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Frostburg State Planetarium
presents
Fall 2014 Sky Sights for
Primary Grades & Beginners
by Dr. Bob Doyle
Next Version: January 2015
Big Topics Treated
• Horizon, Finding directions, Sunrise/Sunset
• How Day Sky Works, Twilight AM & PM
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Moon basics, Made of what? Lady in moon?
Bright points at night? Fall 2014 Planets
Best Stars & Groups Seen on Fall Evenings
3 Built in Mini Quizzes with answers supplied
Fall ‘14 Moon Schedule, Planet & * Table
Horizon & Directions
• When looking at sky, we may view ½ of universe!
• The Horizon is line between ground and sky.
• 4 directions along horizon – North, East, South &
West. To learn, say Never Eat Slimy Worms!
• North is direction your shadow points in mid day.
• East is about where sun rises each morning.
• South is where sun is highest in sky (in mid day)
• West is about where sun sets in late afternoon.
Why does Sun Rise & Set?
• For thousands of years, humans believed that sun
& sky objects moved about Earth every day!
• In the 1500’s, Copernicus proposed that the Earth
itself was moving, not the sky objects!
• Copernicus wrote that the Earth was spinning
every day and orbiting the sun every year!
• It took over a century until most were convinced
that Copernicus was correct (thanks to Newton).
• The Earth spins so the sun seems to rise and set.
Let’s review these ideas
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What is the line between ground & sky?
Is it Ground line? Horizon? Edge of sky?
In what direction do shadows point in mid day?
Is it
North? East? South? or West?
Why does sun seem to rise and set?
Because Sun is moving? Earth is spinning?
Write down your answers for these questions.
Answers are: Horizon, North & Earth is spinning
How Day Sky Works
• Sun, our day star is so bright that it lights up air,
causing it to glow blue on a clear day.
• As Earth turns, sun seems to rise in morning
• Due to our turning, sun slowly rolls right.
• Sun peaks 1 pm in October, Noon in Nov. & Dec.
• Sun sets near direction West as we turn.
• To find North, face where sun goes down and extend
your right arm out, points North.
Twilight or Dusk?
• When sun disappears from our view, the air
overhead is still ‘seeing’ sun and glowing.
• As we turn more away from sun, only very thin,
very high air still lit & sky gets darker.
• This time is twilight or dusk, lasts an hour.
• During dusk, bright planets, stars show 1st.
• By end of dusk, bright star groups seen.
• Just as dusk after sunset, dawn before sunrise.
What about Moon?
• Our moon is a ball of rock that orbits Earth.
• Moon ¼ as big as Earth; if Earth a regular globe
(1 ft.wide), moon is a tennis ball.
• If Earth is regular globe, moon is 30 ft.away
• As moon orbits us, we see day & night sides
• In evening, lighted side ‘grows’ for 12 days
• Then moon is full, shining all thru the night
• Then in morning sky, moon ‘shrinks’ for 12 days
• Moon’s lighted shapes change as we see its lighted
side; its dark side blends in with the night sky
Half full moon shows craters
near its straight edge where
sun there is rising or setting.
Just a little bit more about Moon
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The moon NOT a big cheese ball! (Sorry!)
Man/lady/rabbit in moon due to dark plains
Dark plains of hard lava, good to land there
Over 40 yrs. ago, 1st men walked on moon
Perhaps in 2020’s, manned fly arounds
Current rockets can’t carry people, new
rockets needed, U.S., China or Russia to try
Another review of ideas..
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As you face sunset, what points North?
Back of Head? Right arm (out)? Left ear?
If Earth 1 ft. wide, how far away is moon?
Is it 10 feet? 30 feet? 100 feet? 300 feet?
How long does moon ‘grow’ or ‘shrink’?
Is it A week? A dozen days? A month?
Write down your answers to above 3 questions.
Answers: Right arm (out), 30 feet, Dozen days
Bright steady points at night?
• Even the nearest planets appear as * (points) as we
see them with our eyes; for even these objects
very far away (moon=1 unit). Venus 100x farther.
• To tell a planet from a star, all night stars twinkle
and planets usually shine steady.
• Also satellites (especially Space Station) shine
steadily as creep eastward across sky
• Night stars are distant suns, really, really far away
compared to our planet neighbors.
• If Earth penny size, moon 22” away, sun 730 ft.
away (6.3 ft. wide), nearest star is 37,000 mi.away
Fall 2014 Planets
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Tell planet from bright * by planet’s steady light
First number is month number / 2nd is date
All Fall, dim Mars seen low in Western dusk
Bright Jupiter seen at dawn all thru the Fall
In late December, Jupiter in late even. E sky
Best planet to see in Fall 2014
Jupiter seen in
in predawn sky
E
Jupiter seen in
Late evening sky
In Dec.
East
Jupiter as seen
From spaceprobe with Great
Red Spot shown by brackets
•Easy Fall Stars & Groups
• Evening: Big Dipper below North Star
• 2 right Dipper stars point upward to N. Star
• Vega is brightest evening star in the West
• In Northeast is bright golden star Capella
• Right of Capella, 7 Sisters & * Aldeberan
B. Dipper & N. * on
Fall Evenings
North Star
Pointers
Summer Triangle as seen in
Fall Western evening sky
Deneb
Altair
Vega
Capella, 7 Sisters & Aldebaran
in the East on Fall Evenings
Capella
7 Sisters
Aldebaran
Let’s review once more…
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How to tell a planet from a star?
Planet always brighter Planet shines steady
Best Evening Planet this fall?
Venus Mars Jupiter Saturn
Which part of Big Dipper points to N.Star?
End of Scoop or Arch of Dipper’s Handle
Write down your answers
Answers: Planet shines steady, Venus, Scoop
Frequently asked questions
• What are falling stars? (Aka shooting stars)
• Nearly all are pea sized space grit burning up in
our upper atmosphere. Only dust left.
• Can the planets line up like beads on string?
• No, orbits are tilted but even if they could, pull is
extremely weak, compared to our moon.
• What keeps stars, planets floating in sky?
• There’s no up/down in space. Earth floats too!
Fall 2014 Moon Schedule
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Full Moon 10/8 (Dawn Lunar Eclipse)
Mid Oct. ½ Morn. Moon (craters) 10/15
Late Oct. ½ Even. Moon (craters) 10/31
Full moon 11/6; then shrinks, seen in morn.
Mid Nov. ½ Morn. Moon (craters) 11/14
Late Nov. ½ Even. Moon (craters) 11/29
Full Moon 12/6: then shrinks, seen in morn.
Mid Dec. ½ Morn. Moon (craters) 12/14
When evening moon looks like a ‘D’,
the sun is rising along left edge,
lighting up the crater rims and mountains.
This ‘D’ moon allows you to see craters
& mountains with binoculars held steadily
or with a small telescope on tripod (better).
A week after the moon is full, you can see it
In the morning day sky, as a backwards ‘D’.
Even during the morning hours, you can see
the craters & mountains on moon with binocular
or a small telescope. Never look at SUN!
Send any sky questions to….
• Bob Doyle email [email protected]
• Be sure that questions involve basics about sky,
moon, planets and stars