August 26 10am Class Turn in HW 1 if you didnt turn it in on
Wednesday On line quiz #1: Go to d2l and click on Quizzes Open
book, notes, anything, but do not talk to other students No time
limit Unlimited number of attempts Graded automatically on d2l Will
start Saturday morning at 8am Finish before the beginning of class
next Friday Key will be posted after class next Friday. Slide 2
Lascaux Cave Paintings: Cro-Magnons recorded the lunar cycle 15,000
years ago http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/975360.stm
Slide 3 PATTERNS IN THE SKY Ancient peoples observed the Sun and
stars and created calendars that marked the yearly passage of time
Earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours Earth revolves around
the Sun once every 365 days The stars appear to rise in the east
and set in the west every night, on a big dome called the celestial
sphere. Slide 4 Celestial Sphere and Constellations The sky is
divided into 88 "official" constellations, although in reality the
stars in any particular constellation are at different distances
from Earth. Slide 5 Ancient Egyptian celestial sphere: the goddess
Nut (noot) c. 3000 BC Nut gave birth to the Sun god RA every
morning Slide 6 Hebrew Cosmology And God said, Let there be a vault
in the midst of the waters, and let it divide water from water. And
God made the vault and it divided the water beneath the vault from
the water above the vault, and so it was. - Genesis 1:6
Michaelangelos depiction of the creation Of the planets and stars
Slide 7 God had divided the waters "above" from the waters "below"
by constructing an immense dome that held open the space for dry
land. In the Hebrew Bible the dome is called "raqi'a," meaning a
firm substance, and rendered in the King James translation as "the
firmament The firmament in Biblical times was understood to be firm
only by the will of God. Slide 8 If God were angered, "the windows
of heaven" and "the fountains of the deep could burst open once
again and those lovely blue waters would destroy the Earth. A
painting by the American Edward Hicks (17801849), showing the
animals boarding Noah's Ark two by two. Slide 9 Slide 10 Slide 11
The orbital path of the Earth around the Sun is called the
ECLIPTIC. The Earths axis of rotation is tilted 23 degrees with
respect to the ecliptic plane. Slide 12 The orbit of the Earth
around the Sun is not a circle; it is an ellipse Slide 13 The
Earth's rotation is counter clockwise looking down on the N pole,
and results in the apparent motion of the celestial sphere --
everything rises in the East and sets in the west. solar day 1
solar day = time from one noon to the next = 24 hours Slide 14
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 Slide 15 Astronomers define
DECLINATION (Dec) and Right Ascension these are coordinates like
longitude and latitude but describe the position of stars,
galaxies, etc on the celestial sphere. At the north pole of Earth:
Slide 16 Figure 2.4: As viewed from the Earths North Pole Slide 17
Figure 2.3: The celestial sphere as a useful fiction Slide 18 Slide
19 Slide 20 Slide 21 Circumpolar Stars Always above Horizon In the
Northern Hemisphere, they Appear to rotate around The North Star,
Polaris In the Southern Hemisphere, No bright star at rotation
center Slide 22 Figure 2.5: Our perspective on the sky depends on
our location Slide 23 Figure 2.9, Right: Celestial sphere at
different latitudes Slide 24 The orbital path of the Earth around
the Sun is called the ECLIPTIC. The Earths axis of rotation is
tilted 23 degrees with respect to the ecliptic plane. Slide 25
Figure 2.10: Earths orbit and constellations along the ecliptic The
Zodiac = The constellations along the ECLIPTIC Slide 26 Astrology
and Horoscopes: Assumption is that the position of the Sun and
planets at the exact moment of your birth determines what will
happen in your life. Horoscopes: very general statements that can
apply to anybody. What is the probability that 1/12 of the worlds
people are having the same kind of day? Different schools of
astrology contradict each other. Superstitions: Thinking that one
action causes another when there is no actual connection c.f. B.F.
Skinners pigeons and pigeon religion
