1. Night Sky Watching (Basics)

2. Stars Pivot around a Point

3. The North Celestial Pole (NCP)  Special spot on the sky that the Earth’s rotation axis points to  Why special? During the night the stars appear to rotate around this spot  Also special (and useful) in other ways …

4. Watching Stars from the North Pole

5. Constellations are Big

6. Big Dipper: Points to Polaris  http://www.astropix.com/HTML/C_S PRING/URSAS.HTM http://www.astropix.com/HTML/C_S PRING/URSAS.HTM http://www.astropix.com/HTML/C_S PRING/URSAS.HTM

7. Finding Polaris

8. Lucky Breaks!  The star Polaris is amazing close to NCP (now)  The “pointer stars” in the Big Dipper line up directly with Polaris!!!!  Big Dipper is circumpolar constellation –See it all night and all year  Polaris also called Pole Star, North Star

9. Big Dipper

10. Why care about finding Polaris?  The direction of Polaris is due North  The angle between Polaris and the horizon is YOUR LATITUDE  How can I measure angles?

12. Big Dipper as Star Guide

13. Constellations

14. Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090627.htm l http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090627.htm l  Summer Triangle  http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090912.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090912.html  Winter Hexagon  http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021106.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021106.html

15. Summer Triangle

16. Winter Hexagon

17. Constellation Facts  Group of stars all in roughly the same direction from Earth, BUT …. Each has its own different distance from the Earth –Therefore, NOT grouped together is space  From Greek astronomers have inherited the names of the constellations: mythological figures or animals  Different cultures on Earth each have different names for the constellations

18. Constellation Stars at Different Distances from Earth

19. Visible Constellations change over a year  May have heard … –“Orion is a winter constellation” –“You can see Cygnus most of the summer”  Above comments arise because you cannot see the Constellations near where the Sun is in the sky –Sun so bright it washes out rest of stars  Since Sun moves along the Ecliptic over a year the constellations “away” from the Sun change over a year.

20. Constellations on opposite side of Sun (Opposition)

21. The Zodiac  Band of constellations closest to the Ecliptic (Sun’s yearly path across the sky)  Correspond to Horoscope “Signs” –Astrology used to make predictions (not science!)  Useful for backyard astronomy: Planets and the Moon can always be found in the Zodiac  Width of the Zodiac belt ~ 18°

24. Mercury Mars Saturn

25. Naming Stars Brightest star in constellation Taurus Greek name: α Taurus Arabic name: Aldebaran “Al Debarren” “The Follower” (of the Pleiades)