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Celestial Coordinate Systems

Learning Objectives
Know the ultimate goal of celestial navigation.
Know the definitions of terms and components
associated with the terrestrial, celestial, and horizon
coordinate systems.
Know the relationship between the terrestrial,
celestial, and horizon coordinate systems.
Apply correct procedures to describe the location of
a celestial body in reference to the celestial and
horizon coordinate systems.

The Goal of Celestial Navigation

The solution of spherical triangles of sides


based on the observed positions of celestial
bodies, in order to determine the position of a
vessel.
100 years ago, this involved some
complicated spherical trigonometry.
Today, it requires the use of tables or a
navigational calculator (HP makes one).

Understanding the Sky

By carefully watching the sky,


astronomers learn about how the
universe works. By studying eclipses
and the motions of the planets,
astronomers eventually realized that
gravity controls the way things move,

and that gravity was responsible for


the motion of the Sun, the Moon, and
the stars in our sky as well.

We now know that the Earth's


motion is responsible for seasons.

SOLAR SYSTEM
The Sun and the collection of celestial bodies that orbit it. These include the
nine planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
and Pluto) and their 60 moons, the asteroid belt, the comets and the Kuiper
belt.

by position relative to the Sun:


inner planets: Mercury, Venus,
Earth and Mars.
outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
The asteroid belt between Mars
and Jupiter forms the boundary
between the inner solar system
and the outer solar system.
by position relative to Earth:
inferior planets: Mercury and
Venus.
closer to the Sun than Earth.
The inferior planets show
phases like the Moon's when
viewed from Earth.
superior planets: Mars thru
Pluto.
farther from the Sun than
Earth.

The superior planets always


appear full or nearly so.

Like all planets in our solar system, the Earth is in an elliptical orbit around
our Sun In Earth's case, its orbit is nearly circular, so that the difference
between Earth's farthest point from the Sun and its closest point is very small.

at perihelion both hemispheres were 147.5 million km from the Sun.


That barely differs from the greatest distance, 152.6 million km in July, which
astronomers call aphelion.
Perihelion always occurs near January 4th, while aphelion lands near the 4th
of July.

The Earth travels around the sun in an ellipse.


If the Earth were to orbit the sun in a circle, the Earth's
speed around the sun would be constant. We can think of
this as the Earth's average speed.
However, because the Earth's orbit is elliptical, the speed
of the Earth varies throughout the year.
The speed of the Earth is fastest when it is closest to the
sun, in January, and slowest when it is farthest away from
the sun, in July.
In other words, in January it will be moving faster than
average, and in July it will be moving slower than average.

Earth's orbit defines a two-dimensional plane which


we call the ecliptic. It takes roughly 365 days for
the Earth to go around the Sun once.

This means that the Earth is rushing through space


around the Sun at a rate of about 67,000 miles per
hour! The time it takes for the Earth to go around
the Sun one full time is what we call a year.

There are three ways that Earth's


orbit changes over time.

Eccentricity: The shape of


Earth's orbit around the Sun
becomes slightly more and then
less oval every100,000 years.
Precession: Earth wobbles on it
axis as it spins, completing a full
wobble every 23,000 years.
Tilt: The angle of the Earth's axis
relative to the plane of its orbit
changes about three degrees
every 41,000 years.

The Seasonal Merry-Go-Round

The tilt of Earth's rotational axis and the Earth's


orbit work together to create the seasons. As the
Earth travels around the Sun, it remains tipped in
the same direction, towards the star Polaris. This
means that sometimes the northern half of the
Earth is pointing towards the Sun (summer), and
sometimes it is pointing away (winter). These
points in the Earth's orbit are called solstices.
Notice that when the northern hemisphere is tilted
towards the Sun, the southern hemisphere is
tilted away. This explains why the hemispheres
have opposite seasons.
Halfway in between the solstices, the Earth is
neither tilted directly towards nor directly away
from the Sun. At these times, called the
equinoxes, both hemispheres receive roughly
equal amounts of sunlight. Equinoxes mark the
seasons of autumn and spring and are a
transition between the two more extreme
seasons, summer and winter.

The ecliptic is the path the sun appears to take among


the stars due to the annual revolution of the earth in its
orbit.
It is considered a great circle of the celestial sphere,
inclined at an angle of about 2326' to the celestial
equator, but undergoing a continuous slight change.
This angle is called the obliquity of the ecliptic.
This inclination is due to the fact that the axis of rotation of
the earth is not perpendicular to its orbit.
It is this inclination which causes the sun to appear to
move north and south during the year, giving the earth its
seasons and changing lengths of periods of daylight.

The two points at which the ecliptic crosses the equator


are called equinoxes ( meaning equal nights).

When the sun reaches its maximum declination of about 23o


25 N or S is called solstice (meaning sun standing still).

On or about June21, about


10 or 11 days before
reaching aphelion, the
northern part of the earths
axis is tilted toward the sun.
The north polar regions are
having continuous sunlight;
the Northern Hemisphere is
having its summer with
long, warm days and short
nights;
the Southern Hemisphere is
having winter with short
days and long, cold nights;
and the south polar region
is in continuous darkness.
This is the summer
solstice.

The Summer Solstice

Let's pretend, for the moment, that you're the


person standing on the Earth in the picture to
the left, living in Topeka, Kansas, around 40
N latitude. The picture on the left shows the
view from the solar system (upper panel), and
from on the surface of the earth (lower panel).
Notice that some of the same features are
labelled on each panel. The upper panel shows
that on the summer solstice (which occurs
around June 21), the northern half of the
Earth is tilted towards the Sun. Notice that the
Sun is north of the equator. For you in Topeka,
the altitude of the Sun at noon is 73.5, which
is pretty high in the sky. In fact, that is as high
as the Sun ever gets at that latitude. The
bottom panel shows how the Sun moves
through the sky for someone standing on the
ground in Topeka.
So in general, the northern hemisphere is
getting more direct sunlight, which heats the
Earth most efficiently, than the southern
hemisphere. This is summer for people in the
northern hemisphere. During the summer, the
Sun is also above the horizon longer than it is
during the winter. The summer solstice is the
longest day of the year.

on or about December
22, the
Southern Hemisphere
is tilted toward the
sun and conditions are
the reverse of those
six months earlier;
the Northern
Hemisphere is having
its winter,
and the Southern
Hemisphere its
summer.
This is the winter
solstice.

The Winter Solstice

Let's pretend, for the moment, that you're the


person standing on the Earth in the picture to the
left, living in Topeka, Kansas, around 40 N latitude.
The picture on the left shows the view from the
solar system (upper panel), and from on the surface
of the earth (lower panel). Notice that some of the
same features are labelled on each panel. The upper
panel shows that on the winter solstice (which
occurs around December 21), the northern half of
the Earth is tilted away from the Sun. Notice that
the Sun is south of the equator. For you in Topeka,
the altitude of the Sun at noon is 26.5, which is
pretty low in the sky. That is the lowest the Sun
gets at that latitude.. The bottom panel shows how
the Sun moves through the sky for someone
standing on the ground in Topeka.
So, on the winter solstice, the northern hemisphere
is getting less direct sunlight than the southern
hemisphere. This is winter for people in the northern
hemisphere. During the winter, the Sun is also
above the horizon for a shorter time than it is during
the summer (the nights are long). The winter
solstice is the shortest day of the year. At this same
time, the southern half of the Earth is tilted toward
the Sun.

about September 23, the earth


has moved a quarter of the way
around the sun, but its axis of
rotation still points in about the
same direction in space.
The sun shines equally on both
hemispheres, and days and
nights are the same length
over the entire world.
The sun is setting at the North
Pole and rising at the South
Pole.
The Northern Hemisphere is
having its autumn, and the
Southern Hemisphere its spring.
This is the autumnal equinox.

on or about March
21when both hemispheres
again receive equal
amounts of sunshine,
the Northern Hemisphere
is having spring and
the Southern Hemisphere
is having autumn,
the reverse of conditions
six months before.
This is the vernal equinox
or first point of Aries.

The Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes

We're still pretending that you're the person


standing on the Earth in the picture to the left, living
in Topeka, Kansas, around 40 N latitude. The
picture on the left shows the view from the solar
system (upper panel), and from on the surface of
the earth (lower panel). Notice that some of the
same features are labelled on each panel. In the
upper panel, the Earth's axis is pointing into your
computer screen. The upper panel shows that on an
equinox (which occurs around March and September
21), neither half of the Earth points directly towards
the Sun. In fact, the Sun is at the equator, so both
halves of the Earth are getting about the same
amount of sunlight. For you in Topeka, the altitude
of the Sun is about 50, in between its altitude on
the solstices. The bottom panel shows how this looks
to someone standing on the ground in Topeka.
Equinox literally means "equal night". On the vernal
(spring) and autumnal (fall) equinoxes, day and
night are the same length. Neither hemisphere gets
more sunlight than the other, so both have similar
seasons (fall in one hemisphere and spring in the
other).

Everywhere between the parallels of about 2326'N


and about 2326'S the sun is directly overhead at some
time during the year.
Except at the extremes, this occurs twice:
once as the sun appears to move northward, and the
second time as it moves southward.
This is the torrid zone. The northern limit is the Tropic of
Cancer,

and the southern limits the Tropic of Capricorn.

Tropic of Cancer - The northern parallel of declination, approximately 23o 27


from the celestial equator, reached by the sun at its maximum northerly
declination, or the corresponding parallel on the earth.

Tropic of Capricorn - the southern parallel of declination, approximately 23o 27


from the celestial equator, reached by the sun at its maximum southerly
declination, or the corresponding parallel on the earth.

The parallels about 2326' from the poles, marking the


approximate limits of the circumpolar sun, are called polar
circles.
The one in the Northern Hemisphere being the Arctic Circle
and the one in the Southern Hemisphere the Antarctic
Circle.
The areas inside the polar circles are the north and south
frigid zones. The regions between the frigid zones and the
torrid zones are the north and south temperate zones.

Arctic circle

66o 33N

Arctic circle - the parallel of latitude at about 66o 33 N marking the


southern limit of the north frigid zone.

Antarctic Circle
66o 33 S

Antarctic circle - the parallel of latitude at about 66o 33S, marking the
northern limit of the south Frigid zone.

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