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Just as Hawaii is a body of land surrounded on all sides by water, so the Earth is an object surrounded on all sides by space. It's convenient to pretend that the Earth is inside an enormous sphere, and plot the locations of stars and planets on this sphere. The daily rotation of the sky and the annual progression of the Sun along the zodiac are both due to motions of the Earth.
Topics:
Reading:
| Ch. 1-6 | Constellations make locating stars easy |
| Ch. 1-7 | The celestial sphere aids in navigating the sky |
| Ch. 1-8 | Earth's rotation causes the stars to appear to move |
| Ch. 1-9 | The speed of the Earth's rotation determines the length of the day |
| Ch. 1-10 | The Earth's orbit around the Sun determines the length of the year |
| Ch. 1-11 | The seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis of rotation |
| Ch. 1-12 | The phases of the Moon originally inspired the concept of the month |
Web Resources:
A view of the Earth and Moon together in space.
An interactive planetarium, set to show the current sky above Honolulu. You can chose other dates and times, select other viewing sites, zoom in on selected areas, and more. Created by John Walker.
Shows the constellations above Honolulu at 8:00 PM on 9/04/01.
Shows how the sky above Honolulu changes during one day, from 8:00 PM on 9/04/01 to 8:00 PM on 9/05/01.
Shows how the sky above Honolulu changes during one year, from noon on 9/04/01 to noon on 9/03/02.
Shows how the sky changes as you travel from the south pole to the north pole.
Homework 2: Observing Mars, due 9/18. See this animation.
Quiz 2: The Moon at Sunrise, given 9/06.
Last modified: September 19, 2001
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~barnes/ast110/tsau.html
