Celestial Coordinates

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Légende : Here we see how celestial coordinates map positions on the celestial sphere. The celestial sphere is an imaginary, hollow sphere that surrounds the Earth. Celestial objects appear to be attached to the inside of the celestial sphere, and the planets, Sun, and Moon appear to move slowly across it. The celestial sphere has a spherical coordinate system similar to the latitude and longitude we see on the Earth. The celestial equator is the projection of the Earth's equator onto the celestial sphere while the north and south celestial poles are the projections of the Earth's north and south poles onto the celestial sphere. Declination is similar to latitude on the Earth in that it marks the angle above and below the celestial equator. Declination is zero on the celestial equator, is positive to the north of the celestial equator and negative to the south of it. It is commonly measured in degrees and sometimes in radians. Right Ascension is similar to longitude as it marks the angle around the celestial equator. As with longitude the zero point of right ascension (shown here as a dashed line) is a matter of choice. Traditionally the zero point of right ascension was the position of the Sun at the northern hemisphere vernal equinox (spring equinox) in March. It is positive and increases to the east, unlike longitude on Earth which is defined as east or west of the prime meridian. It is most commonly measured in hours, minutes and seconds or occasionally in degrees or radians. The ecliptic marks the Sun's path across the celestial sphere when viewed from the Earth. The Earth rotates within the celestial sphere. This leads to objects like stars or galaxies, which appear static on the celestial sphere, rising and setting when viewed from the Earth but remaining in the same position on the celestial sphere. The Earth's axis precesses within the celestial sphere. This slowly moves the celestial equator and the celestial poles meaning that the traditional celestial coordinate system changes slowly over time meaning that stars and galaxies that do not move will have positions that change. Astronomers have used coordinate systems defined by the position of the celestial poles and equator at a fixed point in time. Now celestial positions are most commonly measured on a fixed coordinate system defined by the position of the celestial poles and equator on the 1st of January 2000.
Crédit : Maria Cristina Fortuna/IAU OAE

Catégories : Astronomie à l'œil nu , Astronomie observationnelle

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Seasons

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Légende : This diagram shows the Earth at the June solstice which is known as the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. The Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted from the axis of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun by 23.4°. Here we see light from the sun represented as parallel lines, in the diagram the Sun would lie far off the right-hand edge. Five lines are marked with angles. These lines hit the Earth at special latitudes. From top to bottom these lines hit the Earth at the North Pole, the Tropic of Cancer, the Equator, the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle. The lines are shown hitting the Earth at the longitude where it is currently noon. For the last four lines, the angles marked show the angle above the horizon (the altitude) which the Sun appears in the sky at at local noon. At the June solstice, the Sun will appear directly overhead at local noon on every point on the Tropic of Capricorn. By contrast the Sun reaches a maximum altitude of 0° at local noon on every point in the Antarctic Circle. This means the Sun never rises and every point south of the Antarctic Circle experiences a long Polar Night. By contrast the Sun never sets on this day north of the Arctic Circle and the regions here experience a Polar Day. The at the North Pole the Sun will remain at a constant altitude all day. This altitude will be the angle 180°-156.6° (23.4°). The altitude the Sun appears at is important as it defines how spread out the Sun’s rays are on the Earth’s surface. Look at the thick, faint parallel lines in the background. Notice how at the Tropic of Cancer the area the lines intersect with the Earth’s surface perpendicularly and the line only covers a small part of the Earth’s surface. Now look at a line near the Tropic of Capricorn and see that this intersects with the Earth at a grazing angle and the line is spread out, covering a much wider area of the Earth’s surface. This means that a given amount of light from the Sun that hits the Tropic of Cancer is more concentrated and the same amount of light hitting the Tropic of Capricorn would be more spread out. This leads to more energy per unit area from the Sun hitting the Tropic of Cancer and less energy per unit area hitting the Tropic of Capricorn. This means it will be warmer at the Tropic of Cancer than at the Tropic of Capricorn. It is thus summer at the Tropic of Cancer and winter at the Tropic of Capricorn. Six months later this situation will be reversed and it will be summer at the Tropic of Capricorn and winter at the Tropic of Cancer.
Crédit : Maria Cristina Fortuna/IAU OAE

Termes du glossaire: Équateur , Solstice , Solstice d'été , Hiver , Solstice d'hiver , Cercle arctique , Cercle antarctique , Tropique du Cancer , Tropique du Capricorne , Pôle Nord

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Lunar Phase Equator

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Créé pour l'OAE

Légende : The phases of the Moon when viewed from the Equator. Here west is up, north is left and east is down. The Moon orbits the Earth every 29.5 days. It is tidally locked to the Earth meaning its rotation period is the same as its orbital period and the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth. At any particular time, half of the Moon is illuminated by the Sun and half is in shadow. Over the course of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth every part of the Moon is illuminated for half of the orbit and is in shadow for the other half of the orbit. When the Moon sits between the Earth and the Sun its illuminated half faces away from the Earth and we only see the half that is in shadow. This phase of the Moon is known as new moon. As the Moon moves in its orbit, a small but growing sliver of the illuminated half of the Moon begins to be seen from the Earth. This illuminated sliver appears on the western side of the Moon’s face when viewed from Earth. This phase is known as waxing crescent moon. By a quarter of the way through the Moon’s orbit around the Earth the Moon appears 90° away from the Sun and half of the Moon’s illuminated half points toward the Earth. This phase is known as first quarter moon. As the orbit continues more than half of the Moon seen from Earth is now illuminated with a dark crescent. This phase is known as waxing gibbous moon. Once we reach the halfway point in the Moon’s orbit round the Earth the Moon is now on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun and we see all of the Moon’s illuminated half. As the whole of the side of the Moon that faces the Earth is now illuminated this is referred to as full moon. For the remaining half of the Moon’s orbit the half of the moon that faces the Earth begins to move into shadow. Hence the illuminated portion of the Moon that we see from Earth begins to shrink or wane. The western edge of the face of the Moon when viewed from Earth begins to appear dark and this grows through subsequent phases. The phases are repeated in reverse order: waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent and finally back to new moon. The perspective for this diagram is with west up, north left and east down. When the moon is viewed looking west, for example viewing the waxing crescent just after sunset, the view of the Moon would be rotated by 180°. Note the surface features of the Moon are illustrative and do not accurately represent the Moon’s true surface.
Crédit : Aneta Margraf/IAU OAE

Termes du glossaire: Pleine lune , Phase lunaire , Nouvelle lune , Quartier de lune , Dernier croissant , Gibbeuse décroissante , Le premier croissant , Lune gibbeuse , Croissant de lune , Lune gibbeuse
Catégories : Astronomie à l'œil nu

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Pisces Constellation Map

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Légende : The constellation Pisces along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Pisces is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Andromeda, Pegasus, Aquarius, Cetus, Aries and Triangulum. Pisces lies on the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line), this is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun is in Pisces from mid March to mid April. Thus the Sun is in Pisces at the March equinox. At this point the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator. The Sun’s location at the spring equinox is used to set the zero point of the Right Ascension positional coordinate. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Pisces. Pisces spans the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth. In the most arctic or antarctic regions of the world, some parts of the constellation may not be visible. Pisces is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring The grand design spiral galaxy M74 is marked on this diagram with a small red circle. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Crédit : Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by IAU/Sky & Telescope
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Termes du glossaire: Andromède , Magnitude apparente , Bélier , Equinoxe , Coordonnées célestes , Constellation , Déclinaison , Ecliptique , Poissons , Ascension droite (AD) , Zodiaque , Verseau
Catégories : Astronomie à l'œil nu

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Hydrus Constellation Map

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Légende : The constellation Hydrus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Hydrus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Eridanus, Phoenix, Tucana, Octans, Mensa, Dorado, Reticulum and Horologium. Hydrus is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible in the southern hemisphere at some point in the year. As it lies close to the celestial south pole, only a small part of the northern hemisphere near the equator can see the whole of Hydrus, with other northern equatorial regions able to see parts of the constellation. Hydrus is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. This diagram maps an area around the south celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. The solid circle around the pole marks a line of -80° declination with the larger, incomplete circle to the right marking -70° declination. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Crédit : Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope
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Termes du glossaire: Magnitude apparente , Coordonnées célestes , Constellation , Déclinaison , Ascension droite (AD)
Catégories : Astronomie à l'œil nu

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