Lecture 06: Daily and Annual Motions

About this episode

Why do celestial objects appear to rise and set every day? How does this depend on where you are on the Earth, or the time of year? In today's lecture we we set the heavens into motion and review the two most basic celestial motions. Apparent Daily Motion reflects the daily rotation of the Earth about its axis. Apparent Annual Motion reflects the Earth ... Show More

Up next

Sep 2007

Lecture 05: Mapping Earth & Sky

Where are we? Where is someplace else? And how do I get there from here? These are questions we need to answer both on the Earth and in the sky to assign a location to a place or celestial object on the surface of a sphere. This lecture includes a review of angular units and the ... Show More

40m 54s

Sep 2007

Lecture 04: Measuring the Earth

What is the shape and size of the Earth? This lecture traces historical ideas about the shape of the Earth, from ancient ideas of a Flat-Earth to Aristotle's compelling demonstrations in the 3rd century BC that the Earth was a sphere. We then discuss two famous classical measurem ... Show More

38m 47s

Sep 2007

Lecture 03: The Starry Night

What are the constellations? We will review the most basic feature of the night sky, the 6000 visible stars sprinkled about the sky, and introduce the idea of constellations, reviewing their history and uses by various cultures. Recorded 2007 Sep 21 in 1000 McPherson Lab on the C ... Show More