Define equatorial celestial coordinates-right ascension
1. Describe the concept of the Celestial Sphere and the various point & lines defined on its surface.
2. What are constellations? How come most constellations don’t look much like the persons/animals/objects… that they’re named after?
3. Define the equatorial celestial coordinates: Right Ascension (RA) & Declination (Dec).
4. Define the horizon based celestial coordinates: Azimuth (Azm) & Altitude (Alt).
5. How is local apparent solar time (sundial time) defined? What motion of the Earth is most related to sundial time? Is this the only motion of the Earth related to it?
6. Describe how Local Mean (solar) Time (LMT) and Local Standard Time are related to local apparent solar time. Use the specific example of eastern standard time (EST) which is our local standard time.
7. What is sidereal time? Give two definitions of the Local Mean Sidereal Time (LMST). How long is a sidereal day compared to a solar day? What makes the difference?
8. Is the definition of a week based primarily on a celestial cycle or on some other celestial events or objects? Explain.
9. What celestial cycle is most related to a month?
10. What celestial cycle is a year based on? What motion of the Earth causes this cycle?
11. What causes the seasons? How are the equinoxes and solstices related to the seasons? Describe the daily motion of the Sun on the equinoxes and solstices. (Where does it rise, how high does it transit the meridian, where does it set?)
12. Does the whole Earth experience the same season at the same time? (i.e. If it’s summer in Dahlonega, is it summer everywhere else on the Earth?) What is solar insolation and what does it have to do with the seasons?
13. What is precession? Does it have any effect on time or the seasons as they are defined?
14. List the lunar phases. Using the moon phase diagram in the outline (or book) explain the relationship between the Earth-Moon-Sun positions and the lunar phase. Also show how the observer’s position on the Earth sets the local (observer’s) time of day and where the observer sees the Moon in the sky.
15. What is a solar eclipse? What phase must the Moon be in for a solar eclipse to occur? Describe total, partial, and annular solar eclipses. (Define and use the terms “umbra” and “penumbra” in describing solar eclipses.)
16. What is a lunar eclipse? Describe total, partial, and penumbral lunar eclipses. What phase must the Moon be in for a lunar eclipse to occur?
17. What is the maximum number of solar and lunar eclipses that could happen in 1 year? What is an “eclipse year” and how is it related to the “line of nodes”? What is the Saros cycle?
18. Discuss some examples of early Greek astronomical ideas and early Greek astronomers. Specifically, what were some of the contributions of Aristotle, Aristarchus, Eratosthenes and Hipparchus? Draw and explain a diagram of Eratosthenes’ measurement of the circumference of the Earth.
