Astronomy

Common Core State Standard

CT Science Standards: 2.1, 3.1, 4.1 5.3
Common Core Standards: RI (Reading Standards for informational text): grades 3-5 (1,2,3,5,7) and RF (Reading Standards for Foundational Skills): grades 2-5 (4)

Welcome Spring Stars!

Written by Noreen Grice, Travelers Science Dome at the Gengras Planetarium

The snow is melting and the days are starting to get longer. It must be spring! This is the time of the year when the Sun rises from the east and sets in the west. We call this the
equinox, which means “equal day and equal night.”

In the winter, you probably noticed that the Sun followed a low path across the daytime sky, rising later and setting earlier. That meant that there were more nighttime hours as
compared with daytime hours. On the first day of winter, the sun rose a little after 7 a.m. and set a little after 4 p.m., giving us 9 hours of daylight and 15 hours of night.

While you have been going to school and enjoying time with friends and family, the Earth has continued its journey around the Sun. You can’t feel this motion but you can see its
effects in the way the Sun is now rising earlier and setting later, giving us more hours of daylight and fewer hours of night.

Next time you’re in your classroom at school, look at the Earth globe. Find the north and south poles. Are they straight up and down? Some people are surprised to see that the axis
of our planet is tilted. (The axis is an imaginary line that passes through Earth and connects the north and south poles.) At the times of equinox (first day of spring and first day of
autumn), the most direct rays from the Sun fall near the equator. So each hemisphere receives 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. In March we have the
vernal equinox, and in Sept. we have the autumnal equinox. The vernal equinox of 2015 occurs on March 20th.

Now let’s turn our attention to the night sky. Each season brings its own set of evening constellations. The symbol of spring is a starry pattern
that looks like the top of a coat hanger or a backwards question mark. This is the head of Leo the Lion. The point in the question mark is his
heart, represented by the star Regulus. Two stars indicate the lion’s back legs, and the star Denebola is the lion’s tail. As spring approaches, the
lion prowls higher in the evening sky.

Look above the lion for the Big Dipper, a pattern that looks like a cooking pot or bent spoon. The Big Dipper is much higher in the sky than Leo.
Many places in the Northern Hemisphere, including New England, can see the Big Dipper all year long. Star patterns that are lower in the sky, like
Leo, may be visible in the night sky only at certain times of the year.

Did You Know Fun Things To Do

Have a meteor shower viewing party!
Every spring, the United States (except the states of Hawaii and Arizona and You can make a graph to track the changing hours of daylight we
the U.S. territories including Puerto Rico) observe Daylight Savings Time by have in the spring months.
“skipping” an hour. On the second Sunday in March, when our clocks show 2
a.m., we immediately reset them to 3 a.m.! By doing this, we extend daylight Label the x (or horizontal axis) with the dates for each Sunday in
by shifting sunset an hour later for the warmest months. On the first Sunday March and April.
in November, we “turn back” the clocks to give back that added hour. This
shift moves sunrise earlier into the morning on the coldest months so it’s not Label the y (or vertical axis) with the hours of daylight, starting
with 10 hours at the bottom and 15 hours at the top.
so dark out when we leave for school and work. In 2015, Daylight Savings
Time begins on March 8th and ends on November 1st. And it’s easy to re- When you have some observations for March and April, (see below: Find it in
member what to do: just spring forward and fall back! the News), what do you notice about the hours of daylight? Are the number of
daylight hours increasing or decreasing?

Find it in the News!

Look through this week’s Hartford Courant to find:

•The times for sunrise and sunset. (With this information,

Visit the New Children’s Museum in West Hartford! you can count how many hours there are between the
• Check out the spring stars in the Traveler’s Science Dome. sunrise and sunset times for each date for your daylight
• Look for a large time clock swinging in The Children’s Museum! graph.)

Have fun!