Celestial Navigation

Outline
•  Constellations
•  Coordinate Systems
•  Celestial Sphere
•  Precession
•  Seasons
•  Apparent Motions of the Sun
 What’s Up?
•  Stars: 88 Constellations, about 3000 stars visible
(by eye) at any time

•  Sun: Does it appear to move? On the same path

from day to day?

•  Moon: Does it always look the same?

•  Planets: Do they stay put? Which ones can we

see without a telescope?
On modern star charts, all stars are contained in some
constellation on the sky – here is Orion:
88 constellations officially recognized by the
International Astronomical Union (IAU).

But are the

stars really all
together in
space?

(Recall: light-
year is the
distance light
travels in one
year, or
9.46 x 1012 km,
or 63,240 AU.
Speed of light is
3 x 105 km/s.)
 Star patterns can help you find your way
around the sky or navigate at sea.

Note: angular
distance
between Polaris
and Spica is
about 100°, so
this is a big
chunk of the sky.

Consult the star

charts in your
book!
An asterism is a star pattern that is not
classified as a constellation.
Why do we see different constellations at
different times? Two reasons:
1. Over the night, “diurnal motion”, due to the
rotation of the Earth. Earth rotates from west
to east, so sky appears to rotate from east to
west. Stars rise and set.

Stars appear as trails due

to diurnal motion. The
trails are called diurnal
circles.
 Circumpolar stars and constellations never rise or set.

In the northern sky, circles are

centered on a point close to
Polaris, the Pole Star.

Q: where are these stars during

the day?
2. Over the year, the nighttime side of Earth
gradually turns toward different parts of the sky, so
different constellations are visible during the course
of the year.

These
constellations
are nearly
overhead at
midnight local
time here for the
months shown.

So why would it
be tricky to try
and observe
Cygnus from
Albuquerque in
January or Note: this drawing is
February? not to scale!!!
 Astronomical Navigation

•  Determining latitude is easy – just look at the

Sun at transit, or famous stars at transit, or
polaris.

•  Longitude is hard, Longitude act of 1714

described prizes for determining longitude with
accuracy better than 1 degree, or better than 0.5
degrees
 Astronomical Navigation

Local Time Time at Greenwich

Time Difference = Longitude

 Astronomical coordinate systems

•  Purpose: to locate astronomical objects on the

sky

•  The “sky” is a two-dimensional surface, a

sphere above our heads. We use an angular
coordinate system to locate objects on a sphere
 The zenith is the point The view from our latitude:
directly overhead (cf. nadir).

The horizon delimits the

portions of the sky we
can and can’t see at any
given time.

The meridian is the

north-south circle that
passes through the
zenith and both celestial Cardinal
poles. directions

Over the course of a night, the

celestial sphere appears to
rotate around us. Question: what does A.M. mean? P.M.?
 Circumpolar stars never set (or rise).

This picture is taken

from Australia, at
about -35° south
latitude.

Can astronomers ever

see Polaris from this
observatory?

Is there a southern
“pole star”?
(Note: you have to be at a latitude less than 30°N to see the
Southern Cross)
 Celestial Coordinates
The imaginary Celestial Sphere is what astronomers
use to define positions of objects in the sky.

Angular coordinates on the sphere tell us in what

direction to look to see a particular star, or galaxy,
etc.

Two coordinate systems worth mentioning

 The Horizon Coordinate System
•  Altitude
–  Angle above the horizon
–  0-90º Meridian
–  The altitude of the north
celestial pole equals the
observer's latitude on Earth.
Useful for navigation!
•  Azimuth
–  Angle measured eastward
along horizon, starting from
the north
–  0-360º
 Pros and cons of the horizon system
•  Pros
–  Easy to understand

•  Cons
–  At different position on the
Earth, the same object has
different coordinates
–  At different times, the same
object has different
coordinates

The coordinates of an object change in the horizon system!

 The Equatorial coordinate system
•  A system in which the coordinates of stars and galaxies do NOT
change for observers at different locations on Earth (well, almost…
more later)
•  The coordinates are called Right Ascension and Declination, and are
analogous to longitude and latitude on Earth.

•  The equatorial coordinate system is fixed to the celestial sphere.

Declination (Dec) is a set of
imaginary lines parallel to the
celestial equator.
Declination is the angular
distance north or south of
the celestial equator.
Defined to be 0° at the
celestial equator, 90° at the
north celestial pole, and -90°
at the south celestial pole.

Right ascension (RA):

imaginary lines that
connect the celestial
poles.
Right ascension is the
angular distance eastward
from the vernal equinox.
Vernal equinox is the point on the celestial
equator the Sun crosses on its march
north - the start of spring in the northern
hemisphere (cp. Greenwich 0° longitude).
More on this later.
•  Declination (Dec) is measured in degrees,
arcminutes, and arcseconds. 0° to +90° in north,
and 0° to -90° in south. (Also can see N and S
nomenclature)

•  Right ascension (RA) is measured in units of time:

hours, minutes, and seconds. Ranges 0h – 24h

•  This stresses that the sky is rotating over us as time

passes, making changes in the sky more meaningful
to observers.
•  Nebraska RA-Dec demonstrator
Example 1: The star Regulus has coordinates
RA = 10h 08m 22.2s
Dec = 11° 58' 02"

Example 2: If a star with RA of 23h is overhead at

midnight, then a star with RA of 22h would
have been overhead an hour earlier.

Example 3: In Albuquerque, our zenith is at Dec=35°,

and an RA that is always changing
•  Caution: a star’s RA and Dec change slowly
with time due to "precession" of the Earth.

•  Celestial coordinates are exactly right for only one

instant in time.

•  Astronomers use "epochs", generally now 2000, to

make sure everyone’s using the same reference
frame! The coordinates given for Regulus are for
epoch 2000.
 Precession
The direction where the Earth’s poles point isn’t
always the same – the Earth is wobbling like a top.

Why? Due to the gravitational pull of the Sun and the

Moon on the non-spherical Earth.

The Earth has an equatorial bulge – It is a little fatter

across the equator than around the poles. (Diameter
difference is 43 km out of 12,756 km)
The gravitational pull of Sun and Moon on Earth’s
equatorial bulge causes the poles to trace out a
circle, like a spinning, wobbling top. This is
"precession".
 So the north celestial pole slowly traces out a circle among
the northern constellations. It takes 26,000 years to trace
out one circle.

Polaris won’t
always be our "pole
star"! Most of the
time we don’t have
one!

Thus RA and Dec

coordinates, which
are tied to the
positions of the
celestial poles and
celestial equator,
change slowly with
time.
 What causes the seasons?
•  The Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted with respect to
the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

•  Rotation axis inclined 23.5° away from the

perpendicular to the orbital plane.

=> This causes solar illumination and number of

daylight hours to vary at any location throughout the
year.
When the Sun is higher in the sky (summer), energy is
concentrated, and ground heats up.

When the Sun is lower (winter), its energy is more diffuse,

and ground stays cooler.

Also, there are more hours of daylight in the summer,

making it hotter.
My Solar Energy production is best around June 21
Vernal equinox is the point on the celestial
equator the Sun crosses on its march north - the
start of spring in the northern hemisphere .

Vernal equinox
 Erroneous explanation of seasons
•  Some think seasons are caused by the Earth being
closer or farther away from the Sun.

•  Not true, because:

–  When it is summer in the northern hemisphere, there is
winter in the southern
–  The Earth's orbit is almost a circle
–  The Earth is closest to the Sun in January
 More on Sun’s apparent motion as
seen from Earth

The Ecliptic

•  Because of the tilt of the Earth's rotation axis, the Sun

seems to travel on a path on the celestial sphere, the
“ecliptic”, which is tilted 23.5° with respect to the
celestial equator.
•  It appears to us that the Sun travels around the Celestial
Sphere once a year. A parallax effect: as we orbit Sun, it
is projected against different stars. After 1 year, it returns
to same position relative to the stars (ecliptic sim)
 Equinoxes
•  The 2 intersections of the celestial equator and the
ecliptic are called the equinoxes. (Equinoctis =
equal nights)
•  Day and night are 12 hours long when the Sun
passes through these points
Solstices and Equinoxes
In March, the Sun moves
northward across the celestial
equator - at the vernal equinox
(recall this defines 0h RA).

In September, the Sun moves

southward across the celestial
equator - at the autumnal
equinox.

The summer and winter

solstices occur at the
northernmost and
southernmost points of the
ecliptic.
Apparent path of the Sun over the
day at different times of year

Sun’s motion
demonstrator
Change in length of day for people at high latitudes
is quite dramatic! Above Arctic Circle, Sun never
sets for some days in summer.
 The Zodiac
•  As the Sun moves along the Ecliptic it passes through 12
constellations known as the Zodiac

•  Ecliptic (Zodiac) simulator

 Distance and Brightness
Distance to Deneb 3230 light-years
Distance to Vega 25 light-years
Distance to Altair 168 light-years

But they appear

almost as bright -
Deneb must be
superluminous.
 Aside: A closer look

•  You are not required to know the following

details for the exams… but hopefully you will
appreciate what’s involved in the relation
between horizontal and equatorial coordinates.

•  Problem: I've got the RA and Dec coordinates

for my favorite object, but where is it really on
the sky tonight?
 The easy way
•  Find a close constellation that you can
easily recognize.

•  Estimate the offset in degrees from your

favorite source.

•  Use the telescope dial (or your hands and

fingers) to locate your source on the sky
when you have identified the constellation.
 The accurate way

P = North Pole
Z = zenith
X = location of object
α  = RA φ

δ  = Dec
A = azimuth
a = altitude
φ = observer's latitude
Given α, we have H = RA of meridian-RA of object, convert H to degrees
(multiply by 15).
Now we want azimuth A and altitude a.

The cosine rule:

cos(90°-a) = cos(90°-δ)cos(90°-φ) +
sin(90°-δ)sin(90°-φ)cos(H)
which simplifies to:
φ
sin(a) = sin(δ) sin(φ) + cos(δ)cos(φ)cos(H)

The sine rule:

sin(360°-A)/sin(90°-δ) = sin(H)/sin(90°-a)
which simplifies to:
-sin(A)/cos(δ) = sin(H)/cos(a)
sin(A) = - sin(H) cos(δ)/cos(a)
 Recommendations
•  Use a computer software program, either something that
comes with your telescope or something separate

•  DEMO stellarium

•  Use the Astronomical Almanac, or similar

Eratosthenes Determines the Size of the Earth in about 200 B.C.

Sun's rays

Syene
Alexandria

S 7.2o
Syene – Alexandria
is 5000 stadia Earth
He knows the distance between the two cities is 5000 "stadia".

From geometry then,

7.2o 5000 stadia

=
360o Earth's
circumference
=> circumference is 250,000 stadia, or 40,000 km.

So radius is:
40,000 km
= 6366 km
2π

(very close to modern value, 6378

km!)