AST101H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Equinox
18 Apr 2018
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AST101H1 Full Course Notes
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On the darkest nights, one can identify about 3000. When we look at the sky, we can imagine shapes --> these are called constellations. Can see different constellations at different times at year. Ex: september 21 at midnight when you look up you will see pisces. The earth rotates around an axis going through the north and south poles. That axis points (nearly) at the star polaris. Therefore, polaris (nearly) doesn"t move on the sky. Closer to polaris, the slower the stars move around sky. Rotating around earth - what gives us seasons. Days are longer in summer and shorter in winter. In the winter, the sun mostly shines on southern hemisphere. Spring equinox: sun is shining directly vertically, sun rises due west and sets due east at the equator. North pole : sun rises gradually, south pole : sun sets. Summer june 21 : sun is as high as it gets in north pole.
