ASTR 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Celestial Equator, Top, Ecliptic

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy
• Course: ASTR 101
• Professor: David Alan Hanes

Document Summary

The ecliptic plane is the sun"s apparent path through the celestial sphere. North celestial pole is directly above earth"s north pole. South celestial pole is directly above earth"s south pole. A band of light making a circle around the celestial sphere. Our view into the plane of our galaxy. An object"s altitude (above horizon) and direction (along horizon) specify its location in your local sky. Meridian is the line passing through zenith and connect north and south points on the horizon. Angular size = (cid:1877) (cid:1878) (cid:2871)60 (cid:3031)(cid:3032)(cid:3045)(cid:3032)(cid:3032)(cid:3046) (cid:2870) (cid:3031)(cid:3046)(cid:3047)(cid:3030)(cid:3032) Earth rotates from west to east, so stars appear to circle from east to west. Stars near the north celestial pole are circumpolar and never set. We cannot see stars near the south celestial pole. All other stars (and sun, moon, planets) rise in east and set in west. The sky varies as earth orbits the sun.