Lab 3 Report

Neptune 23:47 -2 44’ Evening Pluto 20:02 -23 15’ One of the main notes is that no planets were visible at night according to this ephemeris from sept 27. On Page 6 we were able to identify certain motions of Mars of the dates given. Date RA DEC 8/15/05 2:32 12 8/25/05 2:50 13.4 9/05/05 3:06 14.7 9/15/05 3:18 15.6 9/25/05 3:24 16.2 10/05/05 3:25 16.5 10/15/05 3:20 16.6 10/25/05 3:09 16.4 11/05/05 2:54 16 11/15/05 2:39 15.5 11/25/05 2:28 15.2 12/05/05 2:22 15.1 12/15/05 2:22 15.4 12/25/05 2:26 16 1/05/06 2:36 16.9 Is the motion of Mars peculiar? I consider it is peculiar because it is moving on different directions across the sky. Usually, other planets move west to east. According to this information, during this time mars was on retrograde motion, and it has happened in Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. The reason behind this is because the revolution of Mars and the earth is at completely different speeds, and it makes it seem as it is moving back and forth according to the other stars. In conclusion this lab made me understand how the ephemeris is essential for astronomers to understand the navigation of all celestial objects and observations of the various planets, satellites, and stars. I found very interesting how it can identify the planets and its location in the zodiac in the future, and not only past or present. The moon and planets sprawl the ecliptic because they are orbiting the sun in almost the same plain. Also, learning about this pendulum and knowing the difference with regular pendulums made me understand in a better way how the Earth rotates and its variation depending on the latitude and location of where we are standing.