ASTR 1080 Study Guide - Final Guide: Nicolaus Copernicus, Celestial Equator, Solar Radius
20 Mar 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Celestial sphere imaginary sphere of very large radius centered on an observer; the apparent sphere of the sky. Lunar/solar eclipses lunar: occurs when the moon passes through the earth"s shadow (earth between the sun and moon). Solar: when the earth passes through the moon"s shadow (moon is between sun and earth) Seasons earth"s axis of rotation is not perpendicular to the plane of earth"s orbit. It is tilted 23ish degrees away from perpendicular. As the earth spins on its axis a point on earth spends more than 12 hours in sunlight, thus days are long, nights are short (summer season), sunlight high in sky, giving direct sunlight-heating ground efficiently. During spring/fall, daytime and nighttime are equal lengths everywhere on earth. Equinox each day and night are 12 hours in length, march/september equinoxes occur when the sun passes in front of the points where the ecliptic and celestial equator intersect. Solstice the northern and southern solstices occur between march and september.
