiac.
• The apparent motions of celestial objects on the sky
are the combined result of diurnal and annual motions
and, in the case of the planets their own orbital
motions around the sun.
The Celestial Sphere
north celestial pole

Earth’s
spin
axis

north pole

equator

celestial equator
south pole
celestial
sphere

south celestial pole

Terrestrial Coordinates

* Greenwich

* Atlanta
latitude Equator
longitude

For Atlanta:
latitude = 33o 45’ N
longitude = 84o 23’ W
Lunar Months

All motions are counterclockwise

Time from t1 to t2 is the “sidereal month”

(This is time required for realignment
with respect to the stars and equals 27.3 days.)

t1

Time from t1 to t3 is the “synodic month”

(This is the time between repetition of phases
t2 and equals about 29.5 days. This is what we
use for our calendar.)
t3
Lunar Phases
first
quarter
waxing waxing
gibbous sunlight
crescent
sunset

full noon new

midnight
moon moon to the Sun

sunrise

waning Earth
waning sunlight
gibbous
crescent
third
quarter
 Questions About Lunar Phases
• What is the time interval between new and full moons?
two weeks
• What time does the full moon culminate?
midnight
• What time does the new moon culminate?
noon
• What time does the new moon rise?
sunrise
• What is the phase of the moon that culminates at
sunset?
first quarter

• What
full is the phase of the rising moon at sunset?

• What is the phase of the setting moon at midnight?

first quarter
“Earthshine” waxing
crescent

Moon
Sunlight reflected off day lit side of Earth
illuminates dark part of crescent moon. sunlight

to the Sun

Earth

The effect is most obvious just before and

just after new moon sunlight
 The Tides

4. On the far side, the

Earth is effectively pulled
Moonward away from the
3. The water on the near side of water, yielding another
the Moon is pulled away from high tide.
Earth, raising a high tide.

Earth

Moon
2. The presence of the Moon
produces a gravitational attraction
on the Earth whose strength varies
inversely with distance from the 1. Imagine a perfectly spherical
Moon. Earth uniformly flooded by an ocean.
 Moon Factoids

• A “blue moon” is when more than one full moon

occurs in the same calendar month.

• The moon undergoes “synchronous” rotation and

revolution (i.e. the periods of rotation and revolution
are identical), so one side of the moon always faces the
Earth.

• The “harvest moon” involves the rising of the full

moon in late September and early October. Due to the
angular tilt of the moon’s orbital plane with that of the
Earth, the bright moon appears to rise at about the
same time in the early evening when the moon is full at
the time of the “autumnal equinox”.
 Moon Myths

• The phase of the moon has no effect on human

behavior.

• There is no such thing as the “dark side of the moon.”

• We did indeed land humans on the moon in the six

Apollo landings between July 1969 and December
1972.

• For more about “lunatics”, the “moon hoax” and other

astronomical pseudoscience, see:
www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib.html
Tilt of Earth’s Spin Axis

23.5o tilt

The Earth’s spin axis is tilted by 23.5 degrees off vertical with respect to
the “ecliptic plane” (plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun)

The spin axis remains essentially parallel to itself during the course of the year
Summer Solstice – 21 June

tropic of
Cancer arctic sunlight
circle

equator
antarctic sunlight
circle
 Winter Solstice – 21 December

tropic of
Cancer arctic
sunlight
circle

equator
sunlight antarctic
circle tropic of
Capricorn
Vernal Equinox – 21 March

arctic
circle
sunlight

tropic of
Cancer

equator
tropic of
Capricorn

sunlight
antarctic
circle
 Autumnal Equinox – 21 September

arctic
circle
sunlight

tropic of
Cancer

equator

tropic of
Capricorn

sunlight
antarctic
circle
 The Culminating Sun

• The sun culminates in the zenith (i.e. straight

overhead) at noon for observers located on the tropic
of Cancer (latitude = 23.5o N) on the day of the
summer solstice.

• The sun culminates in the zenith at noon for observers

located on the tropic of Capricorn (latitude = 23.5o S)
on the day of the winter solstice.

• The sun culminates in the zenith (i.e. straight

overhead) at noon for observers located on the equator
(latitude = 0o) on the days of the equinoxes.
 Other Seasonal Extremes

• The sun never rises for observers north of the arctic

circle on the day of the winter solstice

• The sun never sets for observers north of the arctic

circle on the day of the summer solstice

• The above conditions are reversed for the antarctic circle.

• The sun moves 360o around the horizon for observers

located at the north and south poles on the days of the
equinoxes.
Tilt of Earth’s Spin Axis

S N
E
winter equinox summer
solstice solstice

The sun rises on the east point and sets on the west point on the days of the equinoxes, giving
equal periods of “day” and “night”.

The sun is in the sky for the longest duration on the summer solstice and illuminates
the northern hemisphere most directly.
 Temperature Effect

• Summer days are longer and the sun is more intense

(due to the more direct illumination angle). Thus
summer is hotter than winter.

• There is a lag of the seasons when comparing the dates

of the solstices with the actual extremes in temperature
because it takes time to heat up the oceans and
atmosphere at the onset of summer and to cool them
off at the onset of winter.

• If the Earth’s spin axis were not tilted by some angle,

we would have no seasons.
 Precession of Earth’s Spin Axis
5. Spin axis now points to
4. Earth responds to this pull Polaris. 13,000 years from now,
by slowly “precessing” its spin Vega will be our “pole star”
axis around a circle in the sky
once every 26,000 years
23.5o

2. Moon’s orbital plane is

tilted by 5o from our equator

3. Moon’s gravitational pull

on Earth attempts to pull
bulge into lunar orbital plane

1. The rotation of the Earth distorts

it into an “oblate” spheroid flattened
at the poles
Shadows and Eclipses

Penumbra

Umbra Earth Sun

Eclipse of the Moon (Lunar Eclipse)

Earth’s Orbit

Moon’s Orbit

Occurs at Full Phase when Moon is also at the “line of nodes” of its orbit
with respect to the ecliptic

A lunar eclipse lasts for many hours and can be seen from the majority of the
Earth’s surface
Eclipse of the Sun (Solar Eclipse)

Earth’s Orbit

Moon’s Orbit

Occurs at New Phase when Moon is also at the “line of nodes” of its orbit
with respect to the ecliptic

A solar eclipse lasts for only for a few minutes and can only be seen from very restricted
locations on the Earth’s surface
Total and Annular Eclipses

Vertex of Umbral shadow is at or below Earth’s surface, so a total eclipse is possible

Vertex of Umbral shadow is above Earth’s surface, so only an annular eclipse is possible
Example of a Solar Eclipse Path

See Richard Monk’s

webpage on eclipses:
www.williams.edu/
astronomy/IAU_eclipses/
Total Solar Eclipse of 21 June 2001 from Zimbabwe

See Richard Monk’s

webpage on eclipses:
Bailey’s Beads www.williams.edu/
astronomy/IAU_eclipses/

Solar Corona

“Diamond Ring”
 Upcoming Lunar and Solar Eclipses
Solar Eclipses:
15 Jan 2009 (annular) – Asia & Africa
11 July 2010 (total) – South Pacific Ocean
4 Jan 2011 (partial) – Europe, Africa & central Asia
1 Jun 2011 (partial) – east Asia, far N. America, Iceland
1 Jul 2011 (partial) – south Indian Ocean
25 Nov 2011 (annular) – south Africa, Antactica, Tasmania, New Zealand

The next total solar eclipses visible from the U.S. will be on 21 Aug 2017 and
8 Apr 2024. The 2017 eclipse will be visible from Georgia.

Lunar Eclipses:
31 Dec 2009 – not U.S.
15 Jan 2010 (annular) – not U.S.
26 Jun 2010 (partial) – not U.S.
21 Dec 2010 (total) – all U.S.
15 Jun 2011 (total) – not U.S.
10 Dec 2011 (total) – all U.S.
Motions of the “Wanderers” – The Planets

normal “direct” (eastward) motion retrograde motion

Mars

East West

The night sky facing south

The Geocentric Explanation
All motions are circular
dir
e ct
Epicycle moves at
epicycle Mars constant angular
ret
ro
rate about the
gra
de equant

stationary Earth Adjustable parameters

include diameters of
+ . equant epicycle & deferent,
deferent distance of equant
center
from deferent
center, and rates of
deferent motion along
epicycle & deferent

Developed in detail around 140 AD by Claudius Ptolemy

and very successfully used for 1500 years!
The Heleocentric Explanation

direct motion

retrograde motion
around “opposition”

Sun

direct motion

Earth Mars

First proposed in detail by Nicolaus Copernicus in ~1505

but not published until De Revolutionibus in 1543.
 Oppositions of Mars

“Favorable”
“Unfavorable” Opposition
Opposition
Earth is at aphelion
Earth is at perihelion
closest approach is
closest approach is 34 million miles
68 million miles
Mars is at perihelion
Mars is at aphelion

Oppositions of Mars occur at 26-month intervals

On 27 Aug 2003, Mars had its most favorable opposition in 73,000 years
 Orbital Configurations
for an Inferior Planet
Maximum Eastern
Elongation

Inferior Superior
Earth
Conjunction Conjunction
Sun

Maximum Western
Elongation
 Orbital Configurations
Eastern Quadrature
for a Superior Planet

Opposition Earth Conjunction

Sun

Western Quadrature
Giants of the Heliocentric Theory
• Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) – Developed the Heliocentric
Theory but waited until just before his death to release his great
book, De Revolutionibus.
• Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) – Greatest pre-telescopic observer,
produced extensive observations of Mars that were critical to
proving the Heliocentric Theory.
• Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) – Hired as Tycho’s assistant but only
gained access to Tycho’s complete data after Tycho’s premature
death. Kepler discovered three “laws of planetary motion” that
revolutionized the understanding of the solar system.
• Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) – First used the telescope for observing
the night sky in 1609. His discoveries were monumental and
included proof of the Heliocentric Theory.

• Isaac Newton (1642-1727) – Developed the Law of Universal

Gravitation and three laws of motion that completely explain
Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion.
Kepler’s First Law

Planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits with the

sun located at one focus of the ellipse

planet

sun
+
focus center focus
Kepler’s Second Law
The line from the sun to a planet sweeps out equal areas in
equal time intervals.

t1

t2 areaA

t4

aphelion
perihelion
(slowest)
(fastest)
areaB
areaA = areaB if t2-t1 = t4-t3

t3
Kepler’s Third Law

For any two planets, the ratio of their mean distance from
the sun cubed equals the ratio of their orbital periods
squared.

(D1/D2)3 = (P1/P2)2

Planets far from the sun take longer to orbit

the sun than do planets nearer the sun.
Galileo’s Telescopic Discoveries
• New Stars – Discovered that his telescopes revealed far more stars
than are accessible to the unaided eye.

• Lunar Feature – Found the moon to have craters, mountains and

complicated terrain. He also reported spots on the sun, although it
turns out they had first been reported centuries earlier by Chinese
astronomers.

• Rings of Saturn – Galileo reported that Saturn had “ears” as his

telescopes couldn’t quite make out the true nature of the rings.

• Satellites of Jupiter – Discovered four large moons of Jupiter (still

often referred as the “Galilean satellites”) which clearly orbited
Jupiter and contradicted the geocentric premise that all bodies
move around the Earth.
• Phases of Venus – He discovered that Venus exhibited a complete
cycle of phases, which it could not do under the constraints of the
geocentric theory. This was proof of the heliocentric theory.