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Aug 10, 2023 · The stars may seem fixed, but they’re not. Here are a few of the ways we can watch the heavens change. The Large Magellanic Cloud, as viewed by ESA’s Gaia satellite. Information about the ...
Feb 10, 2015 · But stars also have their own proper motion through space. So when we say that stars "move", it could be because of the Earth, because of their own movements, or because of both! The Earth takes ...
But stars can move for other reasons as well. Maybe we're observing a binary system where two stars are orbiting around each other. Maybe the stars are embedded in a galaxy that is itself rotating ...
- The Stars from Utah
- Constellations
- Measuring Angles
- The Rate of Rotation
- The Celestial Sphere
- The Stars from Other Locations
- The Size of The Earth
- Which Is Really Moving?
- Additional Resources
Here’s a time-exposure photo that vividly illustrates the motion of the stars through a portion of our sky: As time passes, the stars rise in the east (just like the sun). But notice thatthey rise diagonally, not straight up. The diagonal goes from north (left) tosouth (right). After a few hours, these same stars will appear high in the southern sk...
Notice also that as the stars move through the sky, they stay in the same patterns.That is, the apparent “distance” between any two stars never changes. A given patternof stars may move across the sky and turn sideways or even upside-down, but it won'tgrow larger or smaller, or change its shape in any other way. The permanence of the stellar patter...
When we talk about the apparent "distance" between two points in the sky, we're reallytalking about an angle, measured between the two imaginary lines runningfrom your your eye out to those points: The bigger the angle, the farther apart the two points appear to be in the sky.The actual distancebetween two stars is much harder to determine, as we'l...
Now look back at the east- and west-facing star trail photosat the top of this page. The stars in these photos are following circular arcs thatbegin in the east, pass high across the southern sky, and end in the west.You, the observer, are at the approximate center of these circular arcs, so you candirectly measure the angle through which these sta...
To simplify their understanding of the motions of the sky, ancient people invented amechanical model to explain these motions. We still use this model today because it's soconvenient—even though it's wrong. If you can visualize the model, you won't have tomemorize a whole bunch of separate facts about how the stars move. The model is simply that th...
I've described the stellar motions as they appear from my home in Ogden,Utah, at a latitude of 41° north of the equator. What about other locations? Moving east or west makes no difference, except to determine whenyou see things.If you live farther east, you'll see any given star rise and set sooner; if you live fartherwest, each star rises and set...
Once you understand how the earth's curvature makes the stars shift as you travel,you can easily determine the earth's circumference. All you have to do is travel directly north or southfor some measured distance, and measure the angular shift of stars near the meridian. Since the North Staris always very close to the meridian (and easy to learn to...
Throughout this discussion I've described the motions of the starswith respect to our horizon. It's natural to assume that our horizon, and hence the earthbelow it, is truly fixed, and therefore that the stars truly move around in huge circlesonce each day. But if you think about it, we can account for all the same observations if we assume thatthe...
There are tons of great resources out there that can help you learn about stellarmotions, constellations, and the celestial sphere: 1. Definitely check out the Sky Motion Applet.Drag the time and date dials to see how the stars move around. Drag the horizon to see the viewin different directions. Turn on the "trails" feature to make simulated long-...
Nov 13, 2014 · The celestial sphere. To an observer on Earth, the stars appear to move together across the sky during the night, rising in the east and setting in the west. In reality, this does not happen. The stars appear to rise and set for the same reason the Sun does. As the Earth rotates on its axis, the spin carries the visible portion of the sky past ...
Jan 14, 2022 · The truth is, it's not the stars that are moving, it's us! Do you know how the Earth moves in space? What do we orbit? Acknowledgements. With thanks to Sydney Observatory. Production Date: 2016 ...
Jan 5, 2017 · Which stars we see changes as we move across the world. And the changing length of the days and seasons are driven by our orbit around the Sun. The daylight side of the Earth over an entire year.
