Solar System Observation

Question 1

How to use the pinhole projection to observe the sun safely

Answer 1

1. With your back to the sun, hold the cardboard in front of you so the sunlight falls through the hole
2. Let the light fall onto a screen, a short distance behind the pinhole
   3 You will see a small inverted image of the sun on the screen

Question 2

Describe the observed motion of the sun along the ecliptic

Answer 2

The sun’s annual motion is relative to the stars that don’t move, passing through 12 constellations and lasting 1 year

Question 3

Do planets’ positions change in the night sky?

Answer 3

Yes, because they and we orbit the sun and different speeds, so they move relative to stars

Question 4

What is the zodiacal band

Answer 4

The narrow band in which the observed motion of the planets occurs

Question 5

Describe retrograde motion

Answer 5

When planets appear to move backwards for a time as Earth overtakes them in its shorter orbit

Question 6

What are the first pints of Aries and Libra

Answer 6

The first point of Aries is where the Sun crosses the celestial equator from South to North on the 21st of March
The first point of libra is where the sun crosses the celestial equator from North to South on the 21st of September

Question 7

What are the appearances and causes of a meteor shower

Answer 7

Meteoroids are bodies of rock, dust or ice. In a meteor shower they appear as long streaks of light, diverging from a common point - the radiant. The meteor shower is named for the constellation where the radiant is
Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the meteoroid stream in a comet’s wake

Question 8

Define Conjunction

Answer 8

When the planet appears closest in the night sky to the Sun. At inferior conjunction(when it is in front) it may transit the suns disc. At superior conjunction it is behind the sun.

Question 10

Define elongation

Answer 10

The angle between a planet and the sun. Inferior planets a best viewed a greatest elongation (90 degrees)

Question 11

Define Opposition

Answer 11

When a superior planet is on the opposite side of Earth to the Sun. This is when superior planets are best viewed.

Question 12

Define transit

Answer 12

When a body may move across the face of another, e.g. Venus transiting the sun or a star

Question 13

Define occultation

Answer 13

When a planet temporarily transits and obscures a distant star