wa a Sa TUT DETR lef Sa ULSTC Bae crn aril ey Pinta Te TT anh Pte Ct " Because every courses as unique as its instructor —and is students—Mike Seeds and Dana Backmanis textbooks give you the fexibilty to buid the course solution that best suits your needs. Increase the value of your course package by including one ofthe resources below with your text at no addtional charge. Planetarium Software Options ly and fun sft both hi simulate ium Mae eee Enhance aneurin Virttral >) , otirescesic retod ASRONOMT Asoeonts Virsa Astronomy Student Textbook Ordering Options Student ection of tent (SBN 13:978-1-4390-5036-1 IseN 10. 1-4390.50368 Studer edtion of tox with Vitwal Astronomy Labs: ISBN 12:978-1-1111-16486 ISBN 10°1-1111 1644 Student edition of ted with Stary Night Planetarium software: ISBN 13:978-1-1111-1401-5 ISBN 10: 1-1111-1401-3 Student exon of text with SkyX College Edition Pletaum Soltware ISBN 13: 978-1-1111-1403-5 ISBN 10" 1-1111-1403x. <= WebAssign Night Sky Planisphere ant feedback and ea WebAssign® isthe And i proven sytem has been enhanced to include select tratea fom Foundations of Astronomy, Eleventh Edition With Enhanced WebAesgn dof-chapte lems ask studants to analy manipulate Active Figures, 0 Foundations of Astronomy eBook: Powered by Enhanced WebAssign A ehnct ec meine cies tant Visit www.cengage.com/community/seeds to leam more about Seeds and Backman’s textbooks and technology offerings. Student edton of the toa vith The Night Sky Planisphere Latitude 20-30:50N 13. 978--1111-1635.0 BENTO: ITT 116334 Student axon of he tet wth The Night Sky Planisphere Latitude 30-40-58 13:978-11111-1638-7 SEN TO 11-1638 2 ‘Student exon ofthe te with The Night Sky Planisphere Latitude {<40: BN 13:978-11111-16329 ISBN 10°1-1111 1632-6 Student exon of tt wth Enhanced WebASsign: {SBN 13:9781-9111-1424-4" BN 10: 11111-14282About the Authors ike Seeds has been a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Franklin and Marshal Callege in Lancaster, Fennsyvenia, since 1970. Tn 1989 he received FRM College's Lindback Award fo Distinguished Teaching. Miles Love forthe story of astronomy led him to ereste upper-tevl cous on “hrchaeostronomy’ and “Changing Concepts ofthe Universe” His research {interests focus on variable stars and the automation of astronomical tle- Scopes. Mike is coauthor with Dana Backnan of Horizons: Exploring the Universe, Eleventh Edition (2008), Asvonamy: The Star System ond Beyond, Sith Editon (2008), and Perspectives on Astronomy (2008) ll published by Cengage. He wes Senior Consultant for creation of the 20-pisode tlecourse accompanying the book Horizons, Exploring the Univers. ‘Dana Backman taught in the physics and astronomy department at Rankin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, fom 1991 until 2003. He ‘invented and taught a course titled “Life in the Universe in F&M interisci- plinary Foundations program. Dana now teaches introductory astronomy, astrobiology, and cosmology courses in Stanford University’s Continuing ‘Studies rogram. His research interests focus on ifared observations of planet fomation, models of debris disks around nearby tars, and evolution of the soar systems Kulpr belt Dara is employed by the SET Institute of Mountain View alfoia as Director of Outreach forthe SOFA (Stratospheric Ctservatory for Infared Astronomy) mision at NASA Ames Research Cente. He fs coauthor wth Mike Seeds of Horizons: Exploring the Universe, Eleventh Edition (2008), Astronomy: The Solar Sytem and Beyond, Sith Edition (2008), and Perspectives on Astronomy (2008), all published by Cengage.Michael A. Seeds Joseph R. Grundy Observatory Franklin and Marshall College Dana E. Backman SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) SETI Institute & NASA Ames Research Center BROOKS/COLE fue CENGAGE Learnin Austtlia «Brazil “Canada * Mexico * Singapore « Spain United Kin =» BROOKS/COLE © CENGAGE Learning” “TheSolar System, Seventh Edition Michael A. Seeds, Dana£. 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Purchase any of cur products at your local cllege store ‘rat our preferred online store wwwichapters.com.Dedication For Emery & Helen Seeds and Edward & Antonette BackmanPart1 Exploring the Sky CHAPTER 1 HERE AND NOW 1 CHAPTER 2 THESKY 11 CHAPTER 3 CYCLES OF THE MOON 31 CHAPTER 4 THE ORIGIN OF MODERN ASTRONOMY 49 CHAPTER 5 GRAVITY 75 CHAPTER 6 LIGHT AND TELESCOPES 98 Part 2 The Stars CHAPTER 7 ATOMS AND STARLIGHT 122 CHAPTER 8 THESUN 142 PERSPECTIVE; ORIGINS 167 The Solar System THE ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM 396 20 EARTH: THE STANDARD OF COMPARATIVE PLANETOLOGY 424 CHAPTER 21 THE MOON AND MERCURY: COMPARING AIRLESS WORLDS 442 CHAPTER 22 COMPARATIVE PLANETOLOGY OF VENUS AND MARS 464 COMPARATIVE PLANETOLOGY OF JUPITER AND SATURN 493 URANUS, NEPTUNE, AND THE DWARF PLANETS 525 CHAPTER 25 METEORITES, ASTEROIDS, AND COMETS 551 Part5 Life CHAPTER 25 ASTROBIOLOGY: LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS 581Part 1: Exploring the Sky Chapter 1 | Here and Now 1 1 WHERE ARE YOU? 2 2:2 WHEN IS WOW? 7 113 WAY STUDY ASTRONDMY? 7 Chapter 2 | The Sky 11 24 THESTARS 12 2:2 THESKY ANDITS MOTION 16 23° THECICLES OFTHE SUN. 20 2-4 ASTRONOMIAL INFLUENCES ON EARTHS CLIMATE. 25, Chapter 3 | Cycios of the Moon 31 5:1 THE CHANGEABLE HOON 52 32 WUNARECLIPSES 33 33° SOLAR ECLIPSES 7 244 PREDICING ECLIPSES. <2 Chapter 4 | The Origin of Modern Astronomy 49 461 THERDOTS OF ASTRONOMY So 6-2 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION. 58 463 PLANETARY MOTION 61 44 GAULED GALILEE 67 465 MODERN ASTRONOMY 71 Chapter 5 | Gravity 75 5:1 GALILED AND NEWTON. 76 52 ORBITAL woTION AND TIDES. 82 53 EINSTEIN AMO RELATIVITY. 90 Chapter 6 | Light and Telescopes 98 16-1 RADIATION: INFORMATION FROM SPACE 99 62 OFTICAL TELESCOPES. 101 6-3 SPECIAL INSTRUMENTS 112 6-4 RADIO TELESCOPES 114 15 ASTRONOMY FROM SPACE 317 Content ho = How Do We Know? 2:1 Sclontitic Models 17 22 Paoudoscience 25 2.9. Evidence me the Foundation of Science 27 5-1 Selontitic Imagination 38 41 Sclontiic Revolutions 61 42 Hypothesis, Theory, and Law 66 5:1 Caumeand Ettect 90 5:2 Testing @ Hypothesis by Prediction 38 1 Resolution and Precision 105 Concept Art Portfolios The Sky Around You 18-19 The Cle ofthe Seasons 22-23 The Phoses of the Moon 34-35 The Ancient Universe 56-57 Orbiting Earth 84-85 Moder Astronomical Telescopes 110-111 conreur 5 CwPart 2: The Stars Chepter 7 | Atoms and Starlight 122 7-2 THEINTERACTION OF UGHT AND MATTER 126 73. SIELAR SPECTRA 130 2-1 THESOURAINOSPHERE 163 18-2 NUCLEAR FUSION I THE SUN 150 Porspective | Origins 167 P-1 THEBRRTH OFSTARS 168 P-4 THE UNIVERSE OF GALAMES. 17: PS THEORIGINOF THE UNIVERSE. 180, How Do We Know? 74 Quantum Mechanics 125 8.2 Contirmation and Consolidation 169 2 Science: A Syaiem of Knowledge 182 P.2 Theories and Proof 189 Concept Art Portfolios Atomic Spectra 132-133 sunspots and the Sunspot Cycle 156-157 Mognetic Solar Phenomena 162-163 fan in the Orion Nebule 470 Golaxy Cassfcarion 178-179Part 4: The Solar System Chapter 19 | The Origin of the Solar System 306 19-1 THE GREAT CHAIN OF omUGINS 397 138-2 ASURVEY OF THESOLAR SYSTEM 401 19.3 THE STORY OF PLANET BUILDING 607 18-4 PLANETS ORBITING OTHER STARS. <4 ‘Chapter 20 | Earth: The Standard of Comparative Planetology 424 20-4 ATRAVEL GUIDE 10 THE TERRESTRIAL PLANETS. 225 20-2 GARTH ASA PLANET 427 203 THESOLIO EARTH 429 20-4 EARTHS ATMOSPHERE. 432 Chapter 21 | The Moon and Mercury: Comparing Airless Worlds 442 211 THEMOON 463 2-2 MERCURY 45 ‘Chapter 22 | Comparative Pianetology of Venus and Mars 464 22-1 VENUS 488 22-2 WAS. 476 22-3 THE MOONS OF MARS. 489 ‘Chapter 23 | Comparative Planetology of Jupiter and Saturn 493 241-ATRAVEL GUIDE 1 THE DUTER PLANETS. 496 2-2 UPR 435 23-3 JUPITER FAMILY OF HOONS 503 24 SATURN 510 22S SATURNS MOONS 517 Chapter 24 | Uranus, Neptune, and the Dwarf Planets 925 24-1 URANUS 526 26-2 NEPTUNE 539 26-3 THE DWARF PLANETS. S46 Chapter 25 | Meteorites, Asteroids, ‘Comets 551 25-1 METEOROIDS, METEORS, AND METEORITES. 552 25-2 ASTEROIDS 559 253 COMETS 565 25:4 ASTEROIO AND COMET IMPACTS 574 nd How Do We Know? 10-1 we Kinds of Theosies: Catastrophic ‘and Evolutionary #00, 19-2 Sclontists: Couneous Skeptics Understanding Planets: Follow ‘Studying an Unseen World 420 the Oetaila ae 221 Data Manipulation 25-1 Who Pays for Science? 516 Concept Art Portfolios oy the Eneray 426 How Hypotheses and Theories Unity Terrestrial ond Jovian Planets 402403 The Active Earth 434-435 Impoct Catering 446-447 Volcanoes 472-473 lupiter's Atmosphere 500-501 The Ie Rings of Satur 514-515 The Rings of Uranus and Neptune 534-535 Observations of Asteroids 560-561 Observations of Comets 568-569 Celestial Profle 2 | Eanh 428 Celestia! Profle 3 |The Moon 443 Celestial Profile | Mercury 485 Celestial Profle § | Venue Celestial Profle «| Mare «77 Celestial Profle 7 | Jupter 496 Colestial Profle | Saturn sit Colestia! Profile 10 | Neptune sto contentsChapter 26 | Astrobiology: Life on Ott Worlds 581 26-1 TWENATURE OF UTE 582 26-3 INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE. 505 >) conrenrs 26-1 The Nature of Sclentiic Explanation 583 NA: The Code of Life 584-585 APPENDIX A UNITS AND ASTRONOMICAL D4 APPENDIX OBSERVING THE SKY 612 GuossaRY 025 ANSWERS TO EVENNUMBERED FROBLENS 632A Note to the Student From Mike and Dana ‘We are excited that you are aking an as- ‘uonomy course and using our book. You are going to see some amazing things from the icy rings of Saturn to monster black holes. We are proud to be your guides as you explore, ‘We have developed this book to help you expand your knowledge of | astronomy from recognizing the moon and a few stars in the evening sky to a decper understanding of the extent, power, and diversity of the universe. You will meet worlds where ie rains methane, stars so dense their atoms are crushed, colliding galaxies chat are ripping cach cher apart, and a universe that is expanding faster and faster, Two Goals “This book is designed to help you answer ‘vo important questions © What are we? = How do we know? By the question Wht are we? we ‘mean: How do we fi into the universe and its history? The atoms you are made of had ther fist birthday in the big bang when the universe began, but those atoms were cooked and remade inside seas, and now they are inside you. ‘Where wil they be ina billion years? Astronomy is the only course on campus that can tll you that story, and it isa sxory that everyone should know. By the question How do we know? swe mean: How does science work? What is the evidence, and how do you know it fs true? For instance, how can anyone now there was a big bang? In today’s ‘world, you need to think carefully about the things so-called experts say. You should demand explanations. Scientists have a special way of knowing based on evidence that makes scientific knowledge ‘much more powerful than just opinion, policy, marketing, or public relations. It is the human race’s best understanding of nature. To understand the world around you, you need to understand hhow science works. Throughout this book, you will find boxed features called How Do We Know? They will help you ‘understand how scientists use the methods of science to know what the universe is like. Expect to Be Astonished ‘One reason astronomy is exciting is that astronomers discover new things every day. Astronomers expect to be aston- ished. You can shate in the excitement because we have worked hard ro indude the newest images, the newest discover ies, and che newest insights thar will ake {you, in an introductory course, to the frontier of human knowledge. Huge tle- scopes in space and on remote mountain tops provide a daily dose of excitement thac goes far beyond sensationalism, “These now discoveries in astronomy are ‘exciting because they are about us. They tall us more and more about what we at. {As you read this book, notice tha it isnot organized as lists of facts for you to ‘memorize. That could make even astronomy boring. Rather this book is ‘organized to show you how scientists use cevidence and theory to create logical arguments that show how nature works, Look at the list of special features that follows this note. Those features were careflly designed to help you understand astronomy as evidence and theory. Once ‘you see science as evidence and logical Arguments, you hold the key to the Do Not Be Humble As teachers, our quest is simple. We ‘want you to understand your place in the universe—not just your location in space but your location in che unfolding history ofthe physical universe. Not ‘only do.we want you to know where you are and what you ate in the universe; we also want you to understand howe scien- tists know By the end of this book, we ‘want you to know thar che universe is very big buc tha itis described by a small set of rules and that we humans have found a way to figure out the rules—a method called scence, “To appreciate your role in this beaucifil universe, you must learn more than just the facts of astronomy. You must understand what we are and how we know. Every page of this book reflects that ideal, Mike Seeds mscedsefandmedu Dana Backman dhackmansofia.usta.edur A MOTE To THE STUDENT (Key Content and Pedagogical Changes to the Eleventh Edition, 1 Byery chapter as been reviewed and updated with the lates discoveries and images such as photos of colliding salasics and planets oxbiting distant stars. You will read about methane lakes on Sacurnis moon Titan and the newest understanding of bursts of gamma rays detected coming from the most distant galaxies | Some chapters have been reorganized and rewritten to better present their ropies. Chapter 10, “The Interstellar Medium,” and Chapter 11, “The Formation and Structure of Stars,” are completely reorganized to better explain the gas and dust between the stars and how stars form from that materia. © Chapter 4,"The Origin of Modem Astronorny” has been reorganized to ester tell the story ofthe development of scientific thought atthe end ofthe Renaissance. Chapter 26 “Astobiology” Life on Other Words” has a new subsection cn “extremophiles” life cha thrives on Earth in exteme © Guideposs forall ofthe chapters have been rewritten and shortened to open each chapter with a short lst of ques- tions thar will help you focus your reading on the main objectives of the chapter. |= Throughout the book, che newest images have been included to keep you up to date with the rapid advanees in modem astronomy. Special Features What Are We? essays ae placed a the end of each chapter to help you understand your own role in the astronomy you have jst learned. = How Do We Know? commentaries appear in every chapter and will help you see how science works. They will poinc ‘ut where scientists use statistical evidence, why they think with analogies, and how they build confidence in theories. |© Special ewo-page art spreads provide an opportunity for you 1 create your own understanding and share inthe satisfac- tion that sientss fe a they uncover the secrets of nature. * Guided discovery figures illucrate important ideas visually and guide you to understand relationships and contrasts interactively. + Focus on Fundamentals will help you understand five concepts from physics that are critical ro understanding, ‘modern astronomy. Guideposts on the opening page of each chapter help you sce the organization ofthe book by focusing on a small number of questions to be answered as you read the chapter. Scientific Arguments atthe end of many tex sections are carefully designed questions to help you review and synthesize concepts from the section. A short answer follows to show how scientists construct scientific argu ments from observations, evidence, theories, and natural laws that lead to a conclusion. A farther question then gives you a chance to construct your own scientific argument on a related issue End-of-Chapter Review Questions are designed to help you review and test your understanding of the material. End-ofChapter Discussion Questions go beyond the text and invite you to think critically and creatively about scientific questions, You can think about these questions yourself or discuss them in clas. Virtual Astronomy Laboratories. These online labs give you an exciting, interactive way to lear, putting some of astronomy’s most useful instruments into your hands— precise telescope controls to measure angular sie, Phorometer to measure light intensity, and a spectrograph to measure Doppler-sifeed spectral lines. ‘TheSky Student Edition CD-ROM turns a personal ‘computer intoa powerful personal planetarium. Loaded ‘with data on 118,000 sears and 13,000 deap-sky objects swith images, i allows you to view the universe at any point in time from 4000 years ago to 8000 years in the ucure, co sce the sky in motion, to view constellations, to print star charts and much more, New for Instructors ‘WebiTutor™ to jump-start your course with customizable and rich, text-specifc content, which includes: Integration with your Blackboard", ANGEL, or WebCT learning management systems Interactive and gradable study materials, which include Reading Questions, Active Figures, Guidepost Questions, Problems from the textbook, and Ranking Task Exercises Instructor supplements, which include PowerPoint” Acres, digital images from the text, and Test Bank Interactive eBook ‘Videos and Animations A NOTE to THE srupENT s) ore To THE sruiAcknowledgments ‘Over the yeats we have had the guidance ofa great many people ‘who care about astronomy and teaching. We would like ro thank all of the sudents and teachers who have contributed their insights and suggestions. Their comments have been very helpful in shaping this book. ‘We would especially like vo thank the reviewers whose cate- ful analysis and choughefil suggestions have been invaluable in ccomplesing this new edition. Many observatories, research institutes, laboratoris, and individual astronomers have supplied figures and diagrams for this edition. They are listed next to each figure, and we would like to thank dhem specifically for their generosity. Special thanks go to Kathryn Coolidge, who has reviewed chapters word by word and been a tremendous help with issues of organization, presatation, and writing, Jamie Buckman also hha been a careful reader, contributing many insights to the way the contents of the book should be organized and presented. ‘We are happy to acknowledge the use of images and data fiom a number of important programs. ln preparing materials for this book we used NASAS Sky View facility located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. We have used atlas images and rmosiics obssined a¢ part of the Tivo Micron All Sky Survey (@MASS), a joint project of the University of Massachuserts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of ‘Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. A number ‘of solar images are used by the courtesy ofthe SOHO consortium, project of intemational cooperation between ESA and NASA. Ie is always a pleasure to work with the Cengage Learning ‘cam. Special dhanks goto all ofthe people who have conceibuted to this project including Jill Cla, Cate Barr, Nicole Molla, Belinda Krohmer, and Rebecca Berardy Schwartz, ‘We have enjoyed working on production with Margaret Pinewe of Heckman & Pinete, and we appreciate her under- standing and goodwill. We would especialy like to thank editors Kilean Kennedy and Teri Hyde for cheie help and guidance throughout this projec. ‘Most of ll, we would like ro thank our families for putting up with “the books.” They know all oo well that textbooks are made of time. Mike Seeds ana Backman Reviewers meel Dave, University of Arizona C. Rence James, Sim Houston State University Dan Lester, University of Texas Mark Showalter, SETI Institute Gerald Cecil, University of North Carolina ‘William Keel, University of Alabama Alexander G. Telens, Leiden Observatory ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xlThis page intentionally left blanksoratn mage [— Guidepost These duds of gos ore As you study astronomy, you will learn about yourself. You are a planet walker, and this | jafelgu tet i. chapter will give you a preview of what that means. The planet you live on whirls around | gi tales 7200 veo f Sadrthst cats ros whens Md thos Som and galade vou one tio me MY ‘yourself to know where you are in the universe because that is the fist step to knowing | ¢loud that hes formed 0 what you are. cluster of stars. Nore ‘In this chapter, you will meet three essential questions about astronomy: SE chet forming |— Where are you in the universe? dn the derest, densest | — How does human history fit into the time scale of the universe? ee a |— Why should you study astronomy? Team, Scans) ‘As you study astronomy, you will see how science gives you a way to know how nature works. In this chapter, you can begin thinking about science in a general way. Later chapters will give you more specific insights into how scientists work and think and know about nature. This chapter is a jumping-off place for your exploration of deep space and deep time. The next chapter continues your journey by looking at the night sky as seen from Earth.The longest journey begins with a single step. (4-1)Where Are You? ‘To vino vour piace among the stars, you can take a cosmic zoom, a ride ouc through the universe to preview the kinds of objects you are about to study You can begin with something familie, @ Figure 1-1 shows region about 50 feet across occupied by a human being, aside walk, and a few trees all objets whose size you can understand, Each suecessive picture in this cosmic zoom will show you a region ofthe universe chat is 100 times wider than the preceding picture. That is, cach step will widen your field of view, the region you can sce in the image, by a factor of 100. ‘Widening your field of view by a factor of 100 allows you to see an area T dliamecet (a F and sidewalks have become too small to see, but now you see a college campus and surrounding streets and houses. The dimen- sions of houses and streets are familia. This is sill the world you know. Before leaving this familiar territory, you should make a change in the units you use to measure sizes. All sents, includ ing astronomers, use che mettic system of units because it is well understood worldwide and, more important, because it simplifies ile ure 1-2). People, trees, Figure chae A. Sood ¢ ) PART 1. | EXPLORING THE SKY “This box mepesents the clative eof the previous frame. (USCS) calulations. Ifyou are noc already familiar with the metric system, or if you need a review, study Appendix A before reading on, Te photo in Figure 1-2 is | mile across, which equals about 1.6 kilometers. You can see that a kilometer (abbreviated ken) is a bie under two-thirds of a mile—a shore wal across a neigh bor- hood. But when you expand your field of view by a factor of 100, the neighborhood you saw in the previous photo vanishes (w Figure 1-3). Now your fld of view is 160km wide, sce cities and rows as patches of gray: Wilmingran, Delaware, i Visible a the lower right, Ac this scale, you can sce some of the natural features of Earths surface. The Allegheny Mountains of southern Pennsylvania cross the image in the upper left, and the Susquchanna River fows southeast into Chesapeake Bay. What look like white bumps are a few puffs of clouds. Figure 1-3 is an infared photograph in which healthy green leaves and crops show up as red. Human eyes ae sensitive to only narrow range of colors, As you explore the universe, you will earn rosea wide range of other “colo” from X-rays to radio waves, co reveal sights invisible to unaided human eyes. You will earn much ‘more about infrared, X-rays and radio energy in later chapters, ‘At the next step in your journey, you can sce your entire planer, which is neatly 13,000 km in diameter (w Figure 1-4). At any particular moment, half of Earths surface is esposed to sun- light, and half in darkness. As Farch rotates on its ax you through sunlight and hen through darkness, producing the yee of day and night. The blurtiness you soe at the extreme 1 of the photo is the boundary between day and n set line. This i a good example of how a phoro can give you Wd yourasa visual clues to understanding a concept. Special questions called Learning to Look’ at the end ofeach chapter give you a chance to use your ovn imagination to connect images with theories Enlarge your field of view by a factor of 100, and you see a region 1,600,000 km wide (w Figure 1-5). Earth is che small blue dor in the center, and the moon, whose diameter is only one fourch that of Earth 380,000 km away. These numbers are so large that itis inconvenient to write them out. Astronomy is sometimes known as the science of big, numbers, and soon you will be using numbers much larger than these co discuss the universe, Rather than writing out hese num bers as in the previous paragraph, it is more convenient to waite them in scientific notation. This is nothing more than a simple way to write very big or very small numbers without using lots ‘of zeros In scientific notation, 380,000 becomes 3.8% 10°. Ifyou are not familiar with scientific notation, read the section on powers of 10 notation in Appendix A. The universe is roo big ro discuss without using scientific notation. ‘When you once again enlarge your field of view by a factor ‘of 100, Earth, the moon, and the moons orbit allie in the small ted box at lower left of m Figure 1-6. Now you can sce the sun and two other planets that ae part of our solar system, Our solar system consists of the sun, its fumily of planets, and some smaller bodies, such as moons and comets. Earth, Venus, and Mercury are planets, small, spherical nonluminous bodies chat orbit a star and shine by reflected light. Venus is about the size of Earth, and Mercury is just over a third of Earths diameter, On the diagram, they are both too small to be scen as anything but tiny dors. The sun isa star, aselF-luminous tenono ball of hor gas that generates its own energy. Even though the sun is 109 times larger in diameter chan Earth (inset), it roo i noth- ing more than a dor in this diagram, This diagram represents a 1.6% 10° km. One way astronomers simplify calculations using large numbers is to define larger units of measurement. For example, the averag area with a diameter of distance from Earth to the sun is a unit -al unit (AU), which is equal hat, you can express the aver: of distance called the astrono: to 1.5108 km, Usi dis tance from Venus to the sun as about 0.72 AU and the avenige as about 0.39 AU These distances are averages because the orbits ofthe planets distance from Mercury to the su ate not perfect circles. Ths is particularly apparent in the case of Mercury, Its orbie cates it as close to the sun as 0,307 AU and as faraway as 0.467 AU. You can see the variation in the distance from Mercury to the sun in Figure irculas, and ‘its distance from the sun varies by only Fak oie tots a , Enlarge slr ge Pg boas selec they ac hc Senge Goer ed sl ). The sun, Mercury, Venus, and Earth cher that you cannot see them separately at this such as Mars, the next plant outward. Mars is only 1.5 AU from the sun, but Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune ar fiom the sun and so are easier to place in this diagram. They are ar from the suns wan cold worlds ch, Light from the sun ») part a a) ) areal Figure 14 {2 reaches Earth in only 8 minutes, but it takes over 4 houts to reach Nepeune You can remember the oder of the plans from the sun out ward by remembering a simple senvence: My Very Educated Macher Just Served Us No The first letter of each word reminds you of a planet: Mercury, Venus, Earch, Mars, Jupiter, Satuen, Uranus, Nepeun When you again enlarge your field of view by a factor of 100, © 1-8). The sun is only a point of light, and all the planets and thei orbits are novr crowded ina the small red squat ac the center, The planets are too small and 100 fain ro be visible so near the brilliance of the sun, Nor are any stars visible except for the sun, The sun is a furly typical sta, and ie seems ro be located in a fairly average neigh: bothood in the universe. Although there are many billions of stars like the sun, none are close enough to he visible in thie n only 11,000 AU in diamete Stars in the sunis neighborhood are typically separated by die tances about 30 times lager chan that In w Figure 1-9, your feld of view has expanded to a diam- exer of a bic over 1 million AU. The sun is at the center, and at this scale you can see a few of the nearest stars. These stars are so distant that i is not convenient to give their distances astronomical units, To express distances so large, astronomers definea new unit of distance, the lightyear. One light-year (ly) hly 10" kim or visa Common Misconception that alight: is the distance that light travels in one year, rou 63,000 ALyear is a unie of time, and you can sometimes hear the term misused in science fiction movies and TV shows. The nest time you hear someone say, “It will take me light-years to finish my history paper.” you could tell che person that a light-year is a distance, not a time, The diameter of your field of view in Figure 1-9 i 17 ly. Another Common Misconception is that stars look like disks when seen through a telescope. Although stars ‘omers cannot sce them as anything but points of light. Even the closest star to the sun—Alpha Centauri, only 4.2 ly from Earth—looks like a point of light through even the biggest tele scopes on Earth, Furthermore, planets that circle other stars a much too small, t0 faint, and roo close to the glare of ther star Astronomers have used indirect methods to detect over 300 planets orbiting other stars, but very few have been photographed directly. Figure 1-9 follows the astronomical custom of making the sizes of the dots represent not the sizes of the stars but their nes, This is how star images are recorded on photographs, 3 scars make larger spots on a photograph than faint sta, so the size of a star image in a photograph tells you aot how big the star is bur only how bright ic looks. In m Figure 1-10, you expand your field of view by another factor of 100, and the sun and its neighboring stars vanish into the background of thousands of other sats. The field of view is now 1700 ly in diameter. OF course, no one has ever journeyed, thousands of light-years fiom Earth co look back and photo, the solar neighborhood, so this isa representative photograph of the sky: The sun isa rdativey faint sta chat would not be easily ph located in a photo a this scak If you again expand your field of view by a factor of 100, you see our galaxy, a disk of stars abour 80,000 ly in diameter (@ Figure 1-11). A galaxy isa great cloud of stars, ga, and dust Figure 1-10 nonoFigure 1-11 Mark Gatch/space a.com held cogether by the combined gravity of all of its matter. Galaxies range from 1500 to over 300,000 ly in diameter, and some contain over 100 billion stars. In the night sky, you can see our g the sky ay as a great, cloudy wheel of stars ringi This band of stars is known as the Milley Way, and our galaxy is called che Milky Way Galaxy. How does anyone know what our galaxy looks like if no one ‘an leave it and look back? Astronomers use evidence to guide their explanations as they imagine what the Milky Way looks like Artists can then use those scientific descriptions to create a paint ing. Many images inthis book are artists renderings of objects and «vents that are t00 big or too dim to se clearly, emit energy your ‘ge cannot detect, of happen too slowly or to rapidly for humans to sense, These images are not just gueses chey are scientifically based illustrations guided by the bes information astronomers can gather. As you explore, notice how astronomers use the methods, ‘of science to imagine, understand, and depice cosmic events The artist’ conception of the Milky Way reproduced in igure 1-11 shows thar our galay, like many others, has graceful spiral arms winding outward through its disk, In a later chapter you will learn that the spiral arms are places where stars are formed from clouds of gas and dust. Our own sun was born in ‘one of these spiral arms; and, if you could see the sum in this would be in the disk of the galaxy about rwo-thitds of the way out from the center, (Ours isa fely large galaxy. Only a century agp astronomers thought it was the entire universe—an island cloud of stars in an Now they know that our galaxy is not unique: it is only one of many billions of galaxies scatered throughout the universe >) parr a | exptontne THe sky sD a Figure 1-12 You can sce a few of these other galaxies when you expand yout field of view by another factor of 100 (w Figure 1-12). Our galaxy appears as a tiny luminous speck surrounded by other specks in a region 17 million light-years in diameter. Each speck represents a galary: Notice chat our galaxy is part of a cluster of 2 few dozen galaxies. Galaxies are commonly grouped together such clusters, Some galaxies have beautiful spiral patterns like our ‘own galaxy, but others do not. Some are strangely distorted. In a later chapter, you will learn what produces these differences among the galaxies, Now is a chance for you to correct another Common Misconception. People often say “galaxy” when they mean ‘solar system, “universe.” Your cosmic z00m has shown you the difference. The solar system isthe sun and its and they sometimes confuse both terms with lanets, Our galaxy contains our solar system plus billions of other stars and whatever planets orbit around them, in other words, billions of planetary systems. The universe includes everything: all of the galaxies, stars, and planets, including our own galaxy and a very small part of it, our solar system. Ifyou expand your field of view one more time, you ca see that clusters of galaxies are connected in a vast network (m Figure 1-13). Clusters are grouped into superclusters clusters of clusters—and the superclusters are linked to form long filaments and walls appear to be the largest structures in the four field of view another aments and walls outlining nearly empty voids. These universe, Were you to expand 1, you would probably see a uniform fog of filaments a walls. When you puzzle over the origin of ‘you are at the frontier of human knowledgeFigure 1-13. (Based on data from M. Sldner, 8. L.Siebers, €.3. Goth, and P.3.. Pesbles, Asami! Joual 82 (1977.) Now mar vou Have aN 1DE4 where you ae in space, you need to know where you are in time. The ars shined for billions of seats before the frst human looked up and wondered what they swe. To get a sense of your place in time all you nea is 3 long, red ibbon. Imagine steechingasbbon from gol line vo goal ine dove the cencer of a football fed, as shown on the inside front cover ofthis hook. Imagine that one end ofthe ribbon is tadeyand that the other end represents the beginning of the universe—the moment of beginning that astronomers cal the big doug. In a later chapes, “Modern Cosmolog” you will learn all about the big bang and see evidence that the universe is about 14 billion seats old. Your long rd ribbon represents 14 billion years, the centre history ofthe univers Imagine beginning at the goal line labeled Big Beng and replying the entice history of the universe as you walk along your ribbon toward the goal line labeled Tay. Observations tll astronomers thatthe big bang filled the slowing gas, bucas the gas cooled and dimmed the universe went dark, All tha happened along che firs half inch of the sibbon, ‘There was no light forthe firse 400 million years, until gravity was able to pull some ofthe gas together to fort the fist star “That sems like alr of years, buf you stick ile ag beside tne universe with hot, the ribbon to mark the birth of the frst stars, it would be not ‘quite 3 yards from the goal line where the universe began, You have 1o walk only about 5 yards along the ribbon before galaxies formed in large numbers. Our home galaxy would be ‘one of those taking shape. By the time you cross the 50-yard lin, the universe is full of galaxies, but the sun and Earth have not formed yer. You need to walk past the 50-yard line down ro the 35-yard line before you can finally stick a lag beside the ribbon to mark the formation of the sin and planets—our solar system, You can carry your flags a few yards farther to the 29-yard, line to mark the appearance ofthe fist life on Earth-microscopic ‘creatures in the oceans—and you have ro walk all che way vo the 3-yand line before you can mark the emergence of life on land. ‘Your dinosaur Aag goes just inside the 2-yand line, Dinosaurs go ‘extinct as you pass the one-half yard line, ‘What about people? You can puta little fag for the frse hhumanlike creatures only about an inch—four million years from the goal line labeled Today. Civilization, the building of cities, began about 10,000 yeats ago, so you have to try to fit that flag in only 0,0026 inch from the goa lin. That's half the thick- ness ofa sheet of paper. Compate the hiscory of human eiviliza tion with the history of the universe. Every war you have ever, heard of, every person whose name is recorded, every structure ‘ver built from Stonchenge to the building you are in right now fits into that 0.0026 inch. ‘Humanity is very new co the universe. Our ci Earth has existed for only a flicker of an eyeblink in the history of the universe. As you will discover in che chapters that follow; ot indred yeuts oF s0 have astronomers begun to understand where we are in space and in time. n the last -3)Why Study Astronomy? Your exLonarion oF THE UNIVERSE will hdp you answer two fundamental questions: What are we? How da we know? ‘The question, “What ate we?” is the frst organ ofthis book. Astronomy i important 1 you because i wil tll yu what you are. Notice that the question is not “Wo are we?” Ifyou wane to know wo we are, you may want 10 ral to 250 logis, theologian, paleontologist, artist, or poet. “What are we?” isa fundamentally diferent question. ‘As you study astronomy, you will learn how you fit into the hisory of the universe. You wil lern that the atoms in your body had their fies birthday in the big bang when the universe began. Those atoms have becn cooked and remade inside genera tions of sass, and now after billions of years, they are inside you. ‘Where will they be in another billion yeare This is a story — Were AND Now (7 CHAPTER 1The So-Called Scientific Method How do scientists learn about natute? You fave probably heard ofthe scentic method 2 the process by which scientists form hypotheses and test them aqainet evidence gathered by experiment or observation. ‘Scintits use the scientific method all the time, and it is ertaly important, but they faely think of tat all and they certainiy don't think of it asa numbered list of steps. Ts such an ingrained way of thinking and understanding nature that iis almost invis- ible to the people who use t most. ‘Scientists try to form hypotheses that explain how nature works. TF a hypothesis is contradict by evidence fram experiments or obsenations, it must be revised o discarded, 1a hypothesis is coafimes, it must be tested further. In that very general way, the scenic method isa way of testing and refining ideas to better deserba how nature wor, For example Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) vas an Austrian abbot who liked plants. He formed a hypothess that offspring usually inherit traits from their parents not as a everyone should know; and astronomy is smooth blend, 2s most scientists of the tine belived, but in discrete units according to strict mathematical rules Mendel cutivated and tested over 28,000 pea plants, not: ‘ng which produced smooth peas an which produced wrinkled peas and how that tat as inherited by successive generations. Wis study of pa plans confimed his hypothess and allowed the development ofa series of laws of inheritance. Although the importance of is work was not recognized in his fete, Mendel is now called the “Tather of modem senetics” The scientific method is nota simple, mechanical way of grinding facts into under- standing. Ibis n fact, a combination of ‘many ways of analyzing information, finding relationships, and creating new ideas. A sci- entist needs insight and ingenuity to form and test a good hypothesis. Scientists use the ecientife method almost automaticaly, forming, testing, revising, and discarding hypotheses almost minute by minute as they discuss a new idea. Sometimes, however, You can use astronomy as a case study Whether peos ore winked or smacth is on inherited at (Isprestock/piterimases) 2 scientist will spend years studying a single promising hypothesis. The so-called scientific method is 2 way of thinking and 2 way of knowing abaut nature. The “How Do We Know?" essays in the chapters that follow will introduce you to some of those methods. science. In every ‘camputs that can tell you that story Every chapter in this book ends with a shore segment titled “What Are We?” This summary shows how the astronomy in the chapter rates to your role in the story of the universe “The question, "How do we know?” is the sccond organizing theme of this book. It is a question you should ask yourself ‘whenever you encounter statements made by so-called experts in any Bld, Should you swallow a diee supplement recommended, by a TV star? Should you vore for a candidate who warns of a imate crisi To understand the world around you and to make wise decisions for yourself, for your family, and for your nation, you need to understand how science works é ) PART 1. | EXPLORING THE SKY chapter ofthis book, you will ind shore essays titled "How Do We Know?” They are designed to help you think not about what is known bu abou how its known, To do that, they will explain differenc aspects of scientific reasoning and in that way help you understand how scientists know about the natural world, ‘Over the last four centuries, scientists have developed a way to understand nature that has been called the scientific method (How Do We Know? 1-1). You will se this process applied over and over as you read about explo ies, and alien planets. The universe is very big, but i is described bya small sec of rules, and we humans have found a way to figure cout the rules stars, colliding galax- a method called science,eee ay ‘Astronomy wil give you perspective on what it means to be here on Earth. This chapter has helped you locate yourself in space and time. Once you realize how vast fur universe is, Earth seems quite small People on the other side of the word seem like neighbors. And, in the entire hietory of the universe, the human story is only the short time Summary You surveyed the universe by taking a cosmic 200m in which each eld ‘of view (p 2) was 100 times wider than the previous eld of view, ‘Atronomes use the metic ystom because it implies calculations ani use sdentifc notation p. 3) or very Lge or very small. You tive on planet (p. 3), Earth, which orits our star (p. 3), the sn, once a yeat As Earth ftates once ada, you see the Sunrise and The moon is only one-fourth the diameter of Earth but the sun 109 tims lage in lameter than Eartha typical siz for asta The solar system (p. 3) includes the sun atthe centr, all ofthe pam ts that omit around it—Merary, Venus, arth, Mars, Jupiter, Sati, Uranus, and Neptune —plus the moors ofthe planets, ls other objects bound to the sum by ts gry. The astronomical unit (AU) (p. 4) i the average distance from ath tothe sun. Mar, fr example, ofits 1.5 AU from the sun. The Ught-yar (4) (p 4) & the cstance ght can travel in one yea. The nearest stars 4.2L from the sun any stars sem to have planets, bt such small distant wos ae aif ficult to detect. Only afew hundred have been founds fr, but planets Seem tobe common, so you can probably trust that there ae lots of planets in the universe, including some the Earth The Milky Way (p 6), the hazy band of gh that encircles the sky. the Milky Way Gala (p. 6) seen fom inside. The sun just one out ofthe bilions of stars thatthe Milky Way Calan. Galares (p. 5) contain many bllons of stars. Ow galay is about £0,000 in diameter and contains over 100 blion str Some galaxies, incuding our ow, nave gracefl spiral arms (p. 6) bright with tars, but some galas are pain clouds of str ‘Dur galay i just one of bilons of galaves that fl the universe in reat clusters, clouds, filaments, and wallthe largest structures In the universe. The univese began about 14 billon years ago in an event called the big bang, which fle te univers wth hot a3 blink ofan eye. This may seem humbling at fist, but you can be proud of how much we humans have understood in such a Nat only does astronomy lacate you in space and time, it places you in the physical processes that gover the universe. Gravity and atoms work together to make stars, light the universe, generate energy. and create the chemical elements in your body. The chapters that follow will show how you fit into that cosmic proces. [Although you ate very small and your kind have exited in the universe for any @ short time you ae an important part of something very large and very beautiful 1» The hot gas cooled, the fist salases beoan to form, and stars becan to shine ony about 400 milion years ater the big barg > The sun and planets of our solarsystem formed about 4.6 bon years an, > Life began in Eats oceans soon after Earth fomed but id not emerge onto land unt ony 400 milion yeas ago. Dinosaurs evolved ‘ot lng age and went extinct only 65 milion years apo > Humantke creatures developed on Earth only abcut 4 millon yeas go, and human civilizations developed only about 10,000 year ag, > though astronomy seems tobe about tars and planets, it desenibes the universe in which you ve, 50 is ely about you. Astronomy helps you ance the question, “What are we?” > Asyou sty astonony, you shoud ask “How do we know” and that wil help you understand how sence gives us 3 way to understand nature, > In ts sinpestoutne, scence flows the scentie method (p. 8), in which Scientists expect statements tobe supported by evidence ‘compared with hypotheses In fat, science i complex and powerful way to think about nature Review Questions 1. What the laigest dimension of which you have pessoal knowledge? Have you nan a mile? Hiked 10 miles? Run a marathon? 2. What is the diference between ou soar system, our gaan, ond the 2. Why are light-years more convenient than miles, klometers, astronomical nits for measuring certain astances? hy is i fic to detec planets orbiting other stars? What does the sizeof the star image in a photograph tell you? hati the difference between the Hily Way and the Milky ay Galay? What ae the largest known structures in the universe? 8, How does astronomy help answer the question, “What re we? 8, How Do We Know? How does the scenic method give scientists 2 way to row about nature? CHAPTER 1 | MERE ANO Now (~Discussion Questions 1. Do you thnk you havea rght to know the astronomy described in this chapter? Do you think you havea duty to know 1? Can you think ‘of ways this nowedge helps you enjoy 2 richer ie and be a beter stinn? 2. How sa statement ina political campaign speech diferent from a statement in ascetic dscusion? Find examples in newspaper, magazines, and this bok Problems 1. The clameter of Earth is 7928 miles, What is its ameter in inches? In yards? Ifthe diameter of Earth expressed 35 12,756, what is its ameter in meters? In ceimeters? Give your answers in scientific rotation 2, Maile equals 1.609% and the moon i 2160 miles in diameter, what Ise diameter in hlometers? 3. One astronomical nit s about 1.5 10° kn, Explain why this is the same 35 150 10k 4, Venus otits 0.72 AU fom the sun, What that distance in kilometers? Light fom the sun takes 8 minutes to reach Earth How long does take to reach Mars? 6. The sun almost 400 times farther rom Earth tha fs the moon. How long des ght fom the mean take to reach Earth? the sped of ght i 310 ks how many ilometers ae in 3 light year? How many meter? 8, How long does it take Light to cross the diameter of ur Miky Way Galan? 9. The nearest gly to cur own is about 2 milion ight years away. How many meters is that? 10. How many calaves ike our on would it take, lad edge to ede, to reach the nearest galaxy? (hint See Problem 3.) Learning to Look 4. In Figure 1-4, the division between daylight and darkness i at the right on the lobe of Earth. How do you Know this isthe sunt line Spd nt the snc ine? 2. Look at Figure 1-6. How can you tall that Merry doesnot follow a ciralar 4. Of the objet sted here, which would be contained ine the object shown inthe photogiaph atthe ight? Which would contain the objec inthe pots? planets galany clusters laments 4, Inthe photograph shown here, which Stas are brightest, and which ae faintest? How can you tll? Why cant you tell which stars inthis phatograph 2a biggest or which have planets? 1 Schering NORG/AUEA NEFThe previous chapter took you on a cosmic zoom through space and time. That quick ae preview only sets the stage for the drama to come. Now it is time to look closely at the Sn yor ron sky and answer four essential questions: Theater obove you ore How do astronomers refer to stars and compare their brightness? ater suns scattered How does the sky appear to move as Earth rotates? through the unvese What causes the seasons? Sen How can astronomical cycles affect Earth’s climate? As you study the sky and its motions, you wil be learning to think of Earth as a planet rotating on its axis, The next chapter will introduce you to some of the most dramatic cycles inthe sty. "The Southern Cross I saw every night abeam. The sun every morning came up astern; every evening it went down ahead. T wished for no other compass to guide me, for these were true. fe nucitr sky is the rest of the universe as seen from our planet. When you look up at the stars, you ate looking cout through a layer of air only alittle more than a hun dred kilometers deep. Beyond that, space is early empty, and the scars are sarcered light-years apart. As you read this chapter, keep in mind that you live om a planet in the midst of these cateered stars. Because Earch curns 1m its axis once a day, the sky appears to revolve around you in a daily cycle. Noc only does the sun rise in the eastern pare of the sky and set in the western part, but so do the stars (2-1) The Stars (On a Dani wtcrrr far fiom city lights, you can see a few chousand scars. The ancients organized what they saw by naming stars and oups of stars, Some of those names survive today Constellations All around the world, ancient cultures eee. brated heroes, gods, and mythical giving their names to groups of sars—c ass by tel ). You should not be sur lations (w Figure 2 prised that the star patterns do not look like Columbus, Ohio, looks like Christopher Columbus. The constellations simply celebrate the most important mythical figures in each culture. The oldest constellations named by Westem cultures originared in Assyria over 3000 years ago, and others were added by Babylonian and Greek astronomers during the lassical age. OF these ancient constellations, 48 ae sill in use Diferent cultures grouped stars and named constellations differently: The constella tion you know as Orion was known as Al Jabar the giant, ro the ancient Syrians, as the White Tiger to the Chinese, and as Prajapati in the rm of a Stag in India. The Pawnee Indians Figure 2-1 knew the constellation Scorpius as ro honzon ») part a The constellations are an ancient heritage handed down for thousands of years 3 of great heroes and mytical creatures. Hete Sagittarius and Scorpius hang above the southern groupings. The long tail of che scorpion was the Snake, and the tivo bright stars at the tip of che scorpion’ tail were the Twa Swimming Ducks. Many. ancient cultures, including the Grecks, norther Asians, and Native Americans, associated the stars of the Big Dipper with a bear. The concept of the celestial bear may have crossed the land bridge into North America with the firs Americans roughly 12,000 years aga, The names of some of the constellations you see in the sky may be among the oldest surviv ing traces of human culture To the ancients constellation was a loose grouping of stars. Many of the fainter sats were not included in any constllatio and the stars of the southern sky not visible to the ancient ‘of northern latitudes were not grouped into const: lations. Constellation boundaries, when they were defined at all, were only approximate (a Figure 2-2a), so a star like Alpheratz could be thought of as part of Pegasus or part of Andromeda. To correct these gaps and ambiguities, astronomers 1928 the 40 modern constellations, and in Astronomical Union established 88 official constellations wit clearly defined boundaries (Figure 2-2b). Consequently, a con- stelltion now represents not a group of stars but an area of the sgion belongs to one and only one sto Andromeda, shy, and any star within the constellation, Alpherace belo"Figure 2-2 (a) In antiquity, constellation boundaries were pootly defines, as shown on this map ty the curving dotted tines that separate Pegasus from Andromed. (om Uunean Bradford, Wonders of te Heavens, Boston: Job 8, Russell, 1837.) (0) Modern defined by internat ntalation boundaries are precisely al agreement In addition tothe 88 off cial consellations, the sky contains a number of less for oupings called Big Dipper, for example, is a well-known asterism chat is part of the constellation Uma Major (the Great Bear). Another asterism is the Great Square of Pegasus (Figute 2-2b), which includes thee stars from P gasus plus Alpherate from Andromeda The sar chares at the end of this book will introduce you to the brighter constellations on and asterism Although constellations and asterisms are groups of scars that appear close rogethe in the sky, it is important to remember that most are made up of stars that are not phys cally asociated with one another. Some stars may be many times farther away than others, and moving through space in different directions. The only thing, they have in common is that they happen to lie in approximately the same direction from Earth (s Figure 2-3), The Names of the Stars In addition to naming groups of stars, ancient astronomers gave Modern astronomers sill use many of those ancient names. Altho individual names to the brightest individual sas the ‘constellation names came from Greek translated into Latin —the lang ‘come from ancient Arabic, though much altered by the passing centuries. The name of Betelgeuse, the bright oran; (Orion, for example, comes from the Arabic yad a! jawzz, mean ing “shoulder of Jawza [Orion].” Names such as Sirius (the Scorched One) and Aldebaran (the Follower of the Pleiades) are ge of science until the 19¢ch century beautiful additions tothe mythology of the sky. Nami sce thousunds of them. How many names could you remember? Also, a simple name gives you no clues to the location of the star vidual stars is not very helpful because you can in the sky orto its brightness. A more useful way to identify stars is to asign levers to the bright stars in a constellation in approxi imate order of brightness. Astionomers use the Greek alphaber for this purpose. Thus, the brightest star in a constellaion is uss ally designated alpha, the second brightest bea, and so on. Often the name of the Greek letter is spelled out, a¢ in “alpha,” but sometimes the actual Greek letter is used, especially in chars You will fnd the Greek alphabet in Appendix A. For many com stellations, the lewers follow the order of brightness, but some constellations, by tradition, mistake, or the personal preferences of early chart makers ae exceptions (a Figute 2-4). To identify a star by its Greek-letter designation, you would ive the Greek letter followed by the possessive the constellation name; for example, the brightest star in the ‘constellation Canis Major is alpha Canis Majors, which can also bee written « Canis Majors, This both identifies the star and the constellation and givesa clue tothe relative brightness ofthe star, Compare this with the ancient name for this star, Sitius, which tale you nothing about location or brightness.‘eu see the Big ip ae looking through a group of stars scattered through space at different distances from fart. You soe them 2e they wate projected fo 2 screen, and they form the shape of the Dippe Favorite Stars is fun to know the names of the brighter sars, but they are more than points of light in the sky. They are lowing spheres of gas much like the sun, each with its unique characters tics. Figure 2-5 identifies eight bright seats that you can adopt as Favorice Stars. As you study astronomy you will discover theit peculiar personalities and enjoy finding them in the evening a year-round, but Sirius, Betelgeuse, Rigel, and Aldebaran are the winter sly. Spica is a summer star, and. Vega is visible eve rings in later summer and fall. Alpha Centauri, only 4 ly away is the nearest star to the sun, and you will have to travel as far south as southern Florida Jimpse it above the souther The Brightness of Stars Besides naming individual sears, astronomers need a way to describe che brightness. Astronomers measure the br stars using the magnicude scale, a system that frst appeared the writings of the ancient astronomer Claudius Ptolemy about an 140, The system probably originated even eatlier, and most astronomers attribute i to the Greek astronomer Hipparchus (abour 190-120 nc). Hipparchus compiled the first known star catalog, and he may have used the magnitude system in that cata log. Almost 300 years later, Prolemy used the magnitude system in his own catalog, and successive generations of astronomers have continued to use the system. The ancient astronomers divided the stars into six clases. ude stare and those that The brightest were called firse-m Serer fn be ty cuseou ES reer sky. You will ler, for example, thar [igo ete Betelgeuse is not just an orange pon of gh bur isan a preemie Reread cool sar over [evan etter 800 times larger chan the sun. As you [iat aaecaieaaneraiiad chapters, want to add more Favorite Stars ro your list . these Favorite Stars. You can sce Polaris (itiam Haromann) end of this book to help you locate >) paRT 4 | EXPLORING THE SKY er ea tal an be iden eters and by names derived from Arabic. The produced by the optics nthe cameraSirius Brightest star in the sky Winter Betelgeuse Bright red star in Orion Winter Rigel Bright blue starin Orion Winter Aldebaran, Red eye of Taurus the Bull Winter Polaris ‘The North Star Year round Vega Bright star overhead Sommer Spica Bright southern sar ‘Sommer Alpha Centauri Nearest star to the Spring, Far south = Figure 2-5 Favorite Stars Locate these bright stars in the sly and le investing why they are were fainter, second-amagnitude. The scale continued downward to sixth-magnitude stats, che faintest visible to the human eye Thus, che larger the magnitude number, che fainter the sta. This makes sense if you think ofthe brig! the fintest visible stars as sixth-class stars. stars as first-class stars and Ancient astronomers could only estimate magnitudes, but modern astronomers can measure the brightness of tars ro high precision, so they have made adjustments tothe scale of ragnitudes, Instcad of saying that the sar known by the cha third mag. nitude, they can say its magnitude is 3.34. Accurate measurements show thac some tars are actually brighter nitude 1.0, For example, Favorite Star Vega Galpha Lyrae) is so bright thar its magnitude, 0.04, is ning name Chore (Theta Leonis) than mi = Figure 2-6 The scale of apparent visual magnitudes extends into negative rurnbes to represent the brightest objects and to positive num bers larga than 6 to represent objects flnter than the human ye can S08 8 es almost zero. A few ate so bright the modern mag must extend into negative numbers (a Figure 2-6). On this scale, ‘our Favorite Star Sitiu, the brightest star in the sky nitude of -1.47. Modem astronomers have had to extend & faine end of the magnitude scale as well. The faintest sas you ‘can sce with your unaided eyes ae about sixth magnitude, bue if you use a telescope, you will see stars much fainter. Astronomers ‘must use magnitude numbers larger than 6 to describe these fine These numbers are known as apparent visual magnitudes (my), and they describe how the stars look to human eyes observ ing from Earth, Although some stars emit large amounts of infrared or ultraviolet light, human eyes cant see those types of radiation, and they are not included in che apparent visual mag- nitude, The subscript “V" stands for “visual” and reminds you thae only visible light is inchided, Apparent visual magnisu also does not take into account the distance to the stars. Very distant stars look fainter, and nearby stars look brighter Apparent visual magnitude ignores the effect of distance and tells you only hhow bright the star looks as seen from Earth Magnitude and Intensity Your interpretation of brightness is quite subjective, depending. ‘on both the physiology of human eyes and the psychology of perception. Ta be accurate you should refer to flux of the light cnergy from a sar that hits one square meter in one second, Such measurements precisely define the intensity of star Tight, and a simple re jonship connects apparent visual magai- tudes and intensity, Astronomers use a simple formula co convert between mag. nitudes and intensities. IF two stars have intensities [and then the ratio of ther incensities is faye To make today’s mea surements agree with ancient catalogs, rtronomers have defined. the modern magnitude scale so thar two stats thar difer by five magnitudes have an intensity ratio of exactly 100, Then two stars that differ by one magnicude must have an intensity ratio, equals the fifth root of 100, 5¥T00, which equals about that is, the light of one star must be 2.512 times more thae 90-25 -2 15 10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 © ‘Apparent magnitude (m,) ——+Fanter CHAPTER 2 | THE SKY 15This allows you to compare the brightness of ewo stars. IF ‘hey differ by two magnitudes. hey will have an intensity ratio of 2.512 X 2512, or about 63. If chey differ by three magnicudes, they will have an intensity ratio of 2.512 X 2.512 X 2.512, which is 2.512? or about 6.3, and so on (aTable 2-1). For example, suppose one star is vhind magnitude, and another star is ninth magnitude. What is the intensity ratio? In this case, the magnitude difference is ix magnitudes, and the table shows the intensity ratio is 250. Therefore light from one statis 250 times more intense than light from the other star Acableis convenient, but for more preci the rdationship as simple formula. The intensity ratio Jy/fy i ‘qual 0 2.512 raised to the power of the magnitude difference mm — 9 you can express (2sinyes =e If, for example, the magnitude diference is 632 magnitudes, then the intensity ratio must be 2.512%, A pocket calculator tells you the answer: 337. One ofthe sass 337 times brighter than the other ‘On the other hand, when you know the intensity ratio of two stars and want co find their magnitude difference, iti con- venient to rearrange the fornia above and write it as mm = 25g (4) Forel, the igh from Si i 242 ies mein ‘honlightom Plc The mguitade dire lg 2) Your pocket eestor tls you garth of 24.21.38, 0 shemapinde cifernce 23 «1.3 ich ee 3.4 mage tes Seis 34 magus igh han Pola The modeen magide gan ha some big aang. ramen ange of ney nn anal eg septa you can em Tbe 2-1, Mos npr )) PART A 1 exvupaine rat sey allows modern astronomers to measure and report the brightness of stars to high precision while sill making comparisons to observations of apparent visual magnitude that go back to the time of Hipparchus, (@-2)The Sky and Its Motion ‘Ta skv anove seems to be a great blue dome in the daytime and, a sparkling celing a night. c was this elling thac the fis astrono- mers observed long ago as they tried ro understand the night sky. The Celestial Sphere [Ancient astronomers believed the sky was a great sphere rounding Earth with the stars stuck on the inside like thumb- tacks in a evling, Modem astronomers know that the stars are scattered through space at diferent distances, but itis still con- venient to think of the sky as a great starry sphere enclosing Earth “The Concept Art Ponfalio The Sky Around You on pages 18-19 takes you on an illustrated tour of the sy. Throughout this ook, these rwo-page art spreads introduce new concepts and new terms through photos and diagrams. These concepts and new tetms are not discussed elsewhere, so exami the art spreads carefully: Notice that The Sky Around You into duces you to thee important principles and 16 new terms that vill help you understand the sky: The sky appears to rotate westward around Farth each day bur that isa consequence of the eastward rotation of Earth. ‘That rotation produces day and night. Notice how reference points on the celal sphere such as the zenith, nadir, hor- zon, celestial equator, andthe north celestial pole anc south ‘clea! pole define the four directions, north point, south ‘poin, eas point, and west poins Astronomers measure angular diitance across the sky as angles and express them as degrees, ave minutes, and arc ee- ‘onde, The same units are used to measure the angular diam- ‘exer of an object. rrp censor ity tape we yo oes ug Welt Alcatel ea Saas lavons and axtesms invisible rom North America, but you tral meter ice the Big Dipper How many ccmpolr Tonselins you see depends on where you are. Remember Your Fever Sar Apa Centaur? I's he southem sky tnd int able fom mos ofthe United Stas. You could jos glingr it shore the soem hozon If ou wee in Miami, Flr, but you could ee easly fom Aust Pay special attention tthe new terms on pages 18-19. You need to know hese terms to describe the sky and its motions, but don’ fall into the trap of just memorizing new terms. The goal ofScientific Models How can a scientific model be useful if it Asnit entirely true? A scientific mode isa carefully devised conception of how something works, a framework that helps scientists tink about some aspect of nature, just asthe caes tial sphere helps astronomers tink about the ‘motions ofthe sty. Chemists, for example, use colored balls to represent atoms and sticks to repre- sent the bonds between them, kind of ike Tinkertoys. Using these molecular models, chemists can see the three-dimensional shape of molacules and understand how the atoms interconnect. The molecular model of [DNA propased by Watson and Crick in 1953, led to our moder understanding of the mechanisms of genetics. You have prob- ably sen elaborate ball: and-stick models of DNA, but does the molecule rally look lke Tinkertoys? No, but the model is both simple A scientific model i nota statement of ‘ruth; It does not have tobe precisely true ‘to be useful, In an Wealized model, some complex aspects of nature canbe simplified or omitted. The balland-stick model of molecule doesrt stow the relative strength of the chemical bonds, for instance. A model ives scientists @ way to think about some aspect of nature but need not be tree in every detail When you use a scientific model, Important to remember the limitations of ‘that model. Ifyou begin to think of a model as tre, it can be misleading instead of helpful The celestial sphere, for instance, Can help you think about the sky, but you must remember that i is only a model. The universe is much larger and much more intr- esting than this ancient scientific model of the heavens. fenaugh and eccurate enough to hep scien- tists think about thelr theories. Bas represent atoms ond rds represent chemical ‘bonds inthis model of 0 OHA molecule (Gigitat Vision Getty images) science is to understand nature, not to memorize definitions Study the diagrams and see how the geometry of the celestial sphere and its motions produce the sky you sce above you. The celestial sphere ie an example of a scientific model, a common feature of scientific thought (How Do We Know? 2-1). Notice that a scientific model does not have to be true t0 bbe useful. You will encounter many scientific models in the chap- tes that follows and you will discover that some of the most useful models are highly simplified descriptions of the tue facts. This is a good time to climinate a couple of Common Misconceptions. Lots of people, without thinking abour i, much, assume that the stars are not in the sky during the day- time. The sears are actualy there day and night; they are just invisible ducing the day because the sky is lie up by sunlight. Also, many people insist chat Favorite Star Polatisis the brightest star in the sky. Ic is actually che 51° visually brightest star. You now know that Polaris is important because of its postion, not because ofits brightness In addition co causing the obvious daly motion of the sky, Earth's rotation conceals a very slow celestial motion that can be detected only over centuries. Precession Over 2000 years ago, Hipparchus compared a few of his sar positions with those recorded neatly two centuries earlier and, realized chat the celestial poles and equator were slovly moving across the sky. Later astronomers understood that this motion is, caused by the top-like motion of Earth If you have ever played with a gyroscope or top, you have seen how the spinning mass resists any sudden change in the ditection of its axis of rotation. The more massive the top and, the more rapidly it spins, the more it resists your efforts to twist it out of position, But you probably recall that even the most rapidly spinning top slowly swings its axis around, ina circle... The weight of the top tends to make ic tip over, and this combines with its rapid roration to make its axis, sweep out the shape of a cone in a motion called precession (= Figure 2-72). In later chapters, you will learn that many. celestial bodies precess. Earth spins lke a giant op, bur it does noc spin upright in is orbit; it is ipped 23.5° fom vertical. Earths lage mass and rapid rotation kegp its axe of roution pointed toward a spot nea dhe star Polaris, and the axis would not wander if ic were nor for precesion. GwaPren THE SRY (ay“The eastward rotation of Earth causes the sun, moon, and Slars to move wssiveacd in the sky as F the oalsstal sphere ‘were rotating westward arourd Earth. From sry location on Earth you 368 onl half ofthe oslesbal sphere, the all above the horizon. The zenith cnarcs the op ofthe sry above your Need, ‘and the nadir mares ths bottom ofthe sky directly under your Foot Soun— “The drawing at ght shows the view for 2n observer in loch ‘Ames. An observer In South Ameria would Neve a dannaticaly diferent horizon, zarith, ard wai “The apparert pit points are the north exlectial pole andthe a ‘south celastal pole Iocsted drscly above Eanh's nant and South pola Hallway between the celeste. poles Kes the lat ‘equator, Ears roltion dels the dealin you use evary day. ‘The north point and south point aro tho points on the borin closest to the colstal polss. The east polnt and the west potat lig halfway balwsen tee north and south points. The celssial ‘s2ustor always touches the Nerzon atthe east and wae: points. flint sei |r tombe | aprlel mgm og a | EXPLORING THE SKYAstrono Astronomers might say, “The star was only 2 degrees from Cesta tearing Dene ee if Pee a pater error reer oteteele (ean canminsan antes Pee eer tet poo arate crete diameter, and the bow! of the Big Dipper is about 10° wide. in order pecan terran Retr ener reemeent psp eat tnaniabr iment Yj - : fA a a eka cae Bieatg cifareiie acme ice eben eh Cee ee a a Cn ad oe poredpiber iat permis pose uence 5 earn oor penn en Sere ee fer tren ee Loe ae ane ro : Some | GR sles Sl = anne a = ess cos F ‘ ore = boos Cd ua en ere ee es eer eee ce Cane aces Peet eerie om Sere ees a re peer prea ee ereerncy Perera ete eae Petersen ameter ane Per heaosrebat aay eresBecause of its rotation, Earth has a slight bulge around its middle and the gravity of the sun and moon pull on this bulge, tending to wise Earth’ axis “upright” rarive wo its orbit. If Earth ‘were a perfect sphere, it would not get twisted. Notice th tends co make the top fall ver, but i tends to ovis Earth uprighe in its orbit. In both cases, the twisting ofthe axis of rota with the rotation of the object and causes precession, Earth's axis recess, taking about 26,000 years for one cyl (Figur Because the locations of the celestial poles and equ defined by Earths rotational axis, precession slowly moves these reference mars, You would notice no change at all from night to night or year to year, but precise measurements can reveal the sFigure 2-7 recession. (2) A spinning top precsses in a conical motion around the perpendicular to the floor because its weight tends to make it fall ove. (b) Earth preceses around the perpendicular to its obit because the ga iy ofthe sun and moon acting on Earth's equatvial bulge tend to twist it right. c)Precession causes the north celestial pole to move omy ong ‘he Sas, completing 2 Cele in 26,000 yeas slow precession ofthe celestial poles and the resulting change in orientation of the celestial equator Over centuries, precession has dramatic effects. Egyprian records show that 4800 years ago the north celestial pole was near the star Thuban (alpha Draconis). The pole is now approaching, Polaris and will be closest to i in about the year 2100, In about 12,000 years the pole will have moved to within 5° of Vega (alpha Lyrae). Next time you glance at Favorite Star Vega, remind self thac ic will someday be a very impressive noreh star. Figure 2-7e shows the path followed by the north celestial poe. (2:3) The Cycles of the Sun Eaari’s noramion ov 11s ts causes the le of day and nigh, year. Notice an importanc distinction, Rotation isthe a body on its axis, bur revolut scans the motion of a body around a point outside the body. Consequently, astronomers are careful co say Earth rotates once a day on its axis and revolves wound the sun, day and night are caused by the rox ion of Earth ay depends on your location on Earth. You can sce your time of. this if you watch live intemational news. It may be lunchtime where you are, but for a newscaster in the Middle East, it can alread dif be dark. In = Figure 2-8, you can see that four people in, laces on Earth have different times of day The Annual Mot n of the Sun Even in the daytime, che sky is filled with stars, bue the glare of sunlight fills Earth's mosphere with scattered light, and you can sce only the brilliant sun. Ifthe sun were fainter, you would be able co se ic ise in the morning in front ofthe sats. During the day, you would sce the sun and the stars moving westward, and the sun would eventually set in front of the same stars. If you watched carefully as the day passed, you would notice that the sun was creeping slowly eastward nstthe background of sats, a 4 Migight ee a Figure 2-8 Laoking dwn on arth from above the North Fle shows how the time of {oF night depends on your leeation on Eat,‘View fom Earth condanuary t Figure 2-9 Earth’ orbit sa nearly perfect cil, but te shown in an inclined view inthis diagram and consequently looks oval. Earth's motion aound the sum males the sun appear to move against Ue background of the stars. Eats cca oni Us pojcted on Ue shy as the cular path of the su, the epi. I you could se the stars inthe daytine, you would notice the sun crossing in font ofthe distant constllations 2s Earth moves along ts arbi. Ik would move a distance roughly equal to its own diameter between suntise and sunset. This motion is caused by the motion, of Earth in its neaty circular orbit around the sun, For example, in January, you would see the sun in front of the constellation Sagittarius (# Figure 2-9). As Earth moves along its circular obit, the sun appears to move eastward among the stars, By March, you would sce it in front of Aquaria Although people often say the sun is “in Sagiearius” of “in Aquarius,” ic isn really correct co say the sun is “in” a constella- tion, The sun is onl are at least a million times more distant. Nevertheless, in March of cach year, che sun crosses in front of the stars that make up Aquarius, and people conventionally use the expression, “The ssn is in Aquarius The apparent path of che sun against the background of stars is called the ecliptic, Ifthe sky were a great screen, the ecliptic ‘would be the shadow cast by Earch’s orbit. That is why the ecip- tics often called the projection of Earths orbit on the sky. Earth circles che sun in 365.25 days and, consequently, the ‘sun appears to circle the sky in he sume period. That means the sun, traveling 360° around the ecliptic in 365.25 days, travels, about 1° eastward in 24 hours, about owice its angular diameter You dons notice this apparent motion of the su cant see the stars in the dayxime, but it does have an important consequence thar you do notice—the seasons, TAU away, and the ars visible in the sky because you The Seasons Earth would not experience seasons if ic rotated upright in its orbit, but because its axis of rotation is tipped 23.4° from the perpendicular to its obit, i has seasons. Study The Cycle of the Seasons on pages 22-23 and notice two important principles and six new terms @ tecnse Esa eaion inne 2. the un move ime enor n the ing and note sue oy inthe fal Tha cue tl the aes, Nove how he se pte he rie he aoa qwne sc the winter ma bingo the sem. Fures, tote the very minor ew of ani igh lic od waves from perihelion to aphelion tanh goes dough a gle of eons because of changes in theamount of solar energy tha Eas nother and such crn helpers ec at ifvent dnc ofthe er Bees of ccd! pre Eat nk plete ork tnd souhem hemispheres a mosly ola rom cach hcraed change eat When one hao oc tnoe Slr energy than the eter, grows apidly Warmer Notice that the seasons in Earths southem hemisphere are reversed with respect to those in the northern hemisphere. Australia and other lands in the southern hemisphere experience cuAPrER 2 | THE SRY (9y ——C4 You can use the celestial sphere to help you think Peers eer ter Pert terete rer ant] Perens ennai peace een tetera ee oie eerie eine rete ny a er reid pcodediea ae ecen ers aga teee rece Meer een eet err tae et eee toes Seer et Cetera poi aan ed ‘The seasons are defined by the dates when the sun Cee erty ee ere eee ere Porites eee ean oy comes from the words mearing “sun’ and ‘staonary” Vernal eC ae try foe? Ue ed eeu Sc una ue) Se eer pore emoad latitudes, sunight strikes peor and spreads out. North ee recat ete as ao cal Peis enemy Pee rey preereeie pret pereieees ea eer oa ema eerie cetera Cd Petar Cr ied Cees eed Coes rors Pr corr eared Sa on Winter begins * Give or take @ day due to leap year and other factor. Re ‘September 22 Eeed light ror @ re wo causes ofthe /seasons are shown at right ee eal ora ‘summer sun is higher inthe sky es shown by the longer winter Pern Poa ee at een oe een s Pert rer err eure soiaiee Se peer Peet ee a Deets eee) Pee ec} Pee er td Peet sets in the southwest, spending eee Pert t ed Ree tee ed Cn eats Pee cag peed Ee a ee Cees Rae eer ea) err et ers eet eters ni a! 1 Feetestitec cere ele eee Seer potters ee pt oe bcs Ceti Racca eee Proms Paternal! Cees erie ued Co ccurr sy ange Cree ec Roe a Unc pees Ceeswinter fiom June 22 to September 22, and summer fiom December 22 ro March 20, Now you can set your fiends straight if they mention wo of st Common Misconceptions about the seasons Fir, che sewons donc oce ther om dhe sun, Ifthat were the cause, both oF Eas hemispheres ‘would experience winter a the same tm, and that no what hap pens. Ean orb ic nearly cicule. Each is only 1.7 percent loser tothe sun in January and 1.7 percent farther vay in July, and that small variation itt enough to case the seasons, Rather, the seasons tie booause Earth axe i nt perpendicular ois orbit. Hares a second Common Misconceptions It is not cesier to stad a raw gon ene on the day ofthe vera equinox Hive you heard that one? Radio and TV personales lve total abou it, but ius ist tru. Iris one ofthe sles misconceptions in acence, You can stand a ra egg on end any day of the yea if you have steady hands. (Hin ie helps eo shake the epg realy hand to break the yoke inside wo it ean settle to the hort) In ancien times, the cycle of the seasons, expecially the sol ssices and equines, were celebrated with rituals and festival Shakespearcs play A Midiummer Night Dream describes the cnchanument of the summer solstice night. (In Shakespeare’ time, the equinaxes and solstices were taken ro mark the mid- points of the seasons.) Many North American Indians marked the summer solstice with ceremonies and dances. Early church oficial placed Christmas day in ate December to cancde with pagan celebration of the winter solic. because Farth moves closer © or fir- an cat The Motion of the Planets The planets of our solar system produce no visible light of their ‘owns they are visible only by reflected sunlight, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Sacurm ar all easily visible to che unaided eye and look like tars, but Uranus is usually too faint to be seen, and Neptune is never bright enough, All ofthe planets of the solar system, including Earth, in nearly circular orbits around the sun. If you were looking down on the solr system from the north celestial pole, you would see the planets moving in che sime countercloclvise dlitection atound their orbits, with the planets farthest from the sun moving the slowest Seen from Earth, the outer planets move slowly eastward along the ecliptic. In fact, the word planet ‘comes from the Greck word meaning “wanderet” Mars moves ‘complecely around the ecliptic in slightly less than 2 Saturn, being farther from the sun, cakes nearly 30 years. Mereuy and Venus also stay near the ecliptic, but they move dlifferencly from the other planets. They have orbits inside Earths orbit, and hat means they a sky. Observed from Earth, they move eastward away from the sun and then back toward the sun, crossing the near part oftheir never seen far from the sun in the “bu wil doar oxrionl ceptions to this extwd msi in Chap 4 a ) PART 1. | EXPLORING THE SKY orbit. They continue moving westward avay from the sun and then move back crossing the far pare of their orbit before they. ‘move out east of the sun again. To find one of these planets, you read to loak above the western horizon just after sansct or above the eastern horizon just before sunrise. Venus is easier co locate because itis brighter and because its larger orbit cartes it higher above che horizon chan does Mercury’ (m Figure 2-10). Mercury's orbit is so small that it can never get farther than 28° from the sun, Consequently, itis hard co see against che sun's glare and is often hidden in the clouds and haze near the horizon, By tradition, any planet visible in the evening sky is called an evening star, even though planets are not stars. Similarly, any planer visible in the sky shortly before sunrises called a morning. star, Perhaps the most beautiful is Venus, which can become at bright as magnitude -4.7. As Venus moves around its orbit, it can dominate the western sky each evening for many weeks, but rd the sun, and itis los in In a few weeks, ie reappears in the eventually its orbit cates ie back to the haze near the horiz dawn sky, a beilliane morning stax ey Sarr) ae = Figure 2-10 Mercury and Ven follow obits that keep them near the sun, an they are is ibe only Soon after surset or befor sunrise when the riliance ofthe suns doen Below the hoon Venus tales 584 dys to move Fam the morning sky ‘athe evening iy and ack agai, but Meru ps acund in nly 115 ysWhat i the difference between a scence and 8 preudosclence? Astronomer have alow opin- ‘on of beliefs such as astology, mostly because they are groundless but also because they re- ted tobe science. They are pseudoscences, fiom the Greek pseudo, mesning false. ‘Apstudosclence is a set of bate that appear tobe based on scientific ideas but that fall to obey the most basi ules of science. For example, in the 1970s 2 claim was made that pyramidal shapes fous cosmic forces on anything underneath and might even have baling properties. For example, it was calmed that a pyramid made of paper plastic, or other imatarils would preserve fruit, sharpen zor aes, and do other miraculous things. Many books promoted the idea ofthe special power of pyramids, and this idea led toa popular fad. ‘key characteristic of science is that its aime can be tested and verified. In this ‘ase, simple experiments showed that any Shape, not just a pyramid, protects a place of fut fom aibome spores and allows it to dry without rotting Likewise, any shape allows oxidation to improve the cutting edge ofa razor blade, Because experimental evidence contradicted the claim and because supporters of the theory dectined to abandon or revise their claims, you can recognize pyramid power 35 pseudoscence, Diregard of contradictory evidence and alternate theories isa sure sign of a psedoscience, Psoudoscientific dims can be salf-fulfil- ing. Fr example, some believers in pyramid power slept under pyramidal tents to improve ‘her rest. There is a logical machanism by which sucha tent coud affect a sleper, but because people wanted and expected the claim to be true they reported that they slept more soundly. Vague claims based on personal tes- ‘tony that cannot be tested are anther sign ofa pseudoscience, ‘Aatology i another pseudoeclence It has been tested over and over for centuries, and it Aoest work. Nevertheless, many people believe in asvology despite contratctoy evidence, Astrology mey be the oldest pseudoscence Many peudosciences appeal to our naed to Understand and control the world around us. Some such claims involve medial cues, ranging fiom using magnetic bracelets and crystals to focus mystical power to astnishinaly expensive, ‘legal and dangerous treatments for cancer Logic f stranger to pseudoscence, but human fears and needs ae not. ‘The oes ofthe sky are so impressive that iis noc surprising that people have song felings about them. Anciat peoples sv the motion of the sun around the ecliptic a8 a powerful influence on thee daily lives, and the mation ofthe planets along the elipe tic seemed similarly. meaningful The ancient superstition of nology i based on the cycles ofthe sun and planets around the shy: You have probably heard ofthe zodiac, a band around the ey cextending 9 depres above and below the ediptic. The sigas ofthe zodiac ake thie names fom che 12 principal constellations along, the ediptic. A horoscope is just a diagram showing the location of the sun, moon, and planets around the ecliptic and thee posi- tion above or below the horizon for a given date and time ‘Cemures ago, asolgy was an important pat of astonomy, but the two are now almost exact apposies—astronomy isa science that depends on evidence, and astrology is a superstition that survives in spite of evidence (How Do We Know? 2-2). The signs ofthe zodiac are no longer important in astronomy. Astronomical Influences on Earth’s Climate ‘Tue seasons ane rxopucen by the annual motion of Earth around the sun, bur subtle changes in thar motion can have dea- ‘matic affects on climate. You dont notice these changes during your lifetime; but, over thousands of yeas, they can bury conti nents under glaciers. Earth has gone through ice ages when the worldwide el mate was cooler and dryer and thick layers of ice covered polar regions, extending partway to the equator. Berween ice ages, Earth is warmer and there are no ice sheets even at the poles Scientists have found evidence of at least four ice ages in Earth's past. One occurred 2.5 billion years ago, but the other three that have been identified have all occurted in the last billion yeuts. There were probably others, bu evidence of extly ice ages is usually erased by more recent ice sheets. The lengths of ice ages range from a few tens of millions of years to a few hhundsed million years. The most recent ice age began only about 3 milion years ago and is sill going on. You ate living dluring one of the periodic episodes during an ice age when Earth grows slightly warmer and the glaciers melt back and do yot extend as far from the poles. The current warm period began about 12,000 years ago. Ice ages seem to occur witha period of roughly 250 million years, and glaciers advance and mele hack during ice ages in a ‘complicated pattern thac involves eycles of about 40,000 years and 100,000 years. (These eycles have no connection with global ‘warming, which can produce changes in Earth climate over just a few decades. Global warming is discusted in Chapter 20.) Evidence shows that these slow cycles of the ice ages have an astronomical origin. GwaPren 1 THE SRY (apa The Hypothesis Sometimes a theory of hypothesis is proposed long before scien tists can find the eriical evidence to test it. That happened in 1920 when the Yugoslavian meteorologist Milutin Milankovitch proposed what became known as the Milankovitch hypothe- sis that small changes in Earths orbit, precession, andl inelina- tion affect Earths climate and can cause ice ages. You should ly. First, Earths orbitis only very slighty elliptical, butastrono- mers know that, because of gravitational interactions with the ‘ecamine each of these motions sepa ‘other plancts, the elliptical shape varies slightly over a period of about 100,000 years. As you learned earlier in this chapeer, Earth’ orbit at present cartes it 1.7 percent close than average to the sun during northern hemisphere winters and 1.7 percent Thi makes northem winters very sighdly warmer, and that i critical farther away in northern hemisphere summers, of the landmass where ice can accumulate is in the northern hemisphere. When Earths oxbit becomes more elliptical, north- ‘zn summers might be to0 cool to melt all of the snow and ice fiom the previous winter. That would make glaciers grow larger, (Ocean temperature (°C) 00.000 200.000 Time (years 290) A second factor is also at work. Precession causes Earth’ axis to sweep around a cone with a petind of about 26,000 years, and dually changes the points in Earths orbit where a hemisphere experiences the seasons. Northem hemisphere su mets now occur when E is 1.7 percent farther from the suo, bein 13,000 years northern summers will occur on the ather side of Earths orbic where Earth is 1.7 percent closer to the sun. Northem summers will be warmer, which could mde all of the previous winters snow and ice and prevent the growth of glactes The third factor is the inclination of Earch’s equator to its Because of gravitational tugs of the ‘moon, sun, and even the other planets, this angle varies from 22° onbit, currently ar 23.4 to 24°, with a period of roughly 41,000 years. When the inclina In 1920, Milankovitch proposed that these three factors cycle against each other to produce complex periodic variations in Fares climate and the advance and retreat of glaciers (a Figure 2-114). No evidence was available to test the theory in 1920, however, and scientists treated it with skepticism. Many thoug ie was laughable Bunwoy 010s sFigure 2-11 (a) Mathematical models ofthe Milanhovitch effect canbe used to predict tenpeatues on tarth ovr time. In these Earth globes, cool temperatures are rep fesented by violet and blue and war temperatures by yellow and ed These globes show the war the ast oe age about 12,000 years ago. (Courtesy Arizona Sate University, Computer Science that occured begining 25,000 years ago nd Geography Departments) (b) Over the lst 4 anges in ocean temperatures eased from fs’ found in sediment layers fom the seabed approximately match calculated changes in solar heating, (Adaptea fom Cesare Emin) EXPLORING THE SKYEvidence as the Foundation of Science, Why ts evidence critical in science? From colliding galaxies to the inner workings of atoms, scientist love to speculate and devise theories, but all sclertific krowiedge is ultimately based on evidence from obsera- tions and experiments. Evidence is reality and scientists constantly check their ideas against reality When you think of evidence. you rob- ably think of criminal investigations in which detectives collect fingerprints and eyewitness accounts. In court, that evidence is used to try to understand the crime, but there isa key difference in how lawyers and scientists use evidence. A defense attorney can call a witness and intentional fai to ask a question ‘that would reveal evidence harmful to the defendant. In contrast, the scientist must be The attorney is presenting only one side of the case, but the scientist searching forthe truth. Ina sense, the scientist must deal with ‘the evidence as both the prosecution and the defense. Iie a charactartc of scientific knowledge that iti supported by evidence. A scientific statement Is more than an opinion ora specu lation because it has been tested objectively against elit, ‘As you read about any science, look for the evidence in the form of observations ‘and experiments. Every theory oF conclusion should have supporting evidence. If you can find and understand the evidence, the science will make sense, All scientists, from astrono- mers to zoologist, demand evidence. You should, too. objective and not ignore any known evidence. Fogorprnts evidence to pest events. (Goring Kinderty/Getty mages) The Evidence By the middle 1970s, Earth scientists were able to collect the dlata that Miankovitch had lacked, Oceinographes drilled deep into the seafloor to collet long cores of sediment. I the labora- tory, geologists could take samples from diferent depths in the cores and determine the age ofthe samples and che temperature of the oceans when they were deposited om the seafloor. From this, scientists constructed a history of ocean temperatures that convincingly matched. the predictions of the Milankovech Inypothesis (Figure 2-11b). ‘The evidence seemed very strong, and by the 1980s the Milankovicch hypothesis was widely considered. the kading hypothesis. Bu science follows a mostly unstated set of res that holds tha a hyporhesis must be tested over and over against all available evidence (How Do We Know? 2-3). In 1988, scientists discovered contradictory evidence, For 500,000 years rainwater has collected ina deep crackin Nevada called Devil's Hole, Tha water has deposited the mineral calcite in ayer on layer on the walls ofthe crack. I is easy to et (0, and scientists had co dive with scuba gear to drill out samples of the calcite, but it was worth the effor, Back in the Laboratory, they could determine the age of each layer in their core samples and che temperature of the rainwater that had formed the calcite in each layer. That gave them a history of temperatires at Devils Hole that spanned many thousands of| years, and the results were a surprise. The evidence seemed to show char Earth had begun warming up thousands of years oo carly forthe last ice age to have been caused by the Milankovitch, cycles. “These contradictory findings ate ieitating because we humans naturally prefer cerainty, but sich circumstances are ‘common in science, The disgreement between the ocean floor samples and the Devils Hole samples triggered a scramble to understand the problem. Were the age determinations of one ot the other set of samples wrong? Were the calculations of temperatures wrong? Or were scientists misundersan significance of the evidence? In 1997, « new study of the ages of the samples confirmed. thar those from che ocean floor are correctly dated. Bur the same study found that the ages of the Devils Hole samples ate also correc. Evidently che temperatures at Devil’ Hole record local climate changes in the region that became the southwestern United States. The ocean foor samples record global climate ‘changes, and they fi well with the Milankovitch hypothesis. This has given sientists renewed confidence in the Milankovitch hypothesis, and although ic is widely accepted today, ic is still beeing tested whenever scientists can find more evidence ‘As you review this section, notice that it isa scientific argu- ‘ment, a careful presentation of theory and evidence in a logical discussion. How Do We Know? 2-4 expands on the ways CwaPren 1 THE SRY (ayHow Scientific Arguments How isa scientific argument different from an advertisement? Advertisemants sometimes sound scientific, but they are fundamentally Afferent from scientific arguments, An adver ‘semen i designed to canvince youto buy product. “Our shampoo promises 85 percent shinier hai” The statement may sound ike sclence, but i ist a complete, honest discus: Sion. "Shinier than what?” you might ask. ‘An advertisers only goal isa sale Scientists construct arguments because ‘they want to test ther own ideas ad give an accurate explanation of some aspect of nature. For ecample, Inthe 1960s, biologist 0. Wilson presented a scientific argument to show that ants communicate by smelis. The argument included a description of his careful ‘obsenations ad the ingenious experiments he hac conduct to test his theory. He also Do o) \ Kaho viv 3 for ant communication, Scientists can include any evidence or theory that supports thelr claim, but they must observe one fundamental rule of science: They must be totaly honest— they must include all ofthe evidence and all of the theories, ‘Scientists publish their work in scientific arguments, but they also think in scien tie arguments. I, i thinking through his argument, Wilson had found a contradic. tion, he would have known he was on the wrong track, That is why scientific arguments ‘must be complete and honest, Scientists tho ignore inconvenient evidence or brush aside other theories are only footing themselves, ‘good Scientie argument gives you al We | Ee “Scientists hove decovered that ants communica with are vocabulary of sme (fye of Sclence/hoto Researchers, Ine) the information you need to decide for your sof mhether the argument is comec. Wilsoris understood and is being applied to other fields such as pest contol and telecom munications considered other evidence and other theories scientists organize ther ideas in logical arguments. Throu this book, many chapter sections end with short reviews entitled Scientific Argument.” These feature a review question, which is then analyzed in a scientific argument. A second question gives you a chanee to build your own scientific argument on a related topic. You can use chese “Scientific Argument” features to review chapter material, but also to practice thinking like a scientist SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENT thy mast eiical in esting the Milankoitch hypothesis to determine ‘the ages of aceaneeciment? (Ocean floors accumulate sediment year after year in thin ayer. ‘Scientists can dri into the ocean floor and collect cores of those ‘Sediment layers, and from chemical tests they can find the tem= perature of the seawater when each layer was deposited. Those observations of temperature could be used as reality checks for the climate temperatures predicted by the Milankovitch theory, but ‘that meant the ages of the sediment layers had to be determined conecty. When a conflict arose with evideace from Devils Hole Jn Nevada, the age determinations of the samples were carefully reeramined and found to be correct. ‘After evowing al ofthe evidence, scientists concluded tat the ocean coe samples do indeed support the Milakovitch hypothesis. Now construct your own argument. What might the temperatures recorded at Devil's Hole represent? study of ant communication fs now widely networks. CNC mea ed Human civilization is spread over the surface of planet Eath lke a thin coat of paint. Great cities of skyscrapers and tangles of superhighways may seem impressive, but if you use your astronomical perspective, you can see that we humans are Confined tothe surface of our word. The rotation of Earth creates a cycle of day and night that contols everything fom TV schedules tothe chemical workings of our brains. We wake and sleep within that 24-hour cyte of light and dark. Furthermore, Earth's orbital motion around the sun, combined withthe inclination ofits ax, creates a yearly cycle of seasons, and we humans, along with every other living ‘thing on Earth, have evolved to suvve within those extremes of temperature. We protect ourselves fom the largest extremes and have spread over mast of Earth, hurting, gathering, and ‘rowing crops within the cycle ofthe seasons 1m recent times, we have begun to understand that cond ‘ons on Earth's surface are not entirely stable Slow changes in its motion produce cycle of ce ages with irequar pulses oF slaciation. Al of recorded Fistor, including al of the cites and Superhighways that paint our glabe, has occured since the last lacial retreat only 12,000 years ago, so we humans have no recorded experience of Earths harshest climate. We have never experienced our planet's cy personality. We are along for the ide and enjoying Earths god times.Summary Aatroramers dvi the sy to 8 constellations (p12) Although the costes oiginated in Geek ard Mise Easier melo the names ar Latin. Even herder constalations, added alin he Spaces beeen te ance figures, have ain names. Named gous Of fos that nt contalation scaled aerims (p13) The names of tars usally come fom ance Abie, tough der astonemers often refer ta tar ys constelation ae Gee eter ‘signed ccouing ois bightes within the constelaton. datronomes eer tothe bighness of tars sing the magnitude sale (p.14). Fest nagaitate tars are brighter an secondngatose ‘i, wih ate bag than third magnitude star and soon he Iagite you see when you oka sta I he hs apparent ‘sual magnitude, m, (p15), which Indes only types of ght let the human 382d des nt take in accu he tas Stan from Earth Fac (p15) i 2 measure of ht energy lated to nterity The Iai fa tars ated deat the ox of Ugh cele on Each and oto sites ‘The celestil sphere (p18) i 3 sent model (p17) ofthe sy tovnhich the tr apport be attache. Because Cath matates ext War he elesal pe appears to tte westward on a. The north and south celestial poles (p18) ae the pss on which the ky appears to eat, an they dtne the fur ection around {se barizon (18) Ue noth, south, eat ar west pots (. 18). The pine dey overhead is the zenith (p18), a the pint on the ey ect underoct the nade (B18) The celestial equator (p17), a imaginary tne xound the sky above Ears enuatoy aes the ky into norte and suthese hale Astronomer often eter to aitances “on” the sy a8 the sta, sn, toon, an planes wer equivalent o spol pated ona pater Celng These angular distances (p. 18), measured in degrees are tinutes (p19), an are second (p19) ae urelate tothe te stance betner the objets igh yas The angular distance ‘cost an oj fs angular ameter (p19). Wat you see of he celestial sphere spends on your tute. Much oF the southern hemisphere of he iy snot wile fom northern laiides. To see that prt ofthe sky, you wou have to tavel southward ve Eats sae. Creumpolreonstelation (p19) de thore close enough oa clstial ple tat they 60 nt eo St The angular dance fom the ian fo the north clei poe Bays eqn your atc. Tvs the Bass foreesslmaigaton recession (p17) is caused by the gavitatoal oes of the moan nd son ating onthe entra bulge of the spinning Eth 9nd Causing ts ato sweep around na conical motion ble the motion a atop ans. Eats ax of tation peceses witha period of D0 years afd consequent the cet pols and eesti equator tov sity age the Rolgfound ofthe sae The tation (p20) of ath on sa produces te ye of ay and night ad the evolution (p20) of Earth acund the Sun pedces the de of he ya ecause Earth isthe sun, the sun appears to move eastward long the epic (21) trough he comstlatons completing + cet of the hy na yar Because the epi tipped 25.4" to the clestil quot the un spends al the year in the wether celeste Shere and hal i the southern celestial hemisphere In each heap’ summer the sn is above the horizon longer and shins more det own onthe ground Bat es case warmer weather in that hemphere and leave Earth’ other hembsphee coole Tm each hemisphere’ winter, he sun Is above the sky fener Rous than in summer and shines les directly, o the winter hemisphere has older weather andthe opposite hemiaphare hae summer, Consequnty the Seasons are reversed in Ears suthers hemisphere relative to the orthern emisphere > The begioning of sing, summer, winter and fall awe marked by the vernal equinox (p. 22), the summer solstice (p. 22), the autumnal ‘equinox (p- 22) an the winter solstice (p. 22). 1» Eth is tightly close tothe sun at perthetion(p. 23) in January and slightly farther away from the su at aphetlon (P23) in July Ths has Almost 0 eect onthe seaons. > The planets move generally eastward along the ecliptic, and all but Uranus ‘and Hetune ave veto te unaided ee looking ike ear Meu and Venus never wander fr rom the sun and ate sometimes visible the tering sky afte sunset or in the dau sy befere sunrise. > Panes visible in the hy at sunset are traditionally called evening stars (p. 24), and plants visible nthe da sky ae called morning Stars (B. 24) eventhough they ate not actualy star 1» The locations of the sun and planets along the zodiac (p. 25) are ‘lagramed in a horoscope (p. 25), whichis the bases fr the arent Deeudescience (p. 25) known 2 arog. > Accosing to the Milankovitch hypothesis (p. 26), changes in the shape of Eats orbit ints precession and in its aa it can alte the plane's eat balance and cause the cycle of ice ages. Evidence found in seafoor samples suppor the hypothesis, ad ts widely acceptes today 1» Scents outnely tet their own es by organizing theory and cedance into a scientific argument (p. 27), Review Questions 2. Why are most modern conetelations compoced of faint stars or located in the southern sy? 2 How does the Grek letter designation of a star give you clues t its locaton and brightness? 3 From your knowledge of stars names and cnstlations, which ofthe following str in ech pir she Bghte? Explain your answers. a. Algha Uesae Majors: Epsilon Ursae Majors 1b sion Scop Alpha Pegasus Alpha Teescopum: Apa Oions 4 How di the maghitude system originate in a classification of tars by bightnss? nat does the wor apperent mean in apparent vsuel magnitude? What does the word visual mean in qpporent visual mogituse? In what ways the cletial sphere a scientific model? TF Earth did rot rotate, could you define the celestial ples and calestial equator? ®. Where would you goon Eat if you wanted to beable to see both the arth celestial go and the south celestial pole a the same time? 0. why does the number of cxcumplar constellations depend onthe atte of the observer? Explain tno reasons why winter days are colder than summer days How do the seasons in Eat’ southern hemisphere difer fom those inthe northern hemisphere? 13 Why shuld the exenicty of at's ott make winter in Earth's northern ephredfrent fom winter in Eats suthem bemiphae? CHAPTER 2 | THE SKY (29 ‘S14, How Do We Know? How can a sie model be useful It sat a correct description of nature? 15, How Do We Know? In what way it atrology a pseudoscence? 16. How Do We Know? How is evidence a distinguishing characteristic of elence? 17, How Do We Know? Why must ascent argument de same aspect of nate include all ofthe evidence? ing with Discussion Questions 4. Al ettres on arth named constellations. Why do you suppose this 2. If you were lst at ea, you could fi your approxinate latitude ty meaturing the alitude of Pear. But Polaris ent exactly atthe Celestial pole. What else woud you need to know to measure your latitude more accurate? 3. o planets otting other tars have eclipties? ould they have seasons? Problems 1. Star Ahas.a magnitude of 25; Str 8, 5.5: and Sta, 9.5. Which is tightest? Which ae visible to the unaided eye? Which par of stare hasan intensity ratio of 16? 2, Tone star 6.3 times brighter than another tar, how many magnitudes brighter s 2 If ight fom one star is 40 times more intense than light from another stay hati ther difference in magnitudes? 4, 1 tro stars fer ty 7 magetudes, what ister interity aio? 5. Mf two stars ifr by 8.6 magnitudes, what ther intensity ratio? 6. star is magnitude 6 and star Bs magnitude 9.5, which ie bighter and by what actor? 2. By what factor is the sun Brighter than the full noon? (Hint See Fue 26.) 8, What i the angular distance from the north celestial poe to the point ‘on the shy calle the summer sletice? To the winter solstice? 9. Ifyou areata latitude of 35 degrees noth of Earth's equator, whats ‘the angular distance from the northern horizon upto the noth celestial ple? From the southern horizon down t the south calestal ple? PART 1 | EXPLORING THE SKY 30 Learning to Look 1. Find Sagittarius and Scorpius in the photograph that opens this chapter 2. The tamp below saws the constellation Orin, Explain why this looks ‘i to escent ofthe narthern hemp 3. Imagine thatthe ciagram below is a photograph taken in mid-Septem- bar. Use the star charts a the back ofthis book to decide about what te of night the photo would have been takeneee In the previous chapter, you studied the cycle of day and night and the cycle of the seasons. Now you are ready to study the brightest object in the night sky. The moon ‘moves rapidly against the background of stars, changing its shape and occasionally producing spectacular events called eclipses. This chapter will help you answer four essential questions about Earth's satel |— Why does the moon go through phases? |— What causes a lunar eclipse? | — What causes a solar ectipse? | How can eclipses be predicted? Understanding the phases of the moon and eclipses will exercise your scientific imagination and help you enjoy the sight of the moon crossing the sky. ‘Once you have a 2ist-century understanding of your world and its motion, you will be ready to read the next chapter, in which you will see how Renaissance astronomers analyzed what they saw in the sky, used their imaginations, and came to a revolutionary conclusion—that Earth is a planet. A toto solor ecipse is « lunar phenomenon. 1¢ ‘occurs when the moon crosses in front of the sum and hides its brant Surface. Then you con see the sun's extended atmasphere (6 Ftzen soni ce=)Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night May become a wolfwhen the wolfoane blooms and the moon shines fll and bright — Paovega Ron OLD WoLFRAN wOWIES 1b ANYONE HvER WARN YOU, "Dont stare ar the moon — [Divs son Fr tie se associated the moon with insanity. The word lunatic comes from a time when even doctors thought that the insane ‘were “moonstruck.” Of course, the moon does not cause mad- ness, but itis so bright and moves so rapidly along the ecliptic that people expec it to affect them. Its, in fact, one of che most ‘beautiful and dramatic objects in the sky. G1) the Changeab! ‘StarttNe THs EvENING, begin looking for the moon in the sky. ‘As you watch for the moon on successive evenings, you will sce it following its orbie around Earth and cycling through its phases asic has done for billions of yeas. The Motion of the Moon Just as the planets revolve counterclockwise around the sun as scen from the direction of the celestial north pole, the moon revolves counterclockwise around Earth, Because the moons cotbic is tipped a lite over 5 degrees from the plane of Earths, ‘orbit, the moon's path takes it slightly north and then slightly south, but itis abways somewhere near the ecliptic. “The moon moves rapidly against the background of the constellations. Ifyou watch the moon for just an hour, you can sce it move eastward by slightly mote chan its angular diameter. In the previous chapter, you learned that the moon is about 0. in angular diameter, and ir moves eastward a bit more chan 0.5° per hour. In 24 hours, ic moves 13°. Thus, each night you see the ‘moon about 13° eastward of is location the night before. As the moon orbits around Earth, its shape changes from night co night in a month-long cycle. The Cycle of Phases ‘The changing shape of the moon as it revolves around Earth is ‘one of the most easily observed phenomena in astronomy. Study. The Phases of the Moon on pages 34-35 and notice thee important points and wo new terms: The moon always keeps the same side facing Earth. “The man in the moon” is produced by the familiar feacures on ) PART 1. | EXPLORING THE SKY the moon's near side, but you never see the far side of the The changing shape of the moon as it passes through its ‘cle of phasesis produced by sunlighe illuminating different pars of the side of the moon you can se. QNorice the difference between the orbital period of the moon around Earth (dere! perad) and the length ofthe lunar phase cyle(smadie period) That diference isa good illustration of how your vew from Earth is produced by the combined motions of Earth and other heavenly bods, such as the sun and moon, ‘You can figure out where the moon will be in the sky by making 4 moon-phase dial from the middle diagram on page 34. Cover the lower halfof the moon’ osbit witha sheet of paper and al the edge ofthe paper to passthrough the word “Pall” atthe left and the word "New at the right. Push a pin chrough the edge of the paper at Earths North Pole to make a pivot and, under the word “Full” write on the paper “Eastem Horizon.” Under the word “New” write “Western Horizon.” The paper now repre- sents the horizon you see when you stand facing south. You can set your moon-phase dial for a given time by rotating the dia- ‘yam behind the horizon-papet. For example, set the dial co sunset by tuming the diagram undl che human figure labeled sunset” is standing a the top ofthe Earth globe: the dial shows, for example, tha the fll moon ar sunsce would be atthe eastero horizon “The phases of the moon are dramatic, and they have autracted a number of peculiar ideas. You have probably heard 4 number of Common Misconceptions about the ‘moon. Sometimes people are surprised to see the moon in the dayrime sky, and they think something. has gone wrong! No, the gibbous moon is often visible in the daytime, although quarter moons and especially crescent moons can also be in the daytime sky but are harder co see when the sun is above the horizon. You may hear people mention “the dark side of the ‘moon,” but you will be able co assuze them that this is a mis- conception; there is no permanently dark side. Any location on the moon is sunlic for ewo weeks and is in darkness for wo ‘weeks as the moon rorates in sunlight. Finally, you have prob- ably heard one of the strangest misconceptions about moon: that people tend to act up at full moon. Actual statis cal studies of records from schools, prisons, hospitals, and so ‘on, show that i isnt true. There are aways a few people who misbehave: the moon has nothing to do wih i. For billions of years, the man in the moon has looked down on Earth, Ancient civilizations sw the sime cycle of phases that you see (m Figure 3-1), and even the dinosaurs may have noticed the changing phases of the moon. Occasionally, however, the ‘moon displays more complicated moods whe red in a lunar eclipseQqcttaTt Tit Tt > "Figure 3-1 Inthis sequence of lunar phases, the moon cytes through ts phases from crescent to fl to crescent. You see the same face ofthe moon, the same mountains, craters and plans, bt the changing direction of sunlight prodces the Lunar phases. -2) Lunar Eclipses Dy CULTURES ALL AROUND THE WORLD, the sy is a symbol of order and power, and the moon is the regular counter of the passing days, Soic is no surprising chat people are scaled and sometimes wortied when they se the moon grow dark and angry-red. Such events are neither mysterious nor fightening once you understand how they arse, To begin, you can think about Earths shadows Earth's Shadow “The orbit of the moon is tipped only a few degrees from the plane of Earths ot away from the sun also in the plane of Earth’ orbit A lunar eclipse can occur at fall moon if the moors path around the sun, and Earths shadow poinus directly ies it through the shadow of Earth, Thac is unusual because most full moons pass north or south of Earth shadow and there sno edlipse. Ifthe moon centers Fans chadony sunlight is cur off, and the moon grows dim. The shadow consists of wo parts (m Figure 3-2). The umbra isthe region of total shadow. [Fyou were drifting in your spacesuit Figure 3-2 in the umbra of Earths shadow, the sun would be completly hid. e the su bbchind Earth, and you would not be able to sce any part of tne disk. Ifyou drifed into the penumbra, hower you would see pare ofthe sun pecking around the edge of Earth so you would be in partial shadow, In che penumbra, sunlight is dliramed but not extinguished The umbra of Earth's shadow is over chece times longer than the distance to the moon and points directly away from the sun. A giant screen placed in the shadow at the average distance of the on would reveal a dark umbral shadow abo diameter of the moon, The faint outer edges of the penumbra ‘would mark a citde about 4.6 times the diameter of the Consequenty, when the moon's orbit caricsit through the umbra, it has plenty of room to become completely immersed in shadow Total Lunar ipses Onceor nvice a year orbie of the moon cartes it through uumbra of Earths shadow; and, if no part of the moon remains 1¢ partial sunlight of the penumbra, you ‘outside the umbra in it The shadows st by a map tack esemble the shacons of Eat an the moon. The unbra is he region of teal shadow; the penumbra i the region of partial shadow CHAPTER 2 | CYCLES OF THE MOOM (ag \PA eee ee Cortera net epenetierey onerous iornnra the moen.Amounan on he moon hat pots at Earth wit vay Factory pervade ees eiiny coreg a Ps oe ne Drew eae == — — re Coot wm a eC 's one week through creas peer from the Latin word, nas c! omens Poe pent. ad Cs e. hee yn ioe ea eu ed Creed ees eae na Ce as uminates the far side of the moon, and the Rena ad Nee om) eee ate eer Ree eal Ree ea Pe ee or Coe OR Gua oD ree) eee rer Perea ron Rare eaten) eter eis 22® tho moon are shown boW Dee eeeOo eel det ren Pe teineivaierey Potosi Pirie teers Seater eee eee ora synodic period. (Synodic comes: cee eee and "path”) ‘One sidereal period prey Se eee Renee een ernment Oe en er tener Demin erg ‘4weeks, The calendar divides the Dee Tee ea ‘months (iterlly "moors" in Saunt eee ns ened ee irs Cr Ce Raa eaten tire res Pu ee) iteietan ert ts es Ce eas the moon has caught up withthe Pere riots Se ake a) Sea et cae! Prt ewe as cd fore Cent rey ccd Ful RcdIn this diagram ofa total lunar elipe, the moon pases from ght tole through Earths shadow. A multiple epesurphotogaph shows the moon passing through the umbra of Ets shadow.A longer expose was used ta econ the mon while it was totaly ecligeed The moors path appears caved inthe photo becuse of photographic effets. (©1982 e skk 8 Haris) see a total hunar eclipse (a Figure 3-3). As you watch the eclipse the penumbra and dims slightly; the deeper it moves into the penumbra, the more it dims, Evenual ral shadow firs darken par ‘When the moon is totally eclipsed, it does not disappear completely. Although it receives no direct sunlight, the moon in the umbra does receive some sunlight chat is refracted (bent) through Earths atmosphere. If you were on the moon during totality, you would not see any part ofthe sun because it would be entirely hidden behind Earth. Hoveever, you would sce Earths atmosphere illuminated from behind by the sun. The red glove fiom this ring of “sunsets” and “sunrises” illuminates the moon totality and makes i glow coppery ted ‘How dim the totally eclipsed moon becomes depends on a number of things. IF Earth’ atmosphere is especially cloudy in the regions thar would bend light inco the umbra, the moon will be darker than usual. An unusual amount of dust in Earths atmosphere (from volcanic eruptions, for instance) also ca dark eclipse, Alzo, otal hun the moon's orbit caries it thraigh the clipes tend to be darkest when ser of the umbra, as ) The exact timing of « lunar eclipse depends 01 where the moon crosses Earths shadow. [Fit crosses have maximum lenge For such an eclipse, the moon spends about hour crossing the penum bora and then another hour How. entering the darker umbra. Totality an last a long as 1 hour 45 minutes, followed by the emergence of the ‘moon into the penumbra, plus another hour as it emerges into full sunlight. total lunar edlipse ca take neatly six hours from start ro finish Partial and Penumbral Lunar Eclipses [Because the moons orbit is inclined by a bit over 5 to the plane of Earth’ orbit, the moon does not always pas through the center of the umbra. Ifthe moon passes bit too far north or south, it may only partially enter the umbra, and you sce a partial lunar eclipse. The pare of the moon that During a total nar ecipse, the moon turns copper red In this photo, the moon ie darest toward the lover ight. the diection toward the centr of the unbra, The edge ofthe moon a upper lef Is brighter because Is nar the edge of te ura (leston Ltt)Table 2-1_| Total and Partial Eotipses of the Moon, 2010 te 2017" Length of. Totality of Eclipse! year (ie min) (ire min) 2010 June 26 242 2010 Dec 24 : 1 3:28 2011 June 15 ss 338. 2011 Dee. 10 332 2012 June & z 208 2013 Apel 25 028 2014 Apr R : 334 201402. 8 58 2015 Apil 4 328 2015 Sent. 28 330, 2017 Avg. 7 156 rete bie ty 28, (hour eta Stand Tin, 7 tt Routan Star ne, 8 hae ‘ace star non yin sm, ep tt Sse one Sona were wl vie, 4 ve mg lon De as. ‘es nen peunbrl pase. Length remains in the penumbra receives some direct sunlight, and the dare is usualy grea enough to prevent your secing the faint cop- pery glow ofthe pat ofthe moom in the uinbra, Partial eclipses are interesting, but they are not as beautiful asa total unar eclipse If the orbit of the moon cartis i fr enough north oF south of the umbra, the moon may passthrough only the penumbea and never reach the umbra Such pen= ‘umbral lunar eclipses ate ‘not dramatic at all, In the partial shadow of the pe umbra, the moon i oly par- tilly dimmed. Mose people dancing ara penumbral celipse would not notice any dliference from a fll moon “Total, partial, or pen- tumbral, lunar eclipses. ate imceresting events in che night sky and are nor diff- cult to observe. When the full moon passes. through Earths shadow, the eclipse is visible fom anywhere on Ears dark side. Consult s Table 3-1 to find the nexe lunar eclipse visible in your parc of the world SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENT What would a totol lunar eclipse look ike if Earth hod no ‘atmosphere? ‘Asa way to test and improve thelr understanding, scientists often experiment with thelr ideas by changing one thing and trying to Jmagine what would happen. In this case, the absence ofan atmo~ sphere around Earth would mean that ro sunlight would be bent ‘toward the eclipsed moon, and ft mould nat glow red, Tt would be ‘very datk in the sky during totality. Now change 2 different parameter. What would 2 lunar eclipse {ook ike ifthe moon and Earth were the same diameter? Solar Eclipses For MiLteNNta, cultures worldwide have understood that the sun is the source of life, so you can imagine the panic people felt at the fearsome sight of the sun gradually disappearing in the middle of the day. Many imagined chat the sun was being. devoured by a monster (@ Figure 3-5). Modern scientists must Figure 3-5 {@) A 12th-centuy Mayan symbol believed to representa solar ectipse. The blackeand-nnite sun symbol hangs from a rectangular sky symbol, and a voracious serpent approaches from below. () The Chinese representation of 2 solar ecipse shows a monster usualy described as a dragon fying in font (ofthe sn. (Fom the calection of eres Obert) (This wall earn fom ‘the runs ofa temple in Viayanagara in southern India symbolizes a solae cedipe as oro snakes aprcach the dik ofthe sun. (Lt Sith) CHAPTER 3 _1_YCLES OF tHE NOON _(How Do We Scientific Imagination How do scientists produce theories to test? Good scientits are invariably creative people with strong imaginations who can look {a raw data about some Sovsible aspect of nature sich ae an atom and construct mental pictures as diverse asa plum pudding ora ‘lar system, These slentists share the same human impulse to understand nature that rove ancient cuturs to imagine ecipses as sarpents devouring the sun ‘As the 20th century began, physicists were busy Lying to imagine what an atom was Uke. No one can see anatomy, but English physicist 3. Thomson used what he knew from his ‘experiments and his powerful imagination to create an image of what an atom might be lke He suggested that an atom was 2 ball of positively charged material with negatively charged electrons distributed thoughout lke plums in 2 plum pug use the key differ ‘The key difference hetween using a plum puuding to represent the atom and a hungry Serpent to represent an eclipse f that the plum puting model was based on exper mental data and cou be tested againet new evidence. As it turned out, Thomsors student, Eest Rutherford, performed ingenious new ‘experiments and showed that atoms can't be made ke plum puddings. Rather, he imagined {an atom as a tiny positively charge nucleus sumounded by negatively chaged electrons much Uke a tny solar system with planets Cirling the sun, Later experiments confirmed ‘that Rutherfots description of atoms & closer to realty and it has become a universally recognized symbol for atomic energy. “Ancient cultures pictured the sun being devoured by a serpent. Thomson, Rutherford, and scientists lke them wsed their scientific ‘maginatons to vevalie natural procezses and ality (How Do ‘A model mage ofthe oto os elecoons oritig © {ll niles has bacome the sym for afore then test and refine thelr ideas with new exper iments and obsenatios. The critical dference is ‘that scenic imagination is continvaly tested again realty anc fravicad when nacezary We Know? 3-1). You can take comfort that todays atrono: mers explain solar eclipses without imagining celestial monsters, ‘A solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between Earth and the sun, Ifthe moon covers the disk of the sun completely fou see a spectacular total solar eclipse (aFigure 3-6) sy parc of the sun, you sce a less dramatic partial solar eclipse. During a salar eclipse, people in one place on Earth may sce a total eclipse while people only a few hundred kilometers away see a partial eclipse The geometry ofa solar eclipse is quite different from that of a lunar eclipse, You can begin by considering how big the sun and moon look in the sk The Angular Diameter of the Sun and Moon Solar eclipses are spectacular because Earth's moon happens to have neatly dhe same angular diameter a the sn, soi can cover the suis dls almost exactly. You le ‘of an objec like the moon determine its angular diameree Solar elipies ae ramatc. In June 200%, an automatic camera in ‘ica snapped pictres every 5 mites asthe afternoon sun sank lower in shy. Fom upper right to lowe let, you can see the moon crosing th disk of the sun A longer expose 4 to record the total phase of eclipse (2001. per 38Linear di mply the distance between an object's ‘opposite sides. You use linear diameter when you order a 16-inch, pizza—the pizza is 16 inches across. The lincar diameter of the 176 kin. The any moon is 3 lar diameter of an object is the angle formed by lines extending toward you from opposite edges ofthe object and meeting at your eye (m Figure 3-7). Clearly, che farther away an object is, the smaller its angular diameter To find che angular diameter of the moon, you need to use the small-angle formula. It gives you a way to Figure out the angular diameter of any object, whether itis a piza or the moon, In the small-angle formula, you should always express angular diameter in arc seconds and always use the same units for dis tance and linear diameter: ar diameter _ linear diameter 206.285 isance You can use chs formula to find any one of these three quant ties if you know the other two; inthis case, you are interested in finding the angular diameter of the moon. The moon has a linear diamerer of 3476 km and a distance fiom Earth of about 384,000 km. Because the moonis linear diameter and distance are both given in the same nits, kilometers, yu can pu them direcly into he small-angle formula 3476 km 534,000 kn angular diameter _ 206,285 To solve for angular diameter, multiply bath sides by 206,265, ‘You will ind thar the angular diameter ofthe moon is 1870 arc seconds. If you divide by 60, you get 31 arc minutes, o, dividing by 60 again, about 0.5%. The moons orbie i lightly ellipeical, so the moon can sometimes look a bie larger or smaller, bu its angu: lar diameter is always close to 0.5%. It is 2 Common Misconception that the moon is larger when it is on the horizon, Certainly the tis full moon looks big when you sce ic ‘on the horizon, but that is an optical illusion. In reality, the moon, isthe same size on the horizon as when ics high overhead Now repeat this small-angle calculation to find the angular diameter of che sun. The sun is 1.39 10° kim in linear diameter and 1.50 X 10° kim from Earth, Ifyou put these numbers into ile formula, you will discover chat the sun has an angular diameter of 1900 arc seconds, which is 32 arc minutes, of about 0.5°, Earths orbit is slightly elliptical, and consequently the sun can sometimes look slightly lager of smaller in the sky, but it, lke the moon, is always lose ro 0.5° in angular diameter By fantastic good luck, you live on a planet with a moon that is almost exactly the same angular diameter as your sun. Thanks to that coincidence, when the moon passes in front ofthe sun, i¢ is almost exactly the right sie to cover the sun's brilliant surface bh leave the suns atmosphere visible. the smalhan The number 2 dbvae by 20 265 ie the numberof ae seconds in edi, When you you convert the angle Fam ar secant diane, = Figure 3-7 The angular diameter af a object & related to bath ts liner diameter and its dance The Moon's Shadow To sce sola eclipse, you have to be in the moon’ shadow, Like Earths shadows the moon’s shadow consists ofa cet total shadow and a penumbra of partial shadow, The moon's tumbral shadow produces a spot of darkness about 270 (170 mi) in diameter on Earth’ surface. (The exact size of the tumbral shadow depends on the location of the moon in its ellipt calosbicand the angleat which the shadow strikes Earth.) Because (of the orbital motion of the moon and the rotation of Earth, the ‘moons shadow rushes across Earth a speeds ofa least 1700 ken/h, (1060 mph) sweeping outa path of totality (a Figure 3:8). People lucky enough to be in the path of totality will see a total eclipse of the sun when the umbral spot sweeps over them, Observers just ‘outside the path of totality will ee a partial solar edipse as the penumbral shadow sweeps over their location. Those living even farther fom the path of totality will sce no eclipse. uumbral shadow is not long enough to reach Earth, and, seen from Earths surface, the dis ofthe moon, is not big enough to cover the sun. The orbic of the moon is, slighty elliptical, and its distance from Earth varies. When iti at apogee, its farthest point from Earth, its angular dian about 6 percent smaller than average, and when itis at perigee, its closest poinc ro Earth, its angular diameter is 6 percent larger than average. Another factor is Earth’ slightly elliptical orbie around che sun, When Earth is closest co the sun in January, the sun looks 1.7 percent larger in angular diameter, and, shen Earth is acts farthest poine in July the sun looks 1.7 percent smaller. If the moon croses in front of the sun when the moors disk is smaller in angular diameter than the suis, it produces an annular ‘eclipse, a solar eclipse in which a ring (or annulus) of light i vis ible around the disk of the moon (a Figure 3-9). An annular cclipse swepe across the United States on May 10, 1994 ral umbra of Sometimes the moot y CHAPTER 3 | CYCLES OF THE MOON (“ay XN= Table 3-2 | Teta! and Annular Eclipses of the Sun, 2010 to 2019" Total/ Annular (1/8) Time of Mid-ectipse*™ (GNT) or Annular Phase (Win:Sec) ‘Maximum Length of Total rea of Visiiity 2010an. 15 2010 July 11 2012 Hay 20 2012 Now 13 2013 Hay 10 2013 Nov. 3 2015 March 20 2016 March 9 2016 Sept. 2017 Feb 26 2017 Aug. 21 2019 duly 2 2019 Dee 26 2 o 2 0 2 > 1s ® rr ° eee et el ans ‘fica, Indian Ocean 20 Paci, South America 56 Japan, North Pacific, westrn USA 402 dastata, South Paci 6:06 ‘Asati, Pacific 340 Atlantic Africa ear Noeth Aati, Arctic 40 3:08 32 240 Paci, USA, Atlantic 42 acl South America 340 Southeast Asia, Pacific ‘ors majo tot saree vil th tite Se wil car om Aut 23, 2017, hon the path foal wl creas he ies Stes fom ont ath al. ‘Thr ae tata pal sol ecisa 2911, 204,208 ‘tines we Getic Meat Tie. Suber Shas fe Estey Str in, 6 as for eta ane Tin, es for Mela Sar Tea Nos er Pe “Total solar eclipses are rare a cen from any one pace. Ifyou szay in one location, you wil se total solar eclipse about once in 360 years. Some people are eclipse chasers. They lan yeas in advance and travel alfvay around the world to place themselves in che path of rota: w Table 3-2 shows the date and locaton of| solar eclipses over the nent Few years Features of Solar Eclipses A solar eclipse begins when you first sce che edge of the moon encroaching on the sun. This is the moment when the edge of the penumbra sweeps over your location. During the partial phases ofa solar eclipse the moon gradu- ally covers the bright disk of the sun (@ Figure 3-10). Totality begins as the last sliver of the sun's bright surface disappears the edge of the ‘umbea sweeps over your location. So long, as any of the sun is visible, dhe countryside is bright; but asthe last of the sun disap- pears, da fills in afew seconds. Automatic streetlights come on, car drivers switch on their headlights, and binds go to ro0s, ‘The darkness of totality depends on a number of factors, includ- ing the weather at the observing site, but itis usually: dark ‘enough to make it dffcule vo read the setings on cameras. The totally eclipsed sun isa spectacular sight, With the moon covering the bright suface of the sun, called the photosphere,* you cam see che suns fainc outer atmosphere, the corona, glowing with a pale, white light so fine you can safely look at it direct. The behind the moon, This is the moment whe “The phorosphere corona. chromesphee and prominence wll be dissed in dal in Chapter Here the rer an sed athe aes of fearres Yo see during woul sea eclipse. corona is made of ho, low-density gus thai given a wispy appear ance by the solar magnetic field, as shown in the last fame of Figure 3-10, Alo visible just above the phocosphere isa thin yer ‘of bright gas called the chromosphere. The chromosphere is often marked by eruprions on the solar surice, called prominences (4 Figure 3-112), that glow with a cleat, pink color due to the high ‘temperature ofthe gases involved. The small-angle formula reveals that a large prominence is about 3.5 times the diameter of Earth. ‘Touality during solar eclipse cannot st longer than 7.5, utes under any circumstances, and the average is only 2 to 3 min- utes. Torlity ends when the suns brighr surface reappears at the trailing edge ofthe moon. Daylight renuens quickly and the corona and chromosphere vanish. This corresponds to the momene when the tiling edge ofthe moons umbra sweeps over the observes. Just as totality begins of ends, a small pare of the photo- sphere can peck through a valley at the edge of the lunar disk Although itis ineensly bright, sich a small part of che photo- sphere does noc completa drown out the fainter corona, which forms a silvery ring of light with the brilliant spot of photosphere gleaming like a diamond (x Figure 3-11b). This diamond ring cffect is one of the most spectacular of astronomical sights, but itis not visible during every solar eclipse. Its occurrence depends fon the exact orientation and motion ofthe moon. Observing an Eclipse Nor too many years ago, astronomers traveled great distances to forbidding places to get thee instruments into the path of toral- ity 0 they could study the faint outer corona that is visible only during the few minutes of a total solar eclipse. Now, many of those observations can be made every day by solar telescopes in CHAPTER 31 YCLES OF THE NOON (ay[Total Solar Eclipse ic sequence of photos shows the fs half of atta solr ecise. (ant space, but eclipse enthusiasts sil journey to exotic places for the til of seing a total solar eclipse Duty visible, so ics hazardous to look at the eclipse without protection. a solar eclipse is, you must be cautious when viewing he partial phase, pur ofthe sun remains 42 (a) uring a total solar eclipse, the moon covers the photosphere, and the fiby-red chromosphere and pominences are visible. Only the lave corona visible inthis mage. (2208 by Fa Esper) (2) Te diamond cing effect can Sometimes occur momentarily at the Beginning or end of totality if a small Segment of the photosphere peeks out tough 3 valley at te edge ofthe lunar dish (Raton tc tonomy Oberon Dense filters and expose film do not necessaily provide procctos because some filters do not block the invisible heat radiation (inf red) led officials ro warn the public not to look a solar eclipses a all and have even frightened some people into locki their children inco windowless rooms. It is a Common Misr can burn the retina of your eyes. Dangers like these have themselves and conception that sunlight is somehow more dangerous ducing, eclipse. In fac, tis abvays day posed by an eclipse is thar people are tempe ous to look atthe sun, The danger ignore comme: sense and look at the sun direc, which can burn their eyes The safest and simplest way to observe the partial phases of sole eclipee isto use pinhole projection. Poke a small pinhole in shect of cardboard, Hold che sheet with the hole in sunlight and alow light to passthrough the hole and onto second sheet o cardboard ( Figure 3-12). On a day when there is no eps, the result isa small, cound spor of light cha isan image of the During che partial phases of «solar eclipse, the image dark silhouere of the moon obscuring part of the sun. Pinhole will show theFigure ‘safe way to view the partial phases of a solar eclipse. sea pinhole ina ‘ad to project an image ofthe sun on a second car. The greater the d= tance between the cars the lager (and fonts) the image wil be ‘images of the paraly eclipsed sun can aso be seen in dhe shadows of res as sunlight peeks through the tiny openings berween the leaves and branches. This ean produce an cetie effect just before torality as the remaining sliver of sun produces thin erescens of light on the ground under trees. Once totality begins, ic is safe wo look direc. The totally ctipsed sun is finer than the full moon. ‘SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENT ‘If. you were on Earth watching a total solar eclipse, what would ‘ostronauts on the moon see when they looked at Forth? Building this argument requires that you change your point of view and imagine seeing the eclipse from a new location. Scientists commonly imasine seeing events from multiple points of view as ‘vay to develop and test their understanding, Astonauts on the moon could see Earth ony if they were on the side that faces Earth, Because sla eclipses alvays happen at new moon, the ear ‘side of the moon would be in darkness, and the far side of the moon would be in ful sunight. The astronauts on the near side of the maon would be standing in darkness. and they would be Look- ‘ng atthe fully iluminated side of Earth. They would see Earth at full phase. The moon's shadow woud be crossing Earth: an, if the ‘astronauts looked closely, they might be able to see the spot of Carkness where the moon's umbrl shadow touched Earth would ‘take hours for the shadow to cross Earth. ‘Standing onthe noon and watching the moors umbral shadow sweep across Earth would be a cold tedious assignment. Perhaps ‘you can imagine a more interesting assignment forthe astronauts ‘What would astronauts on the moon see wile people om Earth _were seeing a total lunar eclipse? Predicting Eclipses A Cuise sroay re1is of evo astronomers, Hsi and Ho, who ‘were too deunk to predic the solar eclipse of October 22, 2137 nc. Or perhaps they failed ro conduct the proper ceremonies scare away che dragon tha, aecording to Chinese tradition, was snacking on the suns die When the emperor rcovered from the teror of the elise, he had the ewo asronomers behead. “Making exact eclipse predictions eaquizes a computer and proper software, but some ancien astronomers could make edu- cated gucsis a8 10 which full moons and which new moons right reslc in eclipses. There are thee good reasons o reproduce theie methods. Fin, i isan important chapter inthe history of science. Second, it wil illustrate how apparendly complex phe- nomena can be amazed in term ofeyles. Third, elipse prac ‘ion will exerie your scienific imagination and help you ‘isle Earth the moon, and the sun ax objects moving through space. Conditions for an Eclipse You can predict eclipcs by thinking about the motion of the sun and moon in the sk. Imagine that you can look up inc the sky from your home on Earth and se the sun moving along the eli tie and the moon moving along its orbit. Beease che oxbit of the soon istpped slighty over 5 degrees othe plane of Earths orbit, you sce the moon follow a path tipped by the sume angle 1 the ‘clipe. Ech month, the moon cross che elieic ar points called nodes. Ir croses at ene node going southward, and ovo weeks late ie crosses atthe other nade going northward Eclipses can only occur when the sun is near one of the nodes ofthe mooris orbit. Only chen can the new moon crssin fionc of the sun and produce a solar eclipse, as shovin in 1 Figure 3-138, Most new moons pase too far north oF too far south of the sun to cause an eclipse, When the sun is near one node, Ears shadow points near the other node, and a ull moon ‘can enter the shadow and be eclipsed. A lunar eclipse doesnt happen at every fll moon because most full moons pass too far north oF too far south of che ecliptic and miss Earths shadow. You can see a partial lunar eclipse illustrated in m Figure 3-13b. So, there ae rwo conditions for an eclipse: The sun must be near a node, and the moon must be crossing either the same node (Golar eclipse) or the other node (lunar eclipse). That means, of ‘course, that solar eclipses can occur only when the moon is new, and lunar eclipses can occur only when the moon is il [Now you know the ancient sectet of predicting eclipses. An