ASTR-1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Celestial Equator, Angular Distance, Minute And Second Of Arc

• School: Clemson University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: ASTR-1010
• Professor: Lih- Sin The

Document Summary

Constellation region of the sky with well-defined borders made out of connecting stars. There are 88 constellations in the sky. Celestial sphere imaginary sphere concentric with earth, has a large radius but not defined. Stars appear to be close to each other but could be very far from each other. Celestial equator extension of earth"s equator into space. Ecliptic the sun"s path through the celestial sphere. North and south celestial poles extensions of the north and south poles. Zenith directly above out head, altitude = 90 degrees. Meridian line across the sky connecting the north and south points on the horizon. Altitude and direction define location of stars when observing. Angular size angle the object appears to span in your field of view. Angular distance the angle that appears to separate two objects in the sky. 1 degree = 60 arcminutes, 1degree = 60". Stars appear to circle from east to west because of earth"s rotation west to east.