Astronomy 170: Aug. 24 -- 10am class

1. Astronomy 170: Aug. 24 -- 10am class Turn in HW 1 in the front of the room. If you didn’t get HW 1 on Monday, turn it in on Friday. If you didn’t get the telescope lab on Monday, pick it up from Johanna. If you weren’t in class on Monday and need all 3 handouts, get them from Johanna. Turn in HW 1 on Friday. If you didn’t get the honors section instructions, get them from Megan. We increased the enrollment limit for the honors section, Section 3. If you are in Section 2 and want honors credit for this class, you must fill out a change of section form and have Prof. Bechtold sign it.

2. Back to our COSMIC ADDRESS Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona United States, North America Earth Solar System Milky Way Galaxy: The Sun is one star of many in the Milky Way The Milky Way as seen from Earth

3. Spiral Galaxy

5. Our Milky Way, Plus many “dwarf” satellite galaxies

6. The LOCAL GROUP

7. The Andromeda Galaxy The other big spiral galaxy in the Local Group About 2.5 million Light years from The Milky Way

8. The Local Group is on the edge of the VIRGO CLUSTER OF GALAXIES

9. A photograph of the center of the VIRGO CLUSTER OF GALAXIES

10. SUPER- CLUSTERS

13. OUR COSMIC ADDRESS Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona United States, North America Earth Solar System Milky Way Galaxy Local Group of Galaxies Virgo Cluster of Galaxies Local Supercluster of Galaxies The UNIVERSE Summary

14. Patterns in the Sky:Descriptive Astronomy Astronomy: From the Greek astronomos astron = star nomos = a system of laws Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences The earliest humans studied the night sky and the motion of the stars and planets

15. Constellations There are about 6000 stars visible to the naked eye on a clear, moonless night at a dark site People like to see patterns: Constellations are patterns in the stars that look like people, everyday objects, animals Earliest records of constellations date to 3000 BC Modern astronomers have divided the sky into 88 constellations

16. Example: Orion, the Hunter

17. The Big Dipper; Polaris (the North Star)

18. Constellations are just apparent patterns on the sky The stars in a particular constellation may or may not be physically near each other in space Most often the stars in a constellation are at very different distances from Earth From a different star in the Milky Way, constellations would be different.

19. The Celestial Sphere

20. Why define constellations? Story-telling mneumonics Religious and ritual meanings Navigational aids Phoenicians, Pacific Islanders used constellations to sail great distances Watch constellations move as Earth rotates  define time, calendars

21. Motion of Stars in the Sky Key Facts and Concepts: • The Earth ROTATES on its axis once every 24 hours • The Earth REVOLVES around the Sun once a year • The Earth’s rotation is counterclockwise looking down • on the North Pole and thus the Sun and stars appear • to RISE in the East and SET in the West.

23. The orbital path of the Earth around the Sun is called the ECLIPTIC. • The Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted 23 ½ degrees with respect to the • ecliptic plane.

24. The orbit of the Earth around the Sun is not a circle; it is an ellipse

25. Longitude and Latitude Longitude and latitude define your position on Earth. The zero of latitude is the Equator The zero of longitude is the prime meridian: line which passes through the old Greenwich observatory outside London, England. Tucson: Latitude 32 degrees North, Longitude: 110 degrees west