AST101H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Declination, 50Th Parallel South, Apparent Retrograde Motion

• School: UTSG
• Department: Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Course: AST101H1
• Professor: Michael Reid

Document Summary

Constellations names given to pattern of stars it is a region of the sky with well-defined borders every point in the sky belongs to some constellation. Four special points and circle on the celestial sphere. North celestial pole: directly above the north pole. South celestial pole: directly above the south pole. Celestial equator: the projection of earth"s equator into space. Ecliptic: sun"s apparent annual path around the celestial sphere. Milky way circles all the way around the celestial sphere, passing through more than a dozen constellations. Band of light, shaped like a thin pancake with a bulge in the middle. Local sky: the sky as seen from wherever you happen to be standing. Horizon: the boundary between earth and the sky. Zenith: the point directly overhead (altitude at 90 degrees, has no direction) Meridian: imaginary half circle stretching from the horizon due south, through the zenith, to the horizon due.