Michael Seeds Dana Backman

Chapter 2 Users Guide to the Sky: Patterns and Cycles

The Southern Cross I saw every night abeam. The sun every morning came up astern; every evening it went down ahead. I wished for no other compass to guide me, for these were true.

- CAPTAIN JOSHUA SLOCUM Sailing Alone Around the World

 The night sky is the rest of the universe as seen from our planet.
When you look up at the stars, you look out through a layer of air only about 100 kilometers deep. Beyond that, space is nearly emptywith the planets of our solar system several AU away and the far more distant stars scattered many light-years apart.

 You can begin your understanding of the natural laws that govern the universe by carefully noting what the universe looks like and how it behaves.

 Keep in mind that you live on a planet, a moving platform.

Earth rotates on its axis once a day. So, from our viewpoint, sky objects appear to rotate around us each day. For example, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and so do the stars. The sun, the moon, planets, stars, and galaxies all have an apparent daily motion that is not real but is caused by a real motion of Earth.

The Stars

On a dark night, far from city lights, you can see a few thousand stars.
Your observations can be summarized by naming individual stars and groups of stars and by specifying their relative brightness.

Constellations

All around the world, ancient cultures celebrated heroes, gods, and mythical beasts by naming groups of stars called constellations.

Constellations

You should not be surprised that the star patterns do not look like the creatures they are named after any more than Columbus, Ohio, looks like Christopher Columbus.

Constellations

The constellations named within Western culture originated in Mesopotamia, Babylon, Egypt, and Greece beginning as much as 5,000 years ago.
Of these ancient constellations, 48 are still in use.

Constellations

In those former times, a constellation was simply a loose grouping of bright stars.
Many of the fainter stars were not included in any constellation. Regions of the southern sky not visible to the ancient astronomers living at northern latitudes also were not identified with constellations.

Constellations

Constellation boundaries, when they were defined at all, were only approximate.
So, a star like Alpheratz could be thought of as part of Pegasus and also part of Andromeda.

Constellations

In recent centuries, astronomers have added 40 modern constellations to fill gaps.

Constellations

In 1928, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) established 88 official constellations with clearly defined permanent boundaries that together cover the entire sky.
A constellation now represents not a group of stars but a section of the skya viewing direction. Any star within the region belongs to only that one constellation.

Constellations

In addition to the 88 official constellations, the sky contains a number of less formally defined groupings known as asterisms.
For example, the Big Dipper is an asterism you probably recognize that is part of the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear).

Constellations
Another asterism is the Great Square of Pegasus that includes three stars from Pegasus and Alpheratz, now considered to be part of Andromeda only.

Constellations

Although constellations and asterisms are named as if they were real groupings, most are made up of stars that are not physically associated with one another.
Some stars may be many times farther away than others in the same constellation and moving through space in different directions.

Constellations

The only thing they have in common is that they lie in approximately the same direction from Earth.

The Names of the Stars

In addition to naming groups of stars, ancient astronomers named the brighter stars.
Modern astronomers still use many of those names.

The Names of the Stars

The names of the constellations are in Latin or Greek, the languages of science in Medieval and Renaissance Europe.

The Names of the Stars

Most individual star names derive from ancient Arabic, much altered over centuries.
The name of Betelgeuse, the bright red star in Orion, comes from the Arabic phrase yad aljawza, meaning armpit of Jawza (Orion). Aldebaran, the bright red eye of Taurus the bull, comes from the Arabic aldabar an, meaning the follower.

The Names of the Stars

Another way to identify stars is to assign Greek letters to the bright stars in a constellation in the approximate order of brightness.
Thus, the brightest star is usually designated alpha (), the second brightest beta (), and so on.

The Names of the Stars

For many constellations, the letters follow the order of brightness. However, some constellations are exceptions.

The Names of the Stars

A Greek-letter star name also includes the possessive form of the constellation name.
For example, the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major is alpha Canis Majoris. This name identifies the star and the constellation and gives a clue to the relative brightness of the star. Compare this with the ancient individual name for that star, Sirius, which tells you nothing about its location or brightness.

The Brightness of Stars

Astronomers measure the brightness of stars using the magnitude scale.

The Brightness of Stars

The ancient astronomers divided the stars into six brightness groups.
The brightest were called first-magnitude stars. The scale continued downward to sixth-magnitude starsthe faintest visible to the human eye.

The Brightness of Stars

Thus, the larger the magnitude number, the fainter the star.
This makes sense if you think of the bright stars as first-class stars and the faintest stars visible as sixth-class stars.

The Brightness of Stars

The Greek astronomer Hipparchus (190 120 BC) is believed to have compiled the first star catalog. There is evidence he used the magnitude system in that catalog.

The Brightness of Stars

About 300 years later (around AD 140), the Egyptian-Greek astronomer Claudius Ptolemy definitely used the magnitude system in his own catalog. Successive generations of astronomers have continued to use the system.

The Brightness of Stars

Star brightnesses expressed in this system are known as apparent visual magnitudes (mV). These describe how the stars look to human eyes observing from Earth.

The Brightness of Stars

Brightness is quite subjective.

It depends on both the physiology of human eyes and the psychology of perception.

To be scientifically accurate, you should refer to flux.

This is a measure of the light energy from a star that hits one square meter in one second.

The Brightness of Stars

With modern scientific instruments, you can measure the intensity of starlight with high precision and then use a simple mathematical relationship that relates light intensity to apparent visual magnitude.
So, instead of saying that the star known by the charming name Chort (Theta Leonis) is about third magnitude, you can say its magnitude is 3.34.

The Brightness of Stars

Thus, precise modern measurements of the brightness of stars are still connected to observations of apparent visual magnitude that go back to the time of Hipparchus.

The Brightness of Stars

Limitations of the apparent visual magnitude system have motivated astronomers to supplement it in various ways.

The Brightness of Stars

One, some stars are so bright that the scale must extend into negative numbers.
Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, has a magnitude of 1.47.

The Brightness of Stars

Two, with a telescope, you can find stars much fainter than the limit for your unaided eyes.
Thus, the magnitude system has also been extended to include numbers larger than sixth magnitude to include fainter stars.

The Brightness of Stars

Three, although some stars emit large amounts of infrared or ultraviolet light, those types of radiation are invisible to human eyes.
The subscript V in mV is a reminder that you are counting only light that is visible. Other magnitudes systems have been invented to express the brightness of invisible light arriving at Earth from the stars.

The Brightness of Stars

Four, an apparent magnitude informs you only how bright the star is as seen from Earth. It doesnt reveal anything about a stars true power outputbecause the stars distance is not included.

The Sky and Its Motions

The sky above you seems to be a great blue dome in the daytime and a sparkling ceiling at night. Learning to understand the sky requires that you first recall the perspectives of people who observed the sky thousands of years ago.

The Celestial Sphere

Ancient astronomers believed the sky was a great sphere surrounding Earth, with the stars stuck on the insidelike thumbtacks in a ceiling.

The Celestial Sphere

Modern astronomers know that the stars are scattered through space at different distances.
However, it is still convenient to think of the sky as a great sphere enclosing Earth with stars all at one distance.

The Celestial Sphere

The celestial sphere is an example of a scientific model, a common feature of scientific thought.
You can use the celestial sphere as a convenient model of the sky.

The Celestial Sphere

As you study the sky, you will notice three important points.

The Celestial Sphere

One, sky objects appear to rotate westward around Earth each day, but that is a consequence of Earths eastward rotation.
This produces day and night.

The Celestial Sphere

Two, what you can see of the sky depends on where you are on Earth.
For example, Australians see many constellations and asterisms invisible from North America, but they never see the Big Dipper.

The Celestial Sphere

Three, astronomers measure distances across the sky as angles.

These are expressed in units of degrees and subdivisions of degrees called arc minutes and arc seconds.

Precession

In addition to the daily motion of the sky, Earths rotation adds a second motion to the sky that can be detected only over centuries.

Precession

More than 2000 years ago, Hipparchus compared a few of his star positions with those made by other astronomers nearly two centuries before him. He realized that the celestial poles and equator were slowly moving relative to the stars.

Precession

Later astronomers understood that this apparent motion is caused by a special motion of Earth called precession.

Precession

If you have ever played with a toy top or gyroscope, you may recall that the axis of such a rapidly spinning object sweeps around relatively slowly in a circle.
The weight of the top tends to make it tip. This combines with its rapid rotation to make its axis sweep around slowly in precession motion.

Precession

Earth spins like a giant top, but it does not spin upright relative to its orbit around the sun.
You can say either that Earths axis is tipped 23.5 from vertical or that Earths equator is tipped 23.5 relative to its orbit.

Precession

Earths large mass and rapid rotation keep its axis of rotation pointed toward a spot near Polaris (alpha Ursa Minoris). Its axis direction would not move if Earth were a perfect sphere.

Precession

However, Earth has a slight bulge around its middle. The gravity of the sun and moon pull on this bulge, tending to twist Earths axis upright relative to its orbit.

Precession

The combination of these forces and Earths rotation causes Earths axis to precess in a slow circular sweeptaking about 26,000 years for one cycle.

Precession

As the celestial poles and equator are defined by Earths rotational axis, precession moves these reference marks.
You would notice no change at all from night to night or year to year. Precise measurements, though, reveal their slow apparent motion.

Precession

Over centuries, precession has dramatic effects.

Egyptian records show that 4,800 years ago the north celestial pole was near Thuban (alpha Draconis). Now, the pole is approaching Polaris and will be closest to it in about 2100.

Precession
In about 12,000 years, the pole will have moved to the apparent vicinity of the very bright star Vega (alpha Lyrae). The figure shows the apparent path followed by the north celestial pole over thousands of years.

The Cycle of the Sun

Rotation is the turning of a body on its axis. Revolution means the motion of a body around a point outside the body.
Earth rotates on its axisand that produces day and night. Earth also revolves around the sunand that produces the yearly cycle.

The Annual Motion of the Sun

Even in the daytime, the sky is actually filled with stars. However, the glare of sunlight fills Earths atmosphere with scattered light, and you can only see the brilliant blue sky.

The Annual Motion of the Sun

If the sun were fainter and you could see the stars in the daytime, you would notice that the sun appears to be moving slowly eastward relative to the background of the distant stars.
This apparent motion is caused by the real orbital motion of Earth around the sun.

The Annual Motion of the Sun

In January, you would see the sun in front of the constellation Sagittarius. By March, it is in front of Aquarius.

The Annual Motion of the Sun

Note that your angle of view in the figure makes the Earths orbit seem very elliptical when it is really almost a perfect circle.

The Annual Motion of the Sun

Through the year, the sun moves eastward among the stars following a line called the eclipticthe apparent path of the sun among the stars.
If the sky were a great screen, the ecliptic would be the shadow cast by Earths orbit. In other words, you can call the ecliptic the projection of Earths orbit on the celestial sphere.

The Annual Motion of the Sun

Earth circles the sun in 365.26 days and, consequently, the sun appears to go once around the sky in the same period. You dont notice this motion because you cannot see the stars in the daytime.

The Annual Motion of the Sun

However, the motion of the sun caused by a real motion of Earth has an important consequence that you do noticethe seasons.

The Seasons

The seasons are caused by the revolution of Earth around the sun combined with a simple fact you have already encountered.
Earths equator is tipped 23.5 relative to its orbit.

The Seasons

There are two important principles to note about the cycle of seasons.

The Seasons

One, the seasons are not caused by variation in the distance between Earth and the sun.
Earths orbit is nearly circular, so it is always about the same distance from the sun.

The Seasons

Two, the seasons are caused by changes in the amount of solar energy that Earths northern and southern hemispheres receive at different times of the year resulting from the tip of the Earths equator and axis relative to its orbit.

The Seasons

The seasons are so important as a cycle of growth and harvest that cultures around the world have attached great significance to the ecliptic.
It marks the center line of the zodiac (circle of animals). Also, the motion of the sun, moon, and the five visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) are the basis of the ancient superstition of astrology.

The Seasons

However, the signs of the zodiac are no longer important in astronomy.

The Seasons

You can look for the planets along the ecliptic appearing like bright stars.
Mars looks quite orange in color.

The Seasons

As Venus and Mercury orbit inside Earths orbit, they never get far from the sun and are visible in the west after sunset or in the east before sunrise.
Venus can be very bright, but Mercury is difficult to see near the horizon.

The Seasons

By tradition, any planet in the sunset sky is called an evening star. Any planet in the dawn sky is called a morning star.

The Seasons

Perhaps the most beautiful is Venus, which can become as bright as magnitude -4.7.
As Venus moves around its orbit, it can dominate the western sky each evening for many weeks. Eventually, its orbit appears to carry it back toward the sun as seen from Earth, and it is lost in the haze near the horizon. A few weeks later, you can see Venus reappear in the dawn sky as a brilliant morning star. Months later, it will switch back to being an evening star.

The Cycles of the Moon

The moon orbits eastwards around Earth once a month.

The Cycles of the Moon

Starting this evening, look for the moon in the sky.

If it is a cloudy night or if the moon is in the wrong part of its orbit, you may not see it. Keep trying on successive evenings. Within a week or two, you will see the moon. Then, watch for the moon on following evenings. You will see it move along its orbit around Earth and cycling through its phases as it has done for billions of years.

The Motion of the Moon

If you watch the moon night after night, you will notice two things about its motion. First, you will see it moving relative to the background of stars. Second, you will notice that the markings on its face dont change.
These two observations will help you understand the motion of the moon and the origin of the moons phases.

The Motion of the Moon

The moon moves rapidly among the constellations.

If you watch the moon for just an hour, you can see it move eastward against the background of stars by slightly more than its own apparent diameter. Each night when you look at the moon, you will see it is roughly half the width of a zodiac constellationabout 13 degreesto the east of its location the night before. This movement is the result of the motion of the moon along its orbit around Earth.

The Cycle of Moon Phases

The changing shape of the illuminated part of the moon as it orbits Earth is one of the most easily observed phenomena in astronomy.

The Cycle of Moon Phases

There are three important points to notice about the phases of the moon.

The Cycle of Moon Phases

First, the moon always keeps the same side facing Earth, and you never see the far side of the moon.
The man in the moon (some cultures see the rabbit in the moon instead) is produced by familiar features on the moons near side.

The Cycle of Moon Phases

Second, the changing shape of the moon as it passes through its cycle of phases is produced by sunlight illuminating different parts of the side of the moon you can see.

The Cycle of Moon Phases

You always see the same side of the moon looking down on you. The changing shadows, though, make the man in the moon shift moods as the moon cycles through its phases.

The Cycle of Moon Phases

Finally, the orbital period of the moon around Earth is not the same as the length of a moon phase cycle.

Eclipses

Eclipses are due to a seemingly complicated combination of apparent motions of the sun and moon. Yet, they are actually easy to predict once all the cycles are understood.

Eclipses

Eclipses are also among the most spectacular of natures sights you might witness.

Solar Eclipses

From Earth, you can see a phenomenon that is not visible from most planets.
It happens that the sun is 400 times larger than our moon and, on the average, 390 times farther away. So, the sun and moon have nearly equal angular apparent diameters. Thus, the moon is just about the right size to cover the bright disk of the sun and cause a solar eclipse. In a solar eclipse, it is the sun that is being hidden (eclipsed) and the moon that is in the way.

Solar Eclipses

A shadow consists of two parts. The umbra is the region of total shadow.
For example, if you were in the umbra of the moons shadow, you would see no portion of the sun. The umbra of the moons shadow usually just barely reaches Earths surface and covers a relatively small circular zone.

Solar Eclipses

Standing in that umbral zone, you would be in total shadowunable to see any part of the suns surface.
This is called a total eclipse.

Solar Eclipses

If you moved into the penumbra, you would be in partial shadow, but could also see part of the sun peeking around the edge of the moon.
This is called a partial eclipse.

Solar Eclipses

If you are outside the penumbra, you see no eclipse at all.

Solar Eclipses

Due to the moons orbital motion and Earths rotation, the moons shadow sweeps rapidly across Earth in a long, narrow path of totality.
If you want to see a total solar eclipse, you must be in the path of totality.

Solar Eclipses

When the umbra of the moons shadow sweeps over you, you see one of the most dramatic sights in the skythe totally eclipsed sun.

Solar Eclipses

The eclipse begins as the moon slowly crosses in front of the sun. It takes about an hour for the moon to cover the solar disk.

Solar Eclipses

As the last sliver of sun disappears, dark falls in a few seconds.

Automatic street lights come on, drivers of cars turn on their headlights, and birds go to roost. The sky usually becomes so dark you can even see the brighter stars.

Solar Eclipses

The darkness lasts only a few minutes.

This is because the umbra is never more than 270 km (170 miles) in diameter on Earths surface and sweeps across the landscape at over 1,600 km/hr (1,000 mph). The period of totality lasts on average only 2 or 3 minutes and never more than 7.5 minutes.

Solar Eclipses

During totality you can see subtle features of the suns atmosphere. These include red flame-like projections that are visible only during those moments when the brilliant disk of the sun is completely covered by the moon.

Solar Eclipses

As soon as part of the suns disk reappears, the fainter features vanish in the glare. The period of totality is over.
The moon moves on in its orbit and, in an hour the sun, is completely visible again.

Solar Eclipses

Sometimes, when the moon crosses in front of the sun, it is too small to fully cover the sun. Then, you would witness an annular eclipse.
This is a solar eclipse in which an annulus (ring) of the suns disk is visible around the disk of the moon.

Solar Eclipses

The eclipse never becomes total.

It never quite gets dark. You cant see the faint features of the solar atmosphere.

Solar Eclipses

Annular eclipses occur because the moon follows a slightly elliptical orbit around Earth.
If the moon is in the farther part of its orbit during totality, its apparent diameter will be less than the apparent diameter of the sunand you see an annular eclipse.

Solar Eclipses

Also, Earths orbit is slightly elliptical.

So, the Earth-to-sun distance varies slightly. So does the apparent diameter of the solar disk. These contribute to the effect of the moons varying apparent size.

Solar Eclipses

If you plan to observe a solar eclipse, remember that the sun is bright enough to burn your eyes and cause permanent damage if you look at it directly.
This is true whether there is an eclipse or not.

Solar Eclipses

Solar eclipses can be misleading tempting you to look at the sun in spite of its brilliance and thus risking your eyesight.

Solar Eclipses

During the few minutes of totality, the brilliant disk of the sun is hidden, and it is safe to look at the eclipse. However, the partial eclipse phases and annular eclipses can be dangerous.

Solar Eclipses

The figure demonstrates a safe way to observe the partially eclipsed sun.

Solar Eclipses

The table will allow you to determine when some upcoming solar eclipses will be visible from your location.

Lunar Eclipses

Occasionally, you can see the moon darken and turn copper-red in a lunar eclipse.

Lunar Eclipses

A lunar eclipse occurs at full moon when the moon moves through Earths shadow.
As the moon shines only by reflected sunlight, you see the moon gradually darken as it enters the shadow.

Lunar Eclipses

If you were on the moon and in the umbra of Earths shadow, you would see no portion of the sun.

Lunar Eclipses

If you moved into the penumbra, you would be in partial shadow and would see part of the sun peeking around the edge of Earth so the sunlight would be dimmed but not extinguished.

Lunar Eclipses

In a lunar eclipse, it is the moon that is being hidden in the Earths shadow and Earth that is in the way of the sunlight.

Lunar Eclipses

If the orbit of the moon carries it through the umbra of Earths shadow, you see a total lunar eclipse.

Lunar Eclipses

As you watch the moon, it first moves into the penumbra and dims slightly.
The deeper it moves into the penumbra, the more it dims.

Lunar Eclipses

In about an hour, the moon reaches the umbra, and you see the umbral shadow darken part of the moon.
It takes about an hour for the moon to enter the umbra completely and become totally eclipsed.

Lunar Eclipses

The period of total eclipse may last as long as 1 hour 45 minutes. However, the timing of the eclipse depends on where the moon crosses the shadow.

Lunar Eclipses

When the moon is totally eclipsed, it does not disappear completely.

Although it receives no direct sunlight, the moon in the umbra does receive some sunlight that is refracted (bent) through Earths atmosphere.

Lunar Eclipses

If you were on the moon during totality, you would not see any part of the sunas it would be entirely hidden behind Earth.
However, you would be able to see Earths atmosphere illuminated from behind by the sun.

Lunar Eclipses

The red glow from this ring consisting of all the Earths simultaneous sunsets and sunrises illuminates the moon during totality and makes it glow coppery red.

Lunar Eclipses

If the moon passes a bit too far north or south of Earths shadow, it may only partially enter the umbra. Then, you see a partial lunar eclipse.

Lunar Eclipses

The part of the moon that remains outside the umbra in the penumbra receives some direct sunlight.
The glare is usually great enough to prevent your seeing the faint coppery glow of the part of the moon in the umbra.

Lunar Eclipses

Lunar eclipses always occur at full moon but not at every full moon.
The moons orbit is tipped about 5 degrees to the ecliptic. So, most full moons cross the sky north or south of Earths shadow and there is no lunar eclipse that month.

Lunar Eclipses

For the same reason, solar eclipses always occur at new moon but not at every new moon.

Lunar Eclipses

The orientation of the moons orbit in space varies slowly. As a result, solar and lunar eclipses repeat in a pattern called the Saros cycle lasting 18 years 11 1/3 days.
Ancient peoples who understood the Saros cycle could predict eclipses without understanding what the sun and moon really were.

Lunar Eclipses

Although there are usually no more than one or two lunar eclipses each year, it is not difficult to see one.
You need only be on the dark side of Earth when the moon passes through Earths shadow. That is, the eclipse must occur between sunset and sunrise at your location to be visible.

Lunar Eclipses

The table will allow you to determine when some upcoming lunar eclipses will be visible from your location.