Astronomy and Astrophysics -Lecture 2:

Dr. Piyush Kuchhal

Professor, Department of Physics
pkuchhal@ddn.upes.ac.in
 Constellations

➢ Farming people were more interested in the solar cycle since it was linked with seed time
and harvest. Seafaring peoples like the Phoenicians(1500-300BC, occupied the coast of
eastern Mediterranean) and the Minoans (3000 BC -1100BC Island of crete) used the rising
and setting directions of the stars as navigational aids. It may well have been as an aid to
memory that the stars were grouped in constellations, embodying myths current at that time.
➢ Inspection of star maps shows that areas of the sky are divided into zones marked by
constellations. Within a constellation it is usual to find an asterism (a pattern of stars) which
is readily recognizable. Also some of the stars may carry a name, usually with an Arabic
origin, a Greek letter or a number to provide individual identification. At first sight, the
nomenclature may seem to be haphazard but this is simply the legacy of history.
➢ About half of the shapes and names of the constellations we are familiar with date back to
Mediterranean antiquity.
 Constellations
➢ But the names and boundaries were far from unambiguous as late as the 19th century.
Therefore the International astronomical Union (IAU) confirmed fixed boundaries at its 1928
meeting.
➢ However, the boundaries remain fixed with respect to the stars. So a star belonging to a
constellation will belong to it forever (unless it is moved across the boundary by its proper
motion).
➢ In his star atlas Uranometria (1603) Johannes Bayer started the current practice to denote
the brightest stars of each constellation by Greek letters. The brightest star is usually α
(alpha), e. g. Deneb in the constellation Cygnus is α Cygni, which is abbreviated as α Cyg.
The second brightest star is β (beta), the next one γ (gamma) and so on. There are, however,
several exceptions to this rule.
➢ As telescopes evolved, more and more stars were seen and catalogued. It soon became
impractical to continue this method of naming. Thus most of the stars are known only by
their catalogue index numbers. One star may have many different numbers; e. g. the Capella
(α Aurigae) is number BD+45◦ 1077 in the Bonner Durchmusterung and HD34029 in the
Henry Draper catalogue.
 Constellations

• 88 Constellations
– Only about half
visible in the
Northern
Hemisphere
• Bright stars
– About 25-30
Stars
 Annual motion of the earth about the sun

The earth is at its closest point to the sun (perihelion) on approximately 3 January and at its
farthest point (aphelion) on approximately 4 July. The earth is at its mean distance from the sun
on approximately 4 April and 5 October. The mean sun-earth distance r 0 is called one
astronomical unit : I AU ~ 1.496 X 1012 km
➢ For most e engineering and
technological applications, the
distance between earth and sun can
be expressed as

E0 is the eccentricity correction factor

and n is the day number
 Solar Declination, δ

➢ The plane of revolution of the earth around the sun is called the ecliptic plane. The earth
itself rotates around an axis called the polar axis, which is inclined at approximately 23.50
from the normal to the ecliptic plane.
➢ The earth's rotation around its axis causes the diurnal changes in radiation income; the
position of this axis relative to the sun causes seasonal changes in solar radiation.
➢ The angle between the polar axis and the normal to the ecliptic plane, however, remains
unchanged. The same is true of the angle between the earth's equatorial plane and the ecliptic
plane.
➢ However, the angle between a line joining the centers of the sun and the earth to the
equatorial plane changes every day, in fact every instant. This angle is called the solar
declination δ. It is zero at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes (literally, equal nights) and has
a value of approximately + 23.50 at the summer solstice and about -23.50 at tbe winter
solstice.
➢ The four seasons pertain here to the northern hemispbere; the reverse is true in the southern
hemisphere.
➢ δ Declination, The solar declination is the angular distance of the sun’s rays north (or
south) of the equator, north declination designated as positive.
➢ It is the angle between the sun-earth center line and the projection of this line on the
equatorial plane.
➢ Declinations north of the equator (summer in the Northern Hemisphere) are positive, and
those south are negative.
➢ The declination ranges from 0° at the spring equinox to 23.45° at the summer solstice, 0°
at the fall equinox, and -23.45° at the winter solstice.
➢ −23.45◦ ≤ δ≤ 23.45◦
Solar Declination, δ
 Solar Declination, δ
➢ Another means of describing tbe solar declination is by drawing a celestial
sphere with the earth at the center and the sun revolving around the earth.
In the celestial sphere, the celestial poles are the points at which the earth's
polar axis, when produced, cuts the celestial sphere. Similarly, the celestial
equator is an outward projection of the earth's equatorial plane on the
celestial sphere.
➢ The intersection of the plane of the earth's equator with the plane of the
sun's revolution, the ecliptic, makes an angle of approximately 23.50. At
any given time, the position of the sun relative to the plane of the celestial
equator describes the declination angle. The main variations in the
declination are due to the leap year cycle: during this four-year period, the
declination may vary from the order of ± 10' at the equinoxes to less than
± 1' at the solstices.
 Sidereal and Solar Time
➢ Solar time is based on the rotation of the earth about its polar axis and on its revolution
around the sun. A solar day is the interval of time (not necessarily 24 h) as the sun
appears to complete one cycle about a stationary observer on earth. The solar day varies
in length through the year.
➢ The two principal factors for this variance are the following: (i) the earth sweeps out
unequal areas on the ecliptic plane as it revolves around the sun, and (ii) the earth's axis is
tilted with respect to the ecliptic plane. In simple terms, this means that if an observer
facing the equator today sets a clock (running at a uniform rate) at 12 noon, when the sun
is directly over the local meridian, then after a month or so at 12 noon, clock time, the sun
may not appear exactly over the local meridian. A discrepancy of as much as 16 min is
possible. This discrepancy is called the equation of time and is measured relative to a
perfectly uniform terrestrial motion.
Γ = 2 𝜋 (𝑛 − 1)/365
 Apparent Solar Time (AST)

➢ it is not uncommon, for hourly or instantaneous data to be recorded against the local
standard time, In order to compute the incidence angles, it is necessary to determine the
corresponding local apparent time.
➢ To carry out this conversion, it is necessary to know the standard meridian for the local
time zone. All international standard meridians are multiples of 150 east or west of
Greenwich, England. Therefore, all standard times are hour multiples ahead of or behind
the Greenwich mean time (GMT).
➢ It may be added here that, although all international zone times are multiples of a whole
hour ahead of or behind GMT, it is not uncommon to find standards with a half-hour time
difference. For instance, Newfoundland standard time is a half hour ahead of Atlantic
standard time, and consequently its standard meridian is 52.50 W
 Apparent Solar Time (AST)

➢ Local apparent time (AST) for a given standard time can now be written
local apparent time (AST) = local standard time + longitude correction + equation of time
= local standard time + 4(LS – LC ) + Et
where LS is the standard longitude and LC is the local longitude:
➢ The longitude correction, 4 min for every degree, accounts for the difference between the
local and the standard meridians. It should be noted that the longitude correction is positive
if the local meridian is east of the standard and is negative west of the standard meridian.
The value of the equation of time E, is added algebraically; it may be positive or negative.
The correction for daylight saving time can be made appropriately.
 Sidereal Time

➢ Sidereal time is a timekeeping system that astronomers use to locate celestial

objects. Using sidereal time, it is possible to easily point a telescope to the
proper coordinates in the night sky. Briefly, sidereal time is a "time scale that is
based on Earth's rate of rotation measured relative to the fixed stars“.
➢ Viewed from the same location, a star seen at one position in the sky will be
seen at the same position on another night at the same sidereal time. This is
similar to how the time kept by a sundial can be used to find the location of
the Sun. Just as the Sun and Moon appear to rise in the east and set in the west
due to the rotation of Earth, so do the stars. Both solar time and sidereal time
make use of the regularity of Earth's rotation about its polar axis, solar time
following the Sun while sidereal time roughly follows the stars.
 Sidereal Time
➢ More exactly, sidereal time is the angle, measured along the celestial equator, from the
observer's meridian to the great circle that passes through the March equinox and
both celestial poles, and is usually expressed in hours, minutes, and seconds. Common
time on a typical clock measures a slightly longer cycle, accounting not only for Earth's
axial rotation but also for Earth's orbit around the Sun.
➢ The primary unit of sidereal time is the sidereal day, which is subdivided into 24 sidereal
hours, 1,440 sidereal minutes, and 86,400 sidereal seconds. Astronomers rely on
sidereal clocks because any given star will transit the same meridian at the same
sidereal time throughout the year. The sidereal day is almost 4 minutes shorter than the
mean solar day of 24 of the hours shown by ordinary timepieces.
➢ Sidereal time may be defined for any place on the Earth, but in the international system
used by astronomers each sidereal day begins at the instant the vernal equinox transits
the prime meridian. The vernal equinox is the point on the celestial sphere at which the
Sun crosses the plane of the Equator, moving from south to north.