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universe. Working with the celestial sphere offers a convenient way of describing what we see from Earth. When we refer to the celestial sphere, we are imagining...

Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial bodies in the visible universe, from the scale of a few meters to the macro scale, including: the underlying...

b. Celestial pole The two celestial poles are the imaginary points where the Earth's spin axis intersects the celestial sphere. The north celestial pole...

b. Celestial pole The two celestial poles are the imaginary points where the Earth's spin axis intersects the celestial sphere. The north celestial pole...

reader should remember from high school that the reason why the Earth has seasons is that its axis of rotation is at an angle to the plane of its orbit....

spins, it appears to us that the celestial sphere is spinning. It spins about the Earth's pole, so that the celestial poles appear stationary and the stars...

great importance for the navigation of seafarers or desert hikers, the celestial objects that were movable compared to the fixed star sky were often used...

Contents The Earth's nearest celestial neighbor is the Moon, which has an average distance from the Earth of about 240,000 miles (386,000 kilometers)...

publication of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolution of the Celestial Sphere) to be the start of the Scientific Revolution. In the years that...

longitudinally magnetic lines, the location and direction of the sun and other celestial objects, or prevailing wind direction and odors. In vector navigation...

darkened as we see it from Earth. As one of the rare and very spectacular celestial events, a solar eclipse is well worth seeing if you should ever have the...

Over the course of a year, the Sun moves through a great circle on the celestial sphere, tracing out the same path year after year. This path is called...

plane is everything that is at right angles from the north (or south) celestial pole. If they are standing at Earth's north (or south) pole, then the...

become rounded by its own gravity. You can play around with non-planet celestial bodies (e.g. a giant oblong object floating in space) as the basis of...

underlying order in nature — though no real connection between human and celestial events existed, the prophecies of astrology were the ancestors of modern...

shooting star is not a star at all, but rather a meteor. A meteor is any celestial body (usually quite small) that falls to the Earth. Most burn up in the...

do in Astronomy Current Unsolved Mysteries Observational Astronomy The Celestial Sphere Coordinate Systems Phases of the Moon Eclipses Daily Motions Yearly...

seconds, and hence every moment of your life can be accounted for in this celestial motion of our planet. For centuries, time has been a direct measure of...

times the distance between them leads to a point close to the Southern Celestial Pole. Alternatively, if a line is constructed perpendicularly between...

forms a great-circle referred to as an ecliptic around the Earth. The celestial equator is a great-circle projecting out from Earth’s equator onto the...