Looking at the night sky

[bivouac]

I've spent quite a bit of time the last few evenings standing with my head on one side staring at the sky. I was fascinated the other night to see Jupiter and Venus on either side of the moon. Then i realised that the moon is illuminated by the sun and i could work out exactly whereabouts in the sky the sun is even though i couldn't see it. Then using what you know about the location of the sun, the two planets together with the earth you are standing on gives you the plane in which the solar system is. It seems like a plate or frisbee offset at about 45 - 50 degrees to the horizon at around 8pm. Then using the Plough to find the North Star and using the imagined location of the sun to draw a north-south axis through the earth, you can get a real feeling of standing around 3/4 of the way up a huge globe that is spinning around in space as the moon and planets disappear into the west. But if the sun and planets are moving from east to west in the northern hemisphere, that means i myself am spinning around on this globe from west to east or in the direction you would unscrew a bottle top, doesn't it? Or am i confusing myself?

 

[Robbi]

dunno about confusing yourself mate, but you sure are confusing me !

 

[bivouac]

dunno about confusing yourself mate, but you sure are confusing me !

Perhaps i've spent a little too much time standing around with my head on one side. I've been getting some funny looks.

 

[Opal]

Perhaps i've spent a little too much time standing around with my head on one side. I've been getting some funny looks.

My head is always in the middle.

 

[Robbi]

that conjours up some great images mate LOL !

 

[bivouac]

My head is always in the middle.

The point of the head tilt is to put yourself in the same plane as the solar system or looking along the edge of the frisbee as it were. It helps to visualise what's going on. You see the solar system in books as lying flat with all the planets going around the sun. But in fact in the UK in the evening the whole thing is tilted at around 45 degrees although actually that's just the way we see it, for if you tilt your head at around 45 degrees you are looking at it end-on which helps to see things as they are.

 

[jackcbr]

That makes total sense to me. Does this perception change relative to your proximity to the poles? As you say we are about 3/4 of the way up a sphere, thereby aprox 45 degrees from the centre of the earth relative to its axis, so if at the pole you are (give or take) on the axis would the planets then be aligned on a horizontal or vertical plane?

 

[Adze]

Neat scale view of the solar system here - no angles involved though.

http://www.phrenopolis.com/perspective/solarsystem/

 

[rik_uk3]

download google skymaps for your phone the at least you'll know what your looking at.

 

[ged]

It's all relative. The question is, relative to what? As far as the cosmos is concerned 'up' and 'down' have no meaning, so being 3/4 of the way up anything is very parochial.

The Earth's rotation gives it some stability. The axis of the spin is more or less stable at approximately 23 degrees to the axis perpendicular to the plane of its orbit around the sun, which is why we have arctic and antarctic circles, and the seasons. No matter which way is 'up', we'll still get the same seasons.

 

[Harvestman]

The most amazing thing about looking at the night sky for me is when the constellation of Pegasus is visible (springtime in the northern hemisphere), on a clear night you can just barely see the Andromeda galaxy, M31, the furthest visible naked eye object in the sky, an incredible 2.5 million light years away.

It is an astonishing feeling to look at that and get your head around the twin facts of the incredible distance you are seeing, but also that the light you are seeing is 2.5 million years old.

Nothing is quite as awe inspiring as looking at the night sky.

 

[bivouac]

It's all relative. The question is, relative to what?

Yes, i've found that fascinating. Facing west in the evening you can find the plane of the solar system where the visible planets line up with the sun and watch yourself spinning backwards away from them as the earth rotates and they move towards the horizon. But the earth rotates at an angle to the solar system and the solar system itself is set at an angle as you stand upright on the surface of the Earth looking at it. As you say - there is no up or down. You are left with the distinct feeling that everything is relative.

 

[wattsy]

have a look at the andromeda galaxy then imagine it hurtling towards the milky way (we're hurtling back at it) at 120km/s that really makes you think. in about 3 billion years we're going to collide with it

 

[jackcbr]

have a look at the andromeda galaxy then imagine it hurtling towards the milky way (we're hurtling back at it) at 120km/s that really makes you think. in about 3 billion years we're going to collide with it

Doom mounger. Better start on digging a bunker now the time it takes me to get anything done.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Apart from Mars I can't say I've ever seen any other planets. What can be clearly seen though is the international space station (or I think that's what it is )
It's the brightest & biggest object in the night sky apart from the moon, it passes from East to west in less than half an hour just after dark & with a pair of 12x binoculars I can just make out the solar panels & the pretty colours.

 

[Harvestman]

Jupiter is clear in the western sky at the moment, and once venus has set (an hour after sunset) is the brightest object in the sky other than the moon. Mars is over in the south east at the moment.

 

[wattsy]

Doom mounger. Better start on digging a bunker now the time it takes me to get anything done.

No worries mate by then the temperature of the earth will be too high for liquid water to exist none of us will he around to see it

 

[persistent king]

Ive been trying to get my head around this http://www.skymaponline.net/ Quite interesting realy

 

[Jaymzflood]

Get a telescope and look at Saturn for the people who have never used one. gets you hooked on astronomy almost instantly. Well it did me anyway

 

[jackcbr]

No worries mate by then the temperature of the earth will be too high for liquid water to exist none of us will he around to see it

Ugh, that means I'll have to put in an underground reservoir too. Even more digging.