Nature of the Universe

Chapter 1

Units in Astronomy
We introduce the basic measuring units used by astronomers. Length, measured in meter (m),
and time, measured in year (yr) or second (s), are familiar to us. The angular size, measured in
degrees (°) or arc seconds, which is very important in astronomy, is not commonly used in
everyday life.

Length Scales

Size does matter. The sizes of various astronomical objects are usually so big that we don't have
any feeling about them. Here we list the length scales of some typical objects. You can see that,
for example, the ratio of the size of our Sun to the size of the Earth is about the ratio of the size
of a human to the size of a bee.
Length
Object
(m)
> 1026 Size of the universe
26
10 Distance to quasars ( Here is one of the most famous quasars, 3C273. Courtesy NOAO/NSF.)
Size of a typical cluster of galaxies ( One example of galaxy cluster, near 3C324.
1024
Courtesy STScI.)

1021 Galaxies ( A typical galaxy, M31. Courtesy NASA.)

1018 Globular clusters ( A typical globular cluster, M80. Courtesy STScI.)
Nebula (clumps of gas and dust) ( The Horsehead Nebula, (C) Anglo-Australian Observatory and
1016
Photograph by David Malin.), light year

1013 The solar system

109 The Sun
107 The Earth
106 Great Wall
102 Buildings
100 Basic unit of distance, humans
10-2 Coins, bees, bugs
10-4 Diameters of hairs
10-5 Red blood cells
10-6 Bacteria
10-7 Viruses
10-8 Macromolecules
10-9 Micromolecules
10-10 Atoms
10-14 Nuclei, protons, neutrons

Time Scales

What is the age of our universe and how does it compare to the average life span of a human
being?
Long time ago There was
1.4x1010 yrs Creation of the universe
1010 yrs Formation of galaxies
4.6x109 yrs Formation of the solar system
3x109 yrs Appearance of unicellar life
6x108 yrs Cambrian era (fossils of complex, hard-bodied animals)
0.65-2.5x108 yrs Dinosaurs
3x106 yrs Early hominids (mammals fossils)
3x105 yrs Appearance of homosapiens (the first real "human")
5x103 yrs Beginning of written human history
102 yrs Life span of a typical human
1 yr Earth orbiting once around the Sun
1 day Life span of some insects
1 hour Time span of this lecture
10 seconds Time to read this sentence
-17
10 seconds Time for light to travel across an atom

Angular Measures

Objects look bigger when they are closer to us. If the distance between an object and the
observer is halved, the apparent size of the object will be doubled. The apparent size or the
angular size of the object is the angle sustained by it.

A full circle has 360 degrees (°). One degree equals 60 arc minutes (') and one arc minute
equals 60 arc seconds (''). The angular size of the Moon viewed from the Earth is about 0.5°.
 1°= 60',    1'= 60''

Usually, if an adult has longer arms, he or she will have bigger hands. Thus, the angle sustained
by, for example, the fists when we stretch out our arms is about the same for every person. Thus,
we can use our hands to measure roughly the angular sizes of various objects.

At arm's length, the angular size of our fists is about 10°, fingers is about 1° and the tip of the
thumb to the tip of the little finger of an extended hand is about 20°. Note that the Moon is
"smaller" than the finger.

Nature of the Universe

Chapter 2

Motions of Heavenly Bodies

In this chapter, we will discuss the apparent motion of the heavenly bodies. We will understand
why the Sun, the Moon and the planets "move," but stars do not.

Motion of Stars

Everyone knows that the Sun rises from the east and sets in the west. Less well known is that
almost everything on the sky, including the Moon, planets and most of the stars, also rises from
the east and sets in the west. This is the major movement of objects on the sky and it is due to the
rotation of the Earth.
We could imagine that the Earth
is at the center of a large sphere,
called the celestial sphere; and
the Sun, stars, etc. are located on
the sphere. Because the Earth is
rotating from the west to the
east, everything on the celestial
sphere will apparently move
from the east to the west. This is
why the Sun rises from the east.

From the picture, we can see

that those stars near the north
celestial pole never set. We call
them circumpolar stars. One of
the circumpolar star, called
Polaris, is special because it is
very near the north celestial
pole. Thus, it appears to be
stationary.

The position of Polaris relative to

the ground depends on the latitude
of the observer. For example, for
people in Hong Kong, Polaris will
be about 22.4° above the ground
due north.

Similarly, some stars never rise.

People in the northern hemisphere
can never see stars near the south
celestial pole, and people on the
southern hemisphere can never see
Polaris. Poor southerners, there is
no bright star near the south
celestial pole.

Here are three simulations of what can be seen in the northern hemisphere. The first one is
pointing to the north. (Note that Polaris does move a little bit.) The second and the third show the
motions of other stars at south and the east respectively.
Motion of the Sun

Stars do not move on the celestial sphere. They are fixed. Thus, if we throw away the rotation of
the Earth, stars are stationary. (Note: The truth is that some stars do move on the celestial sphere.
We call this the proper motion of stars. Usually, proper motion of a star is very small and can
only be detected if we observe the star for decades.)

There is one important exception however. The Sun is also a star, but the Sun does move on the
celestial sphere because the Earth revolves around it. It moves from west to east, and completes a
full circle in a year. The path that the Sun traces out on the celestial sphere is called the ecliptic
and the twelve constellations that the Sun goes through are the zodiac. (Note: Ecliptic does also
go through the constellation Ophiuchus, but due to historical reason, it is not included in the
zodiac.) These are the origin of zodiac in astrology. Contrary to common belief, the Sun does not
spend equal time on each ecliptic constellation.
Question: What is a day?
Answer: Most people will define a day as the time the Sun comes back to the same position
relative to the ground, for example, from one midday to another. This is exactly how the sundial
works. This defines the solar day. There is another less common definition. We call it a day if
other stars come back to the same positions. This is the sidereal day. Due to the revolution of the
Earth, a solar day is longer than a sidereal day. Approximately, a year has 365 solar days but 366
sidereal days. Do you know why?

We say "approximately" because a year has 365.2422 solar days. To compensate the extra
0.2422 days, some years will have 365 days while some years, called leap years, will have 366
days. One extra day is added to the end of February every four years. By doing this, we are
adding too much. Hence, this extra day will not be added every hundred years, and it will be
added again every four hundred years. For example, we have February 29 in the years 1988,
1992, 1996, 2000, 2400, 2800, etc., but there will be no February 29 in the years 1997, 1998,
1999 and 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, etc. This is called the Gregorian calendar. Using Gregorian
calendar, the error accumulated in the next 3000 years will not be more than 1 solar day.

The apparent motion of the Moon is similar. The time between successive full Moons is the
synodic month, it is 29.5 days long. Note that the Chinese calendar is based on both the motions
of the Moon and the Sun, not just the Moon.

We have not done with the Sun yet. Since the rotational axis of the Earth is tilted from the
revolution axis by 23.5°, the Sun, for example, rises at different directions at different times
during the year.

Similar to the equator on Earth, we have the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. The
ecliptic will intersect the equator with an angle 23.5°. The two intersection points are the vernal
equinox and autumnal equinox. The two points on the ecliptic which are farthest away from the
equator are the summer solstice and winter solstice. Usually, the Sun passes through vernal
equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox and winter solstice on March 20, June 21,
September 23 and December 22 respectively. When the Sun is at the summer solstice, it shines
above the northern hemisphere. The northern hemisphere will receive more sunlight and become
hotter, hence the summer for the northern hemisphere. Note that in southern hemisphere, it is
winter when the Sun is at summer solstice.

When the Sun is at the summer solstice, it rises at the northern most point and when it is at the
winter solstice, it rises at the southern most point. That's why we have long daylight and short
shadow in summer while the opposite in winter.
The Basic of Star’s Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is a branch study in astronomy that focus on astronomical objects’ spectrum. From
the spectrum, we can get informations, such as its temperatures, chemical compositions,
movement speed, etc. That’s why spectroscopy can be considered as one of the fundamental field
in astronomy. The spectrum of a star (or any other astronomical object) is acquired by using an
instrument called spectrograph.

Fig 1. Spectrum

Fig 2. Spectrograph

One of the fundamental law in spectroscopy is Kirchoff Law (1859) which stated that:

1. If a liquid or high pressure gas is ignited, they will emit energy in all wavelength which
will produce a continuous spectrum.
2. If a low temperature gas is ignited, it will only emit energy in certain range wavelength
and produce spectrum which have a dark background and some bright lines. That kind of
spectrum is called the emission spectrum. The wavelength of each bright lines are the
precise indicator of what gas that produce them. So, the same gas will produce
bright lines in certain exact wavelength.
3. If a white light (which is a equal mixture of all colors) is passed through a cool low
temperature gas, the gas will absorb energy at certain wavelength. The result spectrum
will be continuous spectrum as the background with some dark lines in certain exact
wavelength. The dark lines called absorption lines and that kind of spectrum is called the
 absorption spectrum. The wavelength of each dark lines are the precise indicator of
what gas that produce them. So, the same gas will produce dark lines in certain
exact wavelength.

Fig. 3 & 4. Continuous, emission and absorption

spectrum (respectively)

Balmer Series
Switzerland scientist, Balmer, state a series equation to predict the wavelength of the absorption
lines of hydrogen gas. The equation is widely known as Balmer series equation.

Nature of the Universe

Chapter 3

Celestial Sphere and Star Atlas

We will talk more about the celestial sphere and how to tell the positions of the stars in the sky.
We will also introduce the constellations and the star atlas.

Celestial Sphere
When we look at the sky, it is difficult to tell how far the stars are. It seems that all the stars lie
on a "flat" surface. A similar situation is watching television, the screen of the television
represents the three dimensional world.

The sky "surrounds" us from all directions. We placed ourselves at the center of an imaginary
sphere, the celestial sphere. Everything on the sky will appear on the celestial sphere.

As mentioned in the last chapter, the celestial sphere does not follow the rotation of the Earth.
Thus, stars are fixed on the celestial sphere.

We need a coordinate system to tell the positions of the stars on the celestial sphere. It is very
similar to the longitude and latitude on
the Earth surface. The projection of the
rotational axis of the Earth marks the
north celestial pole and the south
celestial pole. The celestial equator is
just the projection of the Earth's equator.

The declination, similar to the latitude,

runs from +90° or 90°N, at the north
celestial pole, to -90° or 90°S at the
south celestial pole.

The right ascension is different from the

longitude. Instead of running from -180°
to +180° like the longitude, the right
ascension runs from 0 hour to 24 hours
from west to east. Each hour has 60
minutes and each minute has 60 seconds, just like the clock. (Note: These minute and second
are NOT equal to the arc minute and arc second introduced earlier. Do you know the
differences?) The starting point of the right ascension is at the vernal equinox. Recall that vernal
equinox is one of the two intersection points of the celestial equator and the ecliptic.

Remarks:
 1. The celestial north does not equal to the magnetic north to which the compass points. (In
fact, the difference between the directions of celestial and magnetic north depends on the
position of the observer.)

2. Like a spinning top, the rotational axis of the Earth is not fixed in space. It will move in a
circle with a period about 26000 years. We call this the precession. Therefore, the vernal
equinox and the pole star will change in time. To be precise, we have to mention the time,
for example, year 2000.0, when we talk about the celestial coordinate system. We will
not go into the details.

Constellations

The ancient people used their imaginations to create patterns and stories of the stars. These
patterns become the constellations. Each culture had its own constellations and stories. Before
1930, constellations were regions in the sky with only fuzzy boundaries. In that year, the
International Astronomical Union put the scheme of constellations on a definite system. The sky
was officially divided into 88 constellations with sharp boundaries, and each star is in one and
only one constellation.
Some important constellations are, for example, the zodiac. Zodiac are the constellations that the
ecliptic passes through. (Ophiuchus is not one of the zodiac, see Chapter 2.) Note that it is
around January when the Sun is in Sagittarius, and in the evening, we will see Taurus and
Gemini, etc. They are called the winter constellations. Similarly, we will see other constellations
in other seasons.

Star Atlas

When we use an ordinary map, we do something like this:

But when we use a star map, we have to lie down and look up. Thus, the east and the west are
"reversed."
There are many kinds of star atlas. The following is taken from the Hong Kong Space Museum.
This shows the whole sky visible at some particular time. Lines connecting the stars are drawn to
make the constellations more "visible." A bigger dot does not represent a larger star, it represents
a brighter star. We will talk about stellar brightness later.

Courtesy Hong Kong Space Museum.

Just to let you have an idea of what a serious star atlas looks like, the most detailed star atlas on
paper nowadays is similar to the atlas below. This figure covers the area bounded by the red
circle in the above all sky map.
Previous chapter. Next chapter.

Title page.

Motions of Planets

To ancient people, planets were "stars" that moved on the celestial sphere. Actually, they move
because they also orbit around the Sun. There are eight major planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and many dwarf planets and minor planets.

Mercury and Venus are inferior planets because their orbits are inside the orbit of the Earth.
Thus, when watching from the Earth, they are never too far away from the Sun. They just swing
from the east of the Sun to the west and back, and we can only see them just before sunrise or
just after sunset. During the period that we can see them before sunrise, we call them the
"morning stars." It lasts for many days. When we can see them after sunset, we call them the
"evening stars."

The others (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) are called the superior planets. Due to
their own revolutions, they move from west to east most of the time. We call it the prograde
motion. Because the orbital speed of the Earth is larger, it sometimes "catches up" the superior
planets. Apparently, they will move in the opposite direction, from east to west. We call it the
retrograde motion. (Inferior planets also have both prograde and retrograde motions.)
Normally, the retrograde motion of one superior planet will last from weeks to months. So, you
cannot see it in a single night.