UNIVERSE IN A NUTSHELL

Institute Elective Course Code : ES490

Reference Books

An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, Carroll & Ostlie

Fundamental Astronomy Karttunen et al.

Astrophysics for Physicists Arnab Rai Choudhuri

and/or any other introductory book on astronomy.

Module 1 : Astronomy Without A Telescope Understanding the Night Sky

North Celestial Pole

Celestial Equator

South Celestial Pole

Polaris

Horizon

Polaris

Horizon

Polaris

Ho riz on

The altitude (how high something is from our horizon) of Polaris will tell us the latitude of our location. Works only for locations in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth from where Polaris is accessible.

This diagram shows why the altitude of Polaris gives the latitude of our location.

Standing on a flat, open field the sky appears as a hemispherical dome. This dome defines our local sky. The boundary between Earth and sky is what we call the horizon. The point directly overhead is our zenith. The meridian is an imaginary halfcircle stretching from the southern horizon, through the zenith to the northern horizon. We can pinpoint the position of any object in our local sky by stating its direction along the horizon and its altitude above our horizon. If we stay in one place, we will see the same set of stars following the same paths through our local sky from one year to the next. But if we travel north or south, we will notice stars rising and setting at different times and moving through the sky in different paths. Thus the local sky varies with the observers location.

Ecliptic Plane

The Earths orbit around the Sun lies in a plane which is called the ecliptic. The movement of the Earth around the Sun can be, for convenience, treated as the path of the Sun around Earth through the celestial sphere during one full year. Thus ecliptic is usually defined as the apparent path of the Sun through the celestial sphere. The moon and the planets are mostly seen within a zone of about 8 degrees either side of the ecliptic, because the orbits of planets and the Moon are more or less in the same plane. Thus the apparent paths of the Moon, and the major planets also fall within the ecliptic zone. Earths spin axis is tilted by 23.5o with respect to the perpendicular to the ecliptic plane.

Defining Spherical Coordinate System

Altitude Azimuth System

The altitude azimuth coordinate system uses the observer's horizon as the basis for defining the position of objects in the sky. For any observer, a position in the sky can be described in terms of its altitude, i.e., its elevation from the observer's horizon and its azimuth, which is the angle of the object around the horizon measured eastward from North. This system is also known as the horizontal coordinate system.

Although simple to understand, the altitude-azimuth coordinate system has severe limitations. To begin with, this coordinate system is location specific. Using altitude and azimuth to define the position of an object in sky will only help those observing from the same location on Earth (and therefore the same local sky) to identify the object. Also since stars are constantly moving across the sky, the alt-azimuth coordinates for a specific object are constantly changing even for the local observer. Thus it is also time specific. Complicating this further, stars rise approximately 4 minutes early on each successive night such that even when viewed from the same location at an exact specific time, the altitude-azimuth coordinates of an object will be different from night to night.

Equatorial Coordinate System

Compared to alt-azimuth system, the equatorial coordinate system is a better way of describing the location of objects. Under this system, objects in the celestial sphere have fixed coordinates. The equatorial system is defined by projecting Earth's equator onto the celestial sphere and measuring angles with respect to that. The best way to understand equatorial coordinate system is to compare it with the latitude-longitude coordinate system on Earth. Just as there is a latitude and a longitude to specify every location on Earth, the equivalent coordinates in the equatorial system are declination and right ascension. Declination () measures the angle of an object above or below the celestial equator. By this, it is similar to the concept of latitude on Earth. Just as there are lines of latitude on Earth, we can draw lines of declination on the celestial sphere. These lines of declination will be parallel to the celestial equator. Declination is labeled positive or negative. Locations north of the celestial equator have positive declinations and locations south of the celestial equator have negative declination. Right ascension () is the longitudinal angle measured from the vernal equinox. As a convention, the angle is measured in the eastern direction. Just as lines of longitude on Earth extend from the North Pole to the South Pole on Earth, lines of right ascension extend from NCP to SCP. For longitude, by international treaty, the zero point is the line of longitude that runs through Greenwich, England (prime meridian). Similarly, by convention, RA zero line is the line of right ascenion that runs through the spring (vernal) equinox.

Dec is measured in degrees, arcminutes and arcseconds.

RA is usually quoted either in degrees or in hours, minutes and seconds. A 360o circle around the celestial equator goes through 24 hours of right ascension, so each hour of right ascension represents an angle of 360 / 24 = 15o.

The reason why it is useful to quote right ascension in units of time is that it is convenient for tracking the daily motion of objects through the local sky. All objects with a particular right ascension cross the meridian in our local sky at the same time. For example, all stars with RA = 0h cross the meridian at the same time that the spring equinox crosses the meridian. For any other object, the right ascension tells us when it crosses the meridian in hours after the spring equinox crosses the meridian. Thus, for example, the bright star Vega's right ascension, 18h 35m, tells us that on any particular day it crosses the meridian about 18 hours 35 minutes after the spring equinox. (This is 18 hours 35 minutes of sidereal time later, which is not exactly the same as 18 hours 35 minutes of solar time).

An example :

Our understanding of the celestial sphere and the equatorial coordinates will help us better understand the movement of stars in the sky and predict when and from what locations a particular object will be accessible. Let us consider three scenarios: (a) Observing the sky from the North Pole (b) Observing the sky from the equator (c) Observing the sky at some latitude between the equator and pole.

(a) Observing the sky from the North Pole: Figure (a) in the previous slide shows the rotating celestial sphere and our orientation relative to it when we are standing at the North Pole. The zenith points towards the north celestial pole. The Earth blocks our view of anything south of the celestial equator, which runs along our horizon. To make it easier to visualize, figure (b) (previous slide) is drawn with respect to the observers horizon. Note that the horizon is marked with directions and that all directions are south from the North Pole. (Because the meridian is defined as running from north to south in the local sky, there is no meridian at the North Pole). The daily circles of the stars keep them at constant altitudes above or below your horizon, and their altitudes are equal to their declinations. For example, a star with declination +60 circles the sky at an altitude of 60, and a star with declination 30 remains 30 below your horizon at all times. As a result, all stars north of the celestial equator are circumpolar at the North Pole, never falling below the horizon. Similarly, stars south of the celestial equator never appear in the sky as seen from the North Pole. Note that right ascension does not affect a star's path at all; it affects only the time of day and year at which a star is found in a particular direction along your horizon.

(b) Observing the sky from the Equator: Next imagine that we are standing somewhere on Earth's equator (lat = 0 ) as shown in figure (a) in the previous slide. The view of the local sky from the observers viewing location is shown in figure (b). As the celestial sphere rotates in the local sky, we will see that : the north celestial pole remains stationary on our horizon due north; as we should expect, its altitude, 0 , is equal to the observers latitude. similarly, the south celestial pole remains stationary on our horizon due south. At any particular time, half of the celestial equator is visible, extending from the horizon due east, through the zenith, to the horizon due west; the other half lies below the horizon. As the sky appears to turn, all star paths rise straight out of the eastern horizon and set straight into the western horizon, with the following features: Stars with dec = 0 lie on the celestial equator and therefore rise due east, cross the meridian at the zenith, and set due west. Stars with dec > 0 rise north of due east, reach their highest point on the meridian, and set north of due west. Their rise, set, and highest point depend on their declinations. For example, a star with dec = +30 rises 30 north of due east, crosses the meridian 30 to the north of the zeniththat is, at an altitude of 90 30 = 60 in the northand sets 30north of due west. Stars with dec < 0rise south of due east, reach their highest point on the meridian in the south, and set south of due west. Exactly half of any star's daily circle lies above the horizon. Thus, every star is above the horizon for exactly half of each sidereal day, or just under 12 hours, and below the horizon for the other half of the sidereal day.

(c) Observing the sky from some latitude between the equator and the pole : Let's consider latitude 40 N. First, as shown in Figure (a) in the previous slide, imagine standing at this latitude on a basic diagram of the rotating celestial sphere. The direction directly above our head points to a location on the celestial sphere with declination +40 . Figure (b) is the same as figure (a), except it is drawn from the persepctive of the observer.

As we would expect, the north celestial pole appears 40 above the horizon due north, since its altitude in the local sky is always equal to the latitude. Half of the celestial equator is visible; it extends from the horizon due east, to the meridian at an altitude of 50 in the south, to the horizon due west. By comparing this diagram to the local sky for the equator, we can probably notice a general rule for the celestial equator at any latitude: Exactly half the celestial equator is always visible, extending from due east on the horizon to due west on the horizon and crossing the meridian at an altitude of 90 minus the latitude. The diagram in Figure (b) also shows star tracks through the local sky for 40 N. In this figure, we can notice the following pattern:

(see next slide)

 Stars with dec = 0lie on the celestial equator and therefore follow the path of the celestial equator through the local sky. That is, for latitude 40 N, they rise due east, cross the meridian at 50in the south, and set due west. Stars with dec > 0 follow paths parallel to the celestial equator but farther north. Thus, they rise north of due east, cross the meridian north of where the equator crosses it, and set north of due west. If they are within 40 of the north celestial pole on the celestial sphere (which means declinations greater than 90 40 = 50 ), their entire circles are above the horizon, making them circumpolar. Stars with dec < 0 follow paths parallel to the celestial equator but farther south. Thus, they rise south of due east, cross the meridian south of where the celestial equator crosses it, and set south of due west. If they are within 40 of the south celestial pole on the celestial sphere (which means declinations less than 90 + 40 = 50 ), their entire circles are below the horizon and thus they are never visible. Note that the fraction of any star's daily circle that is above the horizonand hence the amount of time it is above the horizon each day depends on its declination. Because exactly half the celestial equator is above the horizon, stars on the celestial equator (dec = 0 ) are above the horizon for about 12 hours per day.

Celestial Timekeeping
In ancient times, the practical need for timekeeping, navigation and prediciting seasons were the primary reasons for interest in astronomy. The celestial origins of timekeeping and navigation are still evident. The time of day comes from the location of the Sun in the local sky, the definition of month comes from the Moon's cycle of phases, and the time duration of a year comes from the Sun's annual path along the ecliptic. These are just some examples.

Sidereal Day & Solar Day

A day and night cycle as defined with respect to the stars and with respect to the Sun are not of the same duration. A day and night cycle as defined with respect to the stars is 23 hours 56 minutes and is called sidereal day (sidereal means related to stars). The day/night cycle defined with respect to the Sun is the solar day and measures on an average 24 hours.

We often think of our 24-hour day as the Earth's rotation period, but that's not quite true. The Earth's rotation period is the time it takes the Earth to complete one full rotation. Because the Earth's daily rotation makes the celestial sphere appear to rotate around us, we can measure the rotation period by timing how long it takes the celestial sphere to make one full turn through the local sky. For example, we could start a stopwatch at the moment when a particular star is on our meridian, then stop the watch the next day when the same star again is on the meridian. Measured in this way, the Earth's rotation period is about 23 hours 56 minutes or about 4 minutes short of 24 hours. This time period is called a sidereal day, because it is measured relative to the apparent motion of stars in the local sky; The 24-hour day, which we call a solar day, is based on the time it takes for the Sun to make one circuit around our local sky. We can measure this time period by starting the stopwatch at the moment when the Sun is on our meridian one day and stopping it when the Sun reaches the meridian the next day. The solar day is of 24 hour duration on average, and varies slightly over the course of a year. The figure on the previous page would help in estimating why there is a 4 minute difference between sidereal and solar days.

Sidereal Month & Synodic Month

These are the two definitions for a month. The popular definition for a month comes from the Moons 29-day cycle of phases. It takes about a month for the Moon to go through one full cycle of phases. This is called a synodic month. However, it takes the moon only 271/3 days to go once around the Earth. This period defines the sidereal month. The reason for this difference can be inferred from the figure. Both are legitimate, the difference stems from what we choose as our reference in the sky (Sun or distant stars).

and finally