AY 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Apparent Retrograde Motion, Shadow Falls
15 Jul 2016
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Document Summary
In this chapter, we surveyed the phenomena of our sky. Keep the following big picture ideas in mind as you continue your study of astronomy: you can enhance your enjoyment of astronomy by observing the sky. We can then understand what we see in the local sky by thinking about how the celestial sphere appears from our latitude: most of the phenomena of the sky are relatively easy to observe and understand. The more complex phenomena-particularly eclipses and apparent retro-grade motion of the planets-challenged our ancestors for thousands of years. The desire to understand these phenomena helped drive the development of science and technology. What does the universe look like from earth: stars and other celestial objects appear to lie on a great celestial sphere surrounding earth. We divide the celestial sphere into constellations with well-de ned borders. Why do stars rise and set: earth"s rotation makes stars appear to circle around earth each day.
