PHYS 2600 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Celestial Sphere, Diurnal Motion, Ecliptic
Document Summary
Unaided human eye can only detect about 3000 stars. On modern star charts, the sky is divided into 88 regions, each of which is called a constellations group of stars constellation. 2-3 the appearance of the sky changes during the course of the night and from one night to the next the night sky at one moment will look completely different if you look at it a few hours later. Diurnal motion is shown in figure 2-4 at any given moment it is daytime on the half of the earth illuminated by the sun and nighttime on the other half. Because earth rotates from west to east, it appears to us on earth that the entire sky rotates around us in the opposite direction, from east to west. Over the course of a year, earth makes on complete orbit. Constellations and the night sky they can help you find your way around the sky.