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Some imagination required!. When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer by Walt Whitman. When I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
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Some imagination required!
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomerby Walt Whitman When I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
Alternate models • geocentric • heliocentric Which model is “true”?
Diurnal motion • Daily motion of all the objects in the sky
Motion of the Earth • Rotation about axis once every 23h56m (sidereal day) • Revolution about sun once every 365.25 days • Precession of axis every 26,000 yr • All are counterclockwise (seen looking down from North Pole)
Precession Takes 26,000 years
What causes seasons? • Northern and Southern hemispheres have opposite seasons • Earth closest to sun in January • Varying distance of sun only changes intensity of light coming to earth by a few percent
Summer Solstice • Sun highest in sky • shortest shadows • Longest day • Most direct sunlight • warmest • Sun is at the northernmost point of the ecliptic Winter Solstice just the opposite!
Equinoxes • Vernal (spring) and autumnal (fall) • Equal hours of daylight & darkness • True everywhere on Earth! • Sun is at the point where ecliptic crosses celestial equator • Length of day changing fastest
Waxing crescent What phase is the moon in today?
Eclipses • Caused by shadows of earth & moon • Don’t occur every month because of 5° inclination of moon’s orbit
Web sites Astronomy Picture of the Day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Comins & Kaufmann (textbook) http://whfreeman.com/dtu6e others space.com astronomydaily.com skyandtelescope.com