Building a Scientific Cosmology: the Naked-Eye Cosmos

Observing the Night Sky

Celestial Sphere

• diagrams of the celestial sphere: centered on observer, centered on Earth's center
• sketch of a single star's path in 1 day: local, global
• Star trails
  • in the Southern Hemisphere, at the South Pole, N/S comparison
  • in the northern hemisphere: with horizon, zoom
    over Grand Canyon, Cape Town, Cerro Tololo horizon this taken? (What latitude?) answer
  • how long were the exposures in these images?

Sun Motions

• the ecliptic plane animated
• Sun motion w.r.t celestial sphere: real-time movies of the Sun (LASCO C3 camera on SOHO)