ASTRONOMY

Celestial Sphere (2)

 Earth's Season
● The Earth is tilted on its axis to the ecliptic
plane at about 23.5°
● Summer: when tilted towards the Sun, sunlight
is more direct and sun rises higher in the sky
● Winter: when tilted away from the Sun; sunlight
is less direct and sun rises lower in the sky
● Northern hemisphere has the opposite season
to the Southern hemisphere
Sun's apparent position in the sky
● The vernal equinox: occurs about March 21;
the Sun's position as it crosses the celestial
equator going North (associated to the 0h of
RA, the First Point of Aries)
● The autumnal equinox: occurs about
September 23; the Sun's position as it crosses
the celestial equator going South
– At the equinox, day and night are equal in length
● The summer solstice, occurs about June 21;
the most northern position of the Sun (23.5°
from the celestial equator)
– The longest day for the northern hemisphere
● The winter solstice, occurs about December
22; the most southern position of the Sun
– The shortest day for the northern hemisphere
Annalema
 Astronomical Time Period
● Solar day: time it takes the Sun to travel
around the local sky, average 24 h
● Sidereal day: time it takes the star to travel
around the local sky, 23 h 56 m
● So, a solar day is about 4 minutes longer than a
sidereal day (about 1° longer)
 Observing stars
● The First Point of Aries (Vernal Equinox) is the
reference point chosen to define the sidereal
day
● The Local Sidereal Time (LST) is defined as
the hour angle (HA) of the vernal equinox
– It depends on the observer's longitude on the
Earth's surface
● If the LST is known and the RA and dec of any
celestial object is known, then the HA of the
object is known from
LST = HA + RA
Hour Angle = how far from the meridian a celestial object is
West of meridian = positive ; East of meridian = negative
● As the star crosses the observer's meridian, its
hour angle is 0h
● Thus, at apparent noon, the Sun's hour angle
is 0h (12pm civil clock)
● At apparent midnight, its hour angle is 12h
(12am civil clock)
● Calculate the hour angle of a star with RA 18h
given that the LST is 4h
● Procyon has RA of 7h30m. When does the
Procyon transit (in LST)?
 Solar Time
● One of the methods to measure the passage of
time was by means of the Sun's diurnal
movement
● The timekeeping system is then referred to as
apparent solar time
● One apparent solar day was the time between
successive passages of the Sun across the
observer's meridian
● Astronomers use mean solar time since the
length of the apparent solar day varies
compared to sidereal clock
 Civil Day
● The Greenwich meridian is regarded as the
standard meridian on the Earth for timekeeping
using mean solar time
● The Greenwich hour angle of the mean sun is 0h
when the mean sun transits across the meridian
at Greenwich (mean noon)
● The civil day begins at midnight, so the
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is 0h
● GMT are also referred as Universal Time (UT)
● Jakarta = GMT + 7