AST-1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Celestial Equator, Minute And Second Of Arc

• School: App State
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: AST-1001
• Professor: Johnny Hollandsworth

Document Summary

2. 1: stars and constellations: in ancient times, constellations were a way for people to navigate based on the night sky. Constellations were generally the brightest stars in the sky used to forms groups that were interpreted as different patterns. These patterns varied form culture to culture, though they generally represented great heroes and mythological gures. Their position in the sky was taught from generation to generation: today, constellations are de ned regions in the sky regardless of the presence or absence of bright stars. The constellation stars only appear to be close together, but may actually be further apart due to their distance from the earth. For example, the constellation orion"s brightest stars are betelgeuse and rigel. They can also be referred to as orionis alpha and orionis beta respectively. Brightest stars in one constellation may be more or less bright than stars in another constellation.