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Liliana Duran
Physics 1040
Tamara Young
April 27, 2015
Astronomy Conversation
Astronomy is a science that is so wide and complex, to the point where there are
still many things yet to be discovered. Because of that, there are many concepts that people
dont know or dont completely comprehend. Concepts that are basic for the understanding
of, not only the field, but also the world and entire Universe we live in. It is for that reason
that I decided to focus my conversation in clarifying the basis of astronomy. With chapter
two of the book The Essential Cosmic Perspective, and some Youtube videos as a
reference, I designed a guide to cover all those main terms that we are unconsciously part
of every single day, but we perhaps ignore, or have heard very little about. And if we have
heard of them, they probably dont sound familiar anymore.
The conversation took place at my house on a Friday night. It was scheduled to be
between my parents, my boyfriend and I, but my sisters were walking in and out of the
kitchen too, so they made some comments as we went over the topics I had selected. They
became part of the conversation too.
I started by explaining to them that, even when we may have unconsciously noticed
it, our location in the planet is what somehow determines the perception we have of the
Universe.

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We can easily understand this idea if we, first, think of our position on Earth and
what we are capable of seeing with our naked eyes. This is what we call our local sky. I told
them the local sky is divided into points that we use as reference when we try to explain or
describe the location of an object in the sky relative to us. My little sister, whos only
twelve asked what some of those points were. I explained to her what a zenith was, which
is the point that stands directly above us in the sky.
For some reason, she had the idea that the zenith was a specific place that wouldnt
change as we move. My father and I explained to her that the zenith can change and is
based, again, on an individuals position on Earth. I continued saying how also, to help us
locate objects, we have within our local sky the horizon. The horizon is an imaginary line
that divides Earth and the sky, and it ends at the point where we are able to see. We also
have the meridian, which is another imaginary line that crosses our zenith, and goes from
north to south. To clarify the idea we played some videos with animations that made it
easier to identify and understand those concepts that we were talking about.
Those that were part of the conversation agreed with me when we said the concepts
were simple and somewhat obvious, it is just that we dont think about them this way or
with a name. Only two of them (besides me) said to have heard about them before, years
ago, but they didnt remember much until that day.
We were talking about how our celestial sky changes throughout the year. We began
to talk about how Earth moves in the Solar System. We talked about how the revolution of
Earth and its own tilt influence the weather. Again, we used Youtube animated videos to
make sure everyone understood that the seasons are not because of the distance of Earth
relative to the Sun. Instead, seasons are caused because of Earths tilt, which is 23.5. As

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Earth moves around the Sun, the direction of the tilt remains the same. Seasons are caused
because there are times during the year in which the sun light reaches Earth at certain
places more directly than others. When its summer on the Northern Hemisphere, the tilt of
Earth points the North Pole towards the Sun. Days are longer because the Sun stays longer
in the sky, resulting in more day light hours. It is the opposite case when it is winter and
Earth is tilted toward the Sun from the Southern Hemisphere.
Someone asked if that tilt of Earth would ever change position. I remembered
reading from our book, and talking about it in our first classes. Earths axis also rotates at a
very slow rate, this is called precession. I explained that precession, also known as the
wobble effect, can alter the direction in which the axis points. It takes around 26,000 years
for earth to complete its precession cycle. We were doing some calculations and talked
about how in 13,000 years, the seasons on Earth will be opposite compared to how they are
now. We spent some time talking about the season and how that transition will be over the
next 13,000 years.
After reviewing some of the basic movements that are involved in Earths trajectory
around the sun (rotation, tilt and revolution, and understanding the concepts that helps us to
locate ourselves relative to our celestial sphere (zenith, horizon local sky), that we notice it
is not as simple as we may have thought. Not only on Earth, but also the entire Solar
System and the Universe, we find lots of complex motions. Even when they can be hard to
understand, together, they all are related and affect each other. It is learning and getting to
know these basic process what helps us get a better understanding of the Universe and the
planet we live in.

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Work Cited
Rane, Ujjwal. "Astronomy with MicroStation Local Coordinate Frame." Youtube. 4 Feb.
2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnuDoP35JTQ>.
"Why Is It Hotter in the Summer? Animated Video Explaining the 4 Seasons." Youtube.
GoAnimate, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBq9Tl-nfE>.
Bennett, Jeffrey, Megan Donahue, Nicholas Schneider, and Mark Voit. "Discovering the
Universe for Yourself." The Essential Cosmic Perspective. 7th ed. San Francisco:
Addison-Wesley, 2014. 550. Print.