SCMA*1050 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Solar Time, Sidereal Time
Document Summary
Cause: earth rotates west-to-east direction during the course of a day. Effect: all objects in the sky appear to move from the general east-to-west direction during the course of the day. Stars will appear to first ride above the horizon from the east, move upward toward south, and set below the horizon toward west. Stars will appear to move in counter-clockwise circles around polaris (north. Cause: earth revolves around the sun in the west-to-east direction during the course of a year. To explain the seasonal changes in constellations, we usually track the zodiac constellations, which are roughly centered around the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun in the sky over the year). Sidereal day: time for earth to complete exactly one rotation on its axis, or time to see one star come back to the same position next night (23h 56m 4. 091s)
