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Starry Starry Night – Div. A

Elementary Schools

Resources for test:

Pencil or pen, red flashlight

NO cells phones or calculators

Test on April 13th, 2019

Test will include questions about a series of images projected onto the front of the room.

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The room will be dimly lit (planetarium program is part of test)

(red) flashlight is needed.

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Study points

• Download planetarium software, Stellarium

(http://www.stellarium.org/) is good and free!!!

• Practice recognizing pattern of stars of

constellations and stars listed on the rules sheet.

• Google the objects on the list

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Test is in 2 parts

• Part 1– planetarium program

– Identical show for each session

– Timed power point presentation

– Circles put around objects, constellations

and stars “name this”

• Part 2 – Normal test, multiple choice, fill

in blanks. Pictures shown as part of a

timed power point presentation

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Star Charts

~9:00 pm the evening before the day of the

competition

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M42

South west

Mars is

in Taurus

setting in

the west

First

Quarter

moon

next to

Gemini

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Constellations

now shown

(South at

bottom)

The winter

Constellations

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The winter

circle of

stars

Hyades

Star

cluster

Pleiades

(7 sisters)

Star

cluster

(later)

East

13 East

14 East

The spring

and a couple

circumpolar

constellations

Spica Arcturus

Merak Dubhe Regulus Polaris

North

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Spica

Arcturus

Moon Merak Dubhe

Jupiter

Regulus Polaris

North

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North

circumpolar

constellations

North

Bright stars

Pollux

Caster

Capella

Polaris

Merak

Dubhe

North

A spiral

Galaxy

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Star Charts

~6:00 am the morning before the day of the

competition

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South East

Jupiter

Saturn

Mercury Venus

The rest of the

planets

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South East

South East

Summer

Constellations

A fall

Constellation

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South East

A nebula in Lyra

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Antares

Vega

Altair

Deneb

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Bright stars

Summer triangle

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East

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Phases of the moon

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The sun and a total

solar eclipse

Moon between the sun and

the earth. Only a very

small spot on the earth is

in the shadow of the moon

Sun as it “normally” looks

Showing sunspots

Planets and approximate relative

sizes

Pluto is a

dwarf

planet

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Venus and Mercury shows phases like the moon

Sun in this

direction

Orbit of

Venus around

the sun

Far side of solar system

Near side of solar system

Rotation vs revolution

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Rotation

Moon revolution

around earth

Moon’s period of

rotation is the

same as its period

of revolution

around earth,

hence the same

side always faces

the Earth

Tidal Effects • The gravity of our sun and our moon yanks the near side of

the oceans to form a high tide.

• Gravity also tugs at the (solid) earth away from the oceans

on the far side. Hence high tides on the far side!

• Our moon "solid ground" also has tides – very small

Seasons,

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Su

nlig

ht

Time • 1 day (24 houra) is the average time for the sun to come

back to the same position in the sky. It is NOT the rotation

period of the Earth!

• The rotation period of the earth is 23 hours, 56 minutes – this

is the time for a star to come back to the same position in the

sky (“sidereal” day) – the earth has to rotate 4 more minutes

for the sun to be at the same position.

• 1 year is the time it takes for the earth to go around the sun

• 1 month is the approximate the time it takes for the moon to

go around the earth (29.53058 days).

• Average length a month (12 months in a year) is 30.44 days.

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Solar and lunar eclipses Alignment must

be perfect – that

is why eclipses

are rare

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Moon smaller

than earth, casts

a very small

shadow

We are standing in outer space and see this. This is

how a solar eclipse looks from space. The shadow

of the moon is on the surface of the Earth.

Earth

Our moon

Moves this way

The

shadow of

the moon

Moon’s

shadow

projected on

the East

Coast of US

Total Solar Eclipse

• The moon and the sun both

move against the sky but at

different apparent rates

• The sun appears to “pass”

behind the moon as both

move across the sky.

Motion of both

Celestial sphere North pole projects

to the celestial

north pole (north

star)

Earth’s equator

projects to the

Celestial equator

The projection of

the plane of our

solar system is the

“Ecliptic” 43

Local horizon / directions • Horizon - the line where the earth and sky meet. The

horizon changes depending on your position on earth.

• Zenith- The point on the celestial sphere directly

overhead.

• Four directions – North, South, East, West. The

points on your horizon that are consistent with

directions on the celestial sphere.

• North is pointing to the north celestial pole or north

star

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Projection of the

horizon is a circle

on an all sky

map

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Another nebulae..

Helix nebulae

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Another nebulae --

Crab Nebulae

Pacman Nebula it looks

like the video game

character.

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A spiral galaxy seen

nearly edge on.

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Two examples of star clusters

Hercules cluster

Pleiades (7 sisters)