Basics of Astronomy

Oracle Bar Camp

5th Jan, 2012 4pm-6pm By Manohar Burra & Neil Ghosh

Agenda
Brief Astronomy Zodiac & Constellations Astronomy Vs Astrology Glossary of terms The Solar System Telescopes & Binoculars Astronomy using Computers Live Observation session

Brief History
13,700,000,000 ya Big Bang 4,500,000,000 ya - Formation of the Sun, planets & Earth 3,800,000,000 ya - First Life on Earth 3,000,000,000 ya - photosynthesis 65,000,000 ya - Asteroid Impact & Dinosaurs extinct

2,000,000,000 ya - complex cells

2,000,000,000 ya - multicellular life 600,000,000 ya - simple animals 500,000,000 ya - fish and proto-amphibians 500,000,000 ya - reptiles 200,000,000 ya - mammals 150,000,000 ya - birds

2,500,000 ya - Appearance of the genus Homo

200,000 ya - Homo Sapiens - Anatomically modern humans 50,000 ya - Modern humans Humans live in societies 31,000 ya - Oldest known cave paintings 10,000 ya - Last Ice Age ends. 9,000 ya - 7000 BC - Agriculture begins 5,500 ya - 3500 BC- Writing is invented in Sumer

Brief History - Ancient

Oldest of all Natural Sciences Astral theology Star Catalogs - 3500 BC - Sumer Prediction of motion of Planets & stars 3500 BC - Egypt Geocentric Theory 200 BC Greece Earths spin, periods of the planets & Eclipses 5th cent. AD Aryabhatta India Islamic - 9th cent. AD - positions, magnitudes, brightness, and colour of stars

Brief History - Medieval

Nicolaus Copernicus Heliocentric theory - 1543 Galileo Telescope, Jupiters Moons, Phases of Venus, Sunspots - 1610
Johannes Kepler Laws of Planetary Motion - 1609-1619

Brief History - Modern

Issac Newton Universal Gravitation & Laws of Motion - 1687

William Herschel Discovery of Uranus - 1781

Edwin Hubble Expansion of Universe 1927

Ecliptic and Axis

Tilt is the reason for the Season

Consterllations
We know this one The Great Bear (The Question Mark) and The Pole Star (Polaris) All stars appear to revolve around the pole star (Polaris)

Consterllations
Latitude

Zenith to Horizon is 90 Degree

Lower the lattitude of ours, higher the north star up in the sky

Consterllations
All star rise 4 minutes ealier everyday. Because we have to rotate a little bit more to reach the sun

Our calendar is Sun-Centric

Consterllations
Group of stars, usually connected by imaginary lines

Zodiac
Only 12 of the 88 constrelations are famous because of they appear in the background of the Sun, Moon and other planets. We call the m Zodiac

Magnitude System
Apperent maginitude is the measure of brightness of the object as seen from earth Lower the magnitude fainter the star. A first magnitude star is approx. 2.5 times brigher than the second magnitude one Naked eye can see upto +6 Magnitude Negative magnitude objects are brighter than positive ones

The Milky Way

The Solar System

The Inner Planets

The Inner Planets - Mercury

Orbital Semimajor Axis: 0.387 AU Rotation Period about Axis: 58.65 days Revolution Period about the Sun: 88 days Temperature Range on Mercury: to 427o C -184o C

The Inner Planets - Venus

Orbital Semimajor Axis: 0.723 AU Rotation Period about Axis: 243 days Revolution Period about the Sun: 224 days Temperature on Venus: 460 C

The Inner Planets - Mars

Orbital Semimajor Axis: 1.523 AU Rotation Period about Axis: 24 h, 39 m Revolution Period about the Sun: 687 days Temperature Range on Mars: -87C to 20C

No. of Satellites 2

The Inner Planets - Mars

The Asteroid belt

B/w 2 AU to 4 AU

The Outer Planets

The Outer Planets - Jupiter

Orbital Semimajor Axis: 5.2 AU Rotation Period about Axis: 9h 55m Revolution Period about the Sun: 11.8 yrs No. of Satellites 64

The Outer Planets - Saturn

Orbital Semimajor Axis: 9.58 AU Rotation Period about Axis: 10h 34m Revolution Period : 29.45 yrs No. of Satellites 61

Titan

Enceladus

Pluto

Trans Neptunian Objects

RA and Dec
Right ascension Celestial equivalent of terrestrial longitude Declination comparable to geographic latitude

Alt Azimuth
Altitude - The angle between the object and the observer's local horizon. Azimuth - The angle of the object around the horizon

Telescope Basics

- Too Many Lense - High Quality lense are Expensive - Chromatic aberration - Allighment issues

Telescope Basics

- Invented by Isaac Newton in the 1660s - Diffraction pattern due to central obstruction - Mirror's are easier to buld.

Telescope Terms
Aperture the diameter of the larger the primary optics Focal length - Distance that the light in the telescope travels from the objective lens to the point where that light reaches focus Focal Ratio - Aparture/Focal Length (e.g. f/3 or f/5) Magnification Focal length of Objective / Focal length of Eyepiece

Astronomy using Computers

Simulation Softwares
Stellarium (ww.stellarium.org) Celestia (www.shatters.net/celestia) Cartes du Ciel (www.ap-i.net/skychart/start)

Online Tools
www.worldwidetelescope.org www.google.com/sky/

Celestia
Discovery in orbit over Florida

Sterallium

WolframAlpha.com

Thanks A Lot
Demo
By Manohar Burra & Neil Ghosh