WK02_Night_Sky
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School
Indiana University, Bloomington *
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Course
A105
Subject
Astronomy
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
Pages
4
Uploaded by DrIron12403
A105 Stars and Galaxies
Week 2 Exploration: The Night Sky
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All work is individual!
Part 1:
Finding Planets
Did you know that five out of eight planets in our Solar System are bright enough to see without
a telescope (with the “naked eye”)? They are often brighter than even the brightest stars.
Planets go round the Sun, as Earth does, so they will be changing their positions in the sky with
respect to the stars. Plus, on any given day a planet will rise and set at some time as the Eearth
spins. If the planet rises during daytime and sets before it gets dark, then it will
not
be visible at
night until some later time (perhaps in a few months). Calculating where on the sky a planet is
on a given day and hours is complicated, so we use computer software for that, like the online
“planetarium”
Stellarium
.
So, it is your task to find out which of the five "naked eye" planets will be above the horizon in
the evening sky around this time of year. For definitiveness, check the visibility of the planets for
September 4, 11 pm
. You do not need to wait until that date to find this out; you can set the
date and time in the future or past in Stellarium itself. Once set, you can pause the time. Make
sure your position is set for Bloomington. If that is not the case using autolocation, change it
manually.
a) Is the planet visible?
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
b) What about the Moon? Is it visible?
Moon
c) Focusing on Jupiter and Saturn, answer the questions below.
In which constellation can Saturn be found at this time?
Click here to enter text.
Name:
Click here to enter text.
In which constellation can Jupiter be found at this time? (If
not sure, click on stars close to it. Which constellation are
they?)
Click here to enter text.
Where (north, south, east or west) should you look in the
sky to see these planets at this time?
Click here to enter text.
There was a day in December of last year when Jupiter
and Saturn appeared closer to each other than at any
time since 1623! Do a search on Jupiter or Saturn to lock
on it, then play with the dates (arrows) in Stellarium to find
this date in December 2020. You can zoom in using scroll
on your mouse or scroll gesture on trackpad.
Click here to enter text.
Part 2:
Polaris
Use “search” to find Polaris. Zoom in or out so that the field of view (FOV) shown in the upper
right is between 120 and 130 degrees. Open the time panel. Set September 4, 11 pm. Now click
and hold on minutes arrow to advance the time. See how the stars spin around Polaris. Now
click on hours going up and down. You can see that some stars in their spinning never touch the
horizon, that is, they never rise or set They are called circumpolar stars.
a) Answer:
Is Vega
circumpolar?
Is Capella
circumpolar?
To see better what is going on, you may want to turn “atmosphere” off clicking on this icon
. This allows you to see where the stars are in the daytime (ground will be illuminated)
b) Now change the position to Minneapolis and answer the same questions:
Is Vega
circumpolar?
Is Capella
circumpolar?
c) Change the position to the North Pole. It is day now, which lasts 6 months, so advance the
time to November when it will be night there. Zoom out so that the
entire sky
is visible. Turn on
the constellation (as lines).
TAKE SCREENSHOT of Stellarium screen in this position and UPLOAD to CANVAS
Then
click on hours arrow (up) and hold.
Answer:
Where is Polaris located?
Click here to enter text.
Which stars rise and set?
Click here to enter text.
Part 3 – Go Outside!
Pick an evening this week when the sky is clear and step outside after dark (parking garage
roof?) to look at Jupiter and Saturn.
Bring this file with you or the printout!!!
Bring binoculars
if you have them. Here are the options for how to find Jupiter and Saturn:
Consult Stellarium on your computer/laptop (need internet; so perhaps take a screenshot)
Consult Stellarium app on your mobile device (free for Android; $13.99 for iOS)
Consult some other night sky app (like SkyView Lite; free for Android and iOS; see App of the
Week)
Use sky chart from
https://www.telescope.com/content.jsp?pageName=Monthly-Star-
Chart&m=9&y=2021
The advantage of mobile apps is that they help you look the right way by pointing.
Answer:
Enter your
location, date and time
Click here to enter text.
What’s the sky like?
Clear, mostly clear?
Click here to enter text.
Where in the sky (north, south, east, west)
are Jupiter and Saturn?
Click here to enter text.
How does the brightness of Jupiter and
Saturn compare to the stars around them?
Click here to enter text.
Which looks brighter, Jupiter or Saturn?
Click here to enter text.
Is the Moon up?
Click here to enter text.
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Can you also see Venus? If so, where is it?
Click here to enter text.
[Optional] If you have binoculars or a
telescope, describe how Saturn and Jupiter
looked.
Click here to enter text.
Tell us about your experience and what else
you were able to see.
Click here to enter text.