AS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Declination, Celestial Equator, Right Ascension
Document Summary
Chapter 2: guide to the sky: paterns and cycles. Constellaions one of the stellar paterns ideniied by name, usually of mythological gods, people, animals, or objects. Asterism a named grouping of stars that is not one of the recognized constellaions. Magnitude scale the astronomical brightness scale; the larger the number, the fainter the star. Apparent visual magnitude a measure of the brightness of a star as seen by human eyes on earth. Flux a measure of the low of energy out of a surface; usually applied to light. Celesial sphere an imaginary sphere of very large radius surrounding earth to which the planets, stars, Scieniic model a concept that helps you think about some aspect of nature without necessarily being true. Precession the slow change in orientaion of the earth"s axis of rotaion. Zenith marks the top of the sky above your head. Nadir marks the botom of the sky directly under your feet.