Hint
|
Answer
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Speed of light (miles)
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186,000 m/s
|
Speed of light (kilometers)
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300,000 km/s
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Equation for finding speed of light
|
d=vt
|
How many official constellations are there?
|
88
|
celestial latitude
|
declination
|
celestial longitude
|
right ascension
|
Where is the prime meridian?
|
Grenwich
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What does an arcsecond measure?
|
angles
|
Points at both ends of the celestial rotation axis
|
north and south celestial poles
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Halfway between the celestial poles, perpendicular to the axis
|
celestial equator
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Point above observer's head
|
zenith
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Point below observer's feet
|
nadir
|
the path of the Sun among the fixed stars
|
ecliptic
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the 12 constellations the Sun passes through
|
zodiac
|
"wandering stars"
|
planets
|
where the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator (2x)
|
vernal and autumnal equinoxes
|
"equal nights"
|
equinox
|
when the Sun is furthest above the celestial equator (2x)
|
summer and winter solstices
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circle which passes through the zenith and nadir
|
celestial meridian
|
places where the sun appears at the zenith at noon on the first day of the summer/winter
|
Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn
|
days of the week in French
|
dimanche, lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi
|
months when the Earth is closest (perihelion)/farthest (aphelion) from the Sun
|
January/July
|
what insolation (sunlight spreading over the earth) actually means
|
incoming solar radiation
|
the original last month in the calendar
|
February
|
the angle measured westward along the celestial equator from the local meridian to the hour circle (meridian) of the object
|
LHA (local hour angle)
|
the number of days it takes the moon to revolve 360 degrees (also a sidereal period)
|
27.3
|
the number of days it takes the moon to line up again with the Sun
|
2.2
|
time from one new moon to the next (synodic month)
|
29.5 days
|
phases of the moon
|
new, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent
|
does the moon rotate?
|
yes
|
locations of the moon during a solar eclipse
|
new moon, moon at or near a node
|
the wobble of the earth as it rotates like a top
|
precession
|
intersection of the orbit plane of a celestial body with the plane of the ecliptic
|
node
|
the number of years it takes the north celestial pole to travel in a circle (precession)
|
26,000
|
number of years it takes the vernal equinox to pass to a new zodiac constellation
|
2000
|
the apparent shifting of an object with respect to more distant objects because of the changing of the observer's perspective
|
parallax
|
stellar distances to the nearest stars
|
stellar parallax
|
the distance from the Earth to the Sun
|
1AU
|
parallax equation
|
d=1/pi
|
degree of earth's tilt
|
23.5
|
system used for angular measurement
|
sexagesimal system
|
types of arc (largest to smallest)
|
degree, minute, second
|
number of degrees the sun travels in an hour
|
15
|
length of a sidereal day
|
23h56m4s
|
length of a solar day
|
24h
|
area close to the sun
|
perihelion
|
area farther away from the sun
|
aphelion
|
used by ancient peoples to establish calendars
|
solstice principle
|
imaginary sun which moves along the celestial equator rather than the ecliptic and which matches the average motion of the real sun
|
mean sun
|
local hour angle of the mean sun +12hrs
|
local mean solar time (LMST)
|
when crossing this from east to west add a day, and when crossing from west to east subtract a day
|
international date line (IDL)
|
original names of July and August
|
Quintilis and Sextilis
|
takes synodic, nodical and anomalistic periods into account to predict the recurrence of an eclipse
|
Saros cycle
|
time between successive transits of a celestial object
|
day
|
local hour angle of the vernal equinox
|
local sidereal time (LST)
|
before the local meridian
|
ante meridian (AM)
|
after or past the local meridian
|
post meridian (PM)
|
local hour angle of the actual sun +12hrs
|
local apparent solar time (LAST)
|