Climate of the Philippines

http://bagong.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/information/climate-philippines

The Climate of the Philippines is tropical and maritime. It is characterized by relatively high
temperature, high humidity and abundant rainfall. It is similar in many respects to the climate
of the countries of Central America. Temperature, humidity, and rainfall, which are discussed
hereunder, are the most important elements of the country's weather and climate.
Temperature
Based on the average of all weather stations in the Philippines, excluding Baguio, the mean
annual temperature is 26.6o C. The coolest months fall in January with a mean temperature
of 25.5oC while the warmest month occurs in May with a mean temperature of 28.3oC.
Latitude is an insignificant factor in the variation of temperature while altitude shows greater
contrast in temperature. Thus, the mean annual temperature of Baguio with an elevation of
1,500 meters is 18.3oC. This makes the temperature of Baguio comparable with those in the
temperate climate and because of this, it is known as the summer capital of the Philippines.
The difference between the mean annual temperature of the southernmost station in
Zamboanga and that of the northermost station in Laoag is insignificant. In other words, there
is essentially no difference in the mean annual temperature of places in Luzon, Visayas or
Mindanao measured at or near sea level.
Humidity
Humidity refers to the moisture content of the atmosphere. Due to high temperature and the
surrounding bodies of water, the Philippines has a high relative humidity. The average monthly
relative humidty varies between 71 percent in March and 85 percent in September. The
combination of warm temperature and high relative and absolute humidities give rise to high
sensible temperature throughout the archipelago. It is especially uncomfortable during March
to May, when temperature and humidity attain their maximum levels.
Rainfall
Rainfall is the most important climatic element in the Philippines. Rainfall distribution throughout
the country varies from one region to another, depending upon the direction of the moisture-
bearing winds and the location of the mountain systems.
The mean annual rainfall of the Philippines varies from 965 to 4,064 millimeters annually. Baguio
City, eastern Samar, and eastern Surigao receive the greatest amount of rainfall while the
southern portion of Cotabato receives the least amount of rain. At General Santos City in
Cotabato, the average annual rainfall is only 978 millimeters.
The Seasons
Using temperature and rainfall as bases, the climate of the country can be divided into two
major seasons: (1) the rainy season, from June to November; and (2) the dry season, from
December to May. The dry season may be subdivided further into (a) the cool dry season,
from December to February; and (b) the hot dry season, from March to May.
Climate Types
Based on the distribution of rainfall, four climate types are recognized, which are described as
follows:
Typhoons have a great influence on the climate and weather conditions of the Philippines. A
great portion of the rainfall, humidity and cloudiness are due to the influence of typhoons.
They generally originate in the region of the Marianas and Caroline Islands of the Pacific
Ocean which have the same latitudinal location as Mindanao. Their movements follow a
northwesterly direction, sparing Mindanao from being directly hit by majorty of the typhoons
that cross the country. This makes the southern Philippines very desirable for agriculture and
industrial development.
 Different Types of Constellation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation

A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of stars forms an imaginary
outline or pattern, typically representing an animal, mythological person or creature, or an
inanimate object.[1]
The origins of the earliest constellations likely go back to prehistory. People used them to relate
stories of their beliefs, experiences, creation, or mythology. Different cultures and countries
adopted their own constellations, some of which lasted into the early 20th century before
today's constellations were internationally recognized. The recognition of constellations has
changed significantly over time. Many have changed in size or shape. Some became
popular, only to drop into obscurity. Others were limited to a single culture or nation.
The 48 traditional Western constellations are Greek. They are given in Aratus'
work Phenomena and Ptolemy's Almagest, though their origin probably predates these works
by several centuries. Constellations in the far southern sky were added from the 15th
century until the mid-18th century when European explorers began traveling to the Southern
Hemisphere. Twelve ancient constellations belong to the zodiac (straddling the ecliptic, which
the Sun, Moon, and planets all traverse). The origins of the zodiac remain historically uncertain;
its astrological divisions became prominent c. 400 BC
in Babylonian or Chaldean astronomy.[2]
In 1922, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formally accepted the modern list of 88
constellations, and in 1928 adopted official constellation boundaries that together cover the
entire celestial sphere.[3][4] Any given point in a celestial coordinate system lies in one of the
modern constellations. Some astronomical naming systems include the constellation where a
given celestial object is found to convey its approximate location in the sky. The Flamsteed
designation of a star, for example, consists of a number and the genitive form of the
constellation name.
Other star patterns or groups called asterisms are not constellations per se, but are used by
observers to navigate the night sky. Asterisms may be several stars within a constellation, or
they may share stars with more than one constellation. Examples of asterisms include
the Pleiades and Hyades within the constellation Taurus and the False Cross split between
the southern constellations Carina and Vela, or Venus' Mirror in the constellation of Orion.[5][6]
The Moon is an astronomical body that orbits Earth as its only natural satellite. It is the fifth-
largest satellite in the Solar System, and by far[13] the largest among planetary satellites
relative to the size of the planet that it orbits (its primary). The Moon is, after Jupiter's
satellite Io, the second-densest satellite in the Solar System among those whose densities are
known.
 Moon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon
The Moon is thought to have formed about 4.51 billion years ago, not long after Earth. The
most widely accepted explanation is that the Moon formed from the debris left over after
a giant impact between Earth and a hypothetical Mars-sized body called Theia. New
research of Moon rocks, although not rejecting the Theia hypothesis, suggests that the Moon
may be older than previously thought.[14]
The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth, and thus always shows the same side to Earth,
the near side. Because of libration, slightly more than half (about 59%) of the total lunar surface
can be viewed from Earth.[15] The near side is marked by dark volcanic maria that fill the
spaces between the bright ancient crustal highlands and the prominent impact craters. After
the Sun, the Moon is the second-brightest regularly visible celestial object in Earth's sky. Its
surface is actually dark, although compared to the night sky it appears very bright, with
a reflectance just slightly higher than that of worn asphalt. Its gravitational influence produces
the ocean tides, body tides, and the slight lengthening of the day.
The Moon's average orbital distance is 384,402 km (238,856 mi),[16][17] or 1.28 light-seconds. This
is about thirty times the diameter of Earth. The Moon's apparent size in the sky is almost the
same as that of the Sun, since the star is about 400 times the lunar distance and diameter.
Therefore, the Moon covers the Sun nearly precisely during a total solar eclipse. This matching
of apparent visual size will not continue in the far future because the Moon's distance from
Earth is gradually increasing.
The Moon was first reached by a human-made object in September 1959, when the Soviet
Union's Luna 2, an unmanned spacecraft, was intentionally crashed onto the lunar surface.
This accomplishment was followed by the first successful soft landing on the Moon by Luna 9 in
1966. The United States' NASA Apollo program achieved the only manned lunar missions to
date, beginning with the first manned orbital mission by Apollo 8 in 1968, and six manned
landings between 1969 and 1972, with the first being Apollo 11 in July 1969. These missions
returned lunar rocks which have been used to develop a geological understanding of
the Moon's origin, internal structure, and the Moon's later history. Since the 1972 Apollo
17 mission, the Moon has been visited only by unmanned spacecraft.
Both the Moon's natural prominence in the earthly sky and its regular cycle of phases as seen
from Earth have provided cultural references and influences for human societies and cultures
since time immemorial. Such cultural influences can be found in language, lunar
calendar systems, art, and mythology.

Stars

A star is an astronomical object consisting of a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by

its own gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked
eye from Earth during the night, appearing as a multitude of fixed luminous points in the sky
due to their immense distance from Earth. Historically, the most prominent stars were grouped
into constellations and asterisms, the brightest of which gained proper names. Astronomers
have assembled star catalogues that identify the known stars and provide standardized stellar
designations. The observable Universe contains an estimated 1×1024 stars,[1][2] but most are
invisible to the naked eye from Earth, including all stars outside our galaxy, the Milky Way.
For at least a portion of its life, a star shines due to thermonuclear
fusion of hydrogen into helium in its core, releasing energy that traverses the star's interior and
then radiates into outer space. Almost all naturally occurring elements heavier than helium
are created by stellar nucleosynthesis during the star's lifetime, and for some stars
by supernova nucleosynthesis when it explodes. Near the end of its life, a star can also
contain degenerate matter. Astronomers can determine the mass,
age, metallicity (chemical composition), and many other properties of a star by observing its
motion through space, its luminosity, and spectrum respectively. The total mass of a star is the
main factor that determines its evolution and eventual fate. Other characteristics of a star,
including diameter and temperature, change over its life, while the star's environment affects
its rotation and movement. A plot of the temperature of many stars against their luminosities
produces a plot known as a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (H–R diagram). Plotting a particular
star on that diagram allows the age and evolutionary state of that star to be determined.
A star's life begins with the gravitational collapse of a gaseous nebula of material composed
primarily of hydrogen, along with helium and trace amounts of heavier elements. When the
stellar core is sufficiently dense, hydrogen becomes steadily converted into helium through
nuclear fusion, releasing energy in the process.[3] The remainder of the star's interior carries
energy away from the core through a combination of radiative and convective heat
transfer processes. The star's internal pressure prevents it from collapsing further under its own
gravity. A star with mass greater than 0.4 times the Sun's will expand to become a red
giant when the hydrogen fuel in its core is exhausted.[4] In some cases, it will fuse
heavier elements at the core or in shells around the core. As the star expands it throws a part
of its mass, enriched with those heavier elements, into the interstellar environment, to be
recycled later as new stars.[5] Meanwhile, the core becomes a stellar remnant: a white dwarf,
a neutron star, or, if it is sufficiently massive, a black hole.
Binary and multi-star systems consist of two or more stars that are gravitationally bound and
generally move around each other in stable orbits. When two such stars have a relatively close
orbit, their gravitational interaction can have a significant impact on their evolution. [6] Stars
can form part of a much larger gravitationally bound structure, such as a star cluster or a
galaxy.