III UNIT

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of
hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields. It has a diameter of about 1,392,684 km, about 109 times that of Earth,
and its mass (about 2×1030 kilograms, 330,000 times that of Earth) accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the
Solar System. Chemically, about three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen, while the rest is mostly helium.
The remainder (1.69%, which nonetheless equals 5,628 times the mass of Earth) consists of heavier elements,
including oxygen, carbon,neon and iron, among others. The Sun formed about 4.6 billion years ago from the
gravitational collapse of a region within a large molecular cloud. Most of the matter gathered in the center, while the
rest flattened into an orbiting disk that would become the Solar System. The central mass became increasingly hot and
dense, eventually initiating thermonuclear fusion in its core. It is thought that almost all other stars form by this
process. The Sun's stellar classification, based on spectral class, is G2V, and is informally designated as a yellow
dwarf, because its visible radiation is most intense in the yellow-green portion of the spectrum and although its color
is white, from the surface of the Earth it may appear yellow because of atmospheric scattering of blue light.[16] In the
spectral class label, G2 indicates its surface temperature of approximately 5778 K (5505 °C), and V indicates that the
Sun, like most stars, is a main-sequence star, and thus generates its energy by nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into
helium. In its core, the Sun fuses 620 million metric tons of hydrogen each second. The mean distance of the Sun from
the Earth is approximately 149.6 million kilometers (1 AU), though the distance varies as the Earth moves
from perihelion in January to aphelion in July.The most outstanding characteristic of the Sun is the fact that it emits
huge quantities of electro-magnetic radiation of all wavelengths. The total output of the Sun is 3.99x10 33 ergs/sec.
Only 1.8x1024 ergs/sec strikes the Earth (since it is small in angular size), which is called the solar constant, but the
amount of energy reaching the Earth in 30 mins is more than the power generated by all of human civilization. This
energy is what powers the atmosphere and our oceans (storms, wind, currents, rainfall, etc.).The energy emitted by
the Sun is divided into 40% visible light, 50% IR, 9% UV and 1% x-ray, radio, etc. The light we see is emitted from
the ``surface'' of the Sun, the photosphere. The Sun below the photosphere is opaque and hidden.
Chemical composition:

The Sun is composed primarily of the chemical elements hydrogen and helium; they account for 74.9% and 23.8% of
the mass of the Sun in the photosphere, respectively. All heavier elements, called metals in
astronomy, account for less than 2% of the mass. The most abundant metals are oxygen
(roughly 1% of the Sun's mass), carbon (0.3%), neon (0.2%), and iron (0.2%).The Sun
inherited its chemical composition from the interstellar medium out of which it formed: the
hydrogen and helium in the Sun were produced by Big Bang nucleosynthesis.

Interior : The Sun is divided into six regions based on the physical characteristics of these
regions. The boundaries are not sharp.

 fusion core - region of energy generation

 radiation shell - the region where energy transport is by radiation flow
 convection shell - the region where energy transport is by convection cells
 photosphere - the surface where photons are emitted
 chromosphere - the atmosphere of the Sun
 corona - the superhot region where the solar wind originates

The radii and temperatures of these regions are the following:

region radius temperature

-------------------------------------------------
fusion core 0.3 solar radii 15x10^6 K
radiation shell 0.3-0.6 solar radii 6x10^6 K
convection shell 0.6-1.0 solar radii 1x10^6 K
photosphere 100 km 6000 K
chromosphere 2000 km 30,000 K
corona 10^6 km 1x10^6 K
The core is the hot, dense central region in which the nuclear reactions that power the Sun take place. It comprises
about 25% of the interior radius. Its temperature is greater than 15 million degrees Kelvin [source: Montana]. At the
core, gravity pulls all of the mass inward and creates an intense pressure. The pressure is high enough to force atoms
of hydrogen to come together in nuclear fusion reactions -- something we try to emulate here on Earth. The actual
process by which hydrogen fusion occurs is somewhat involved and is called the proton-proton cycle, summarized
bytheequation:
This equation says that four hydrogen atoms (with one nucleon each) are combined to produce a helium atom (with
four nucleons).In addition, the fusion produces four photons (represented by the Greek letter gamma, because they are
gamma radiation), two neutrinos (represented by the Greek letter nu), and energy.
The helium-4 atoms are less massive than the two hydrogen atoms that started the process, so the difference in mass
is converted to energy as described by Einstein's theory of relativity (E=mc²). The energy is emitted in various forms
of light: ultraviolet light, X-rays, visible light, infrared, microwaves and radio waves.
The radiative zone is comprised of the interior from about 25% to 85%
of the solar radius. It is called the radiative zone because here (and in
the core) the primary transport of energy is by photons (electromagnetic
radiation). Radiative diffusion is the primary means by which the
energy is transported to the surface.
As fusion-produced photons travel outward, they interact with the
nuclei and electrons which make up the Sun's plasma, and they are
absorbed and reemitted time and time again. Travelling extremely
slowly, photons can take hundreds of thousands of years to reach the
surface. As the photons move outward from hotter to cooler regions,
they will lose energy and their wavelength will decrease. Initially they
are gamma photons; by the time they reach the surface, they have
become a blackbody distribution, with about 46% visible, 43% infrared,
and 11% ultraviolet.

The convective zone is the final 30 percent of the sun's radius. It is a

region in which the change in temperature with increasing radius is so rapid that the Sun
becomes unstable to convection (rapid up and down motion of large packets of gas), much as
the Earth's atmosphere becomes convectively unstable on a hot Summer day and produces
thunderstorms. It is dominated by convection currents that carry the energy outward to the
surface. These convection currents are rising movements of hot gas next to falling movements
of cool gas, and it looks kind of like glitter in a simmering pot of water. The convection
currents carry photons outward to the surface faster than the radiative transfer that occurs in
the core and radiative zone. With so many interactions occurring between photons and gas
molecules in the radiative and convection zones, it takes a photon approximately 100,000 to
200,000 years to reach the surface.

The Sun's Atmosphere Just like Earth, the sun boasts an atmosphere. However, the sun's atmosphere is composed of
the photosphere, the chromosphere and the corona.

The photosphere is the lowest region of the sun's atmosphere and is the region that we can see. "The surface of the
sun" typically refers to the photosphere, at least in lay terms. It is 180-240 miles (300-400 kilometers wide) and has
an average temperature of 5,800 degrees Kelvin. It appears granulated or bubbly, much like the surface of a simmering
pot of water. The bumps are the upper surfaces of the convection current cells beneath; each granulation can be 600
miles (1,000 kilometers) wide. As we pass up through the photosphere, the temperature drops and the gases, because
they are cooler, do not emit as much light energy. This makes them less opaque to the human eye. Therefore, the outer
edge of the photosphere looks dark, an effect called limb darkening that accounts for the clear crisp edge of the sun's
surface. The word ``photosphere'' means ``light sphere''. It is called the ``surface'' of the Sun because at the top of it,
the photons are finally able to escape to space. The photosphere is about 500 kilometers thick. Remember that the Sun
is totally gaseous, so the surface is not something you could land or float on. It is a dense enough gas that you cannot
see through it. It emits a continuous spectrum.
The chromosphere extends above the photosphere to about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers).It is an irregular layer
above the photosphere where the temperature rises from 6000°C to about 20,000°C. At these higher temperatures
hydrogen emits light that gives off a reddish color (H-alpha emission). This colorful emission can be seen
inprominences that project above the limb of the sun during total solar eclipses. This is what gives the chromosphere
its name (color-sphere).The chromosphere is thought to be heated by convection within the underlying
photosphere.The chromosphere is only 2000 to 3000 kilometers thick. Its temperature rises outward away from the
photosphere. Because it has a low density, you see emission lines of hydrogen (mostly at the red wavelength of 656.3
nanometers)
The Corona is the Sun's outer atmosphere. It is visible during total eclipses of the Sun as a pearly white crown
surrounding the Sun. The corona displays a variety of features including streamers, plumes, and loops. These features
change from eclipse to eclipse and the overall shape of the corona changes with the sunspot cycle. It extends several
million miles or kilometers outward from the other spheres. It can be seen best during a solar eclipse and in X-
ray images of the sun. The temperature of the corona averages 2 million degrees Kelvin. Although no one is sure why
the corona is so hot, it is thought to be caused by the sun's magnetism. The corona has bright areas (hot) and dark areas
called coronal holes. Coronal holes are relatively cool and are thought to be areas where particles of the solar wind
escape.
One way to study the solar interior is through helioseismology. In helioseismology, one attempts to learn about the
properties of the Sun by studying the propagation of waves in its body
Monochromatic and white light observations :
There are several ways you can observe the Sun,the easiest and safest is to project the Sun by building your own
pinhole camera. Or, if you have your own telescope, you will need to obtain a solar filter. There are even solar
telescopes which one can access via the web to observe the Sun.
The spheres are graced with interesting features and activity which can be observed through white light(projection)
and monochromatic(using filters).
Photospheric features:
Sunspots appear as dark spots on the visible surface of the Sun. Temperatures in the dark centres of sunspots drop to
about 3700 K (compared to 5700 K for the surrounding photosphere). They typically last for several days, although
very large ones may live for several weeks. Sunspots are magnetic regions on the Sun with magnetic field strengths
thousands of times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field. Sunspots usually come in groups with two sets of spots.
One set will have positive or north magnetic field while the other set will have negative or south magnetic field. The
field is strongest in the darker parts of the sunspots - the umbra. The field is weaker and more horizontal in the lighter
part - the penumbra. The largest sunspot ever recorded was visible in March and April 1947 and covered an area of
over 7,000 million square miles; about a hundred Earths could be fitted into this area.
Granulation is the fine-grain structure of the photosphere. Individual 'grains' are about 1000 km across. The
granulation is constantly changing, usually over time scales of minutes or less. Each 'grain' is a convective cell which
consists of a bright, roughly polygonal area of hot rising gas, and a cooler edge channel of descending gas. Granules
are small (about 1000 km across) cellular features that cover the entire Sun except for those areas covered by sunspots.
These features are the tops of convection cells where hot fluid rises up from the interior in the bright areas, spreads
out across the surface, cools and then sinks inward along the dark lanes. Individual granules last for only about 20
minutes. The granulation pattern is continually evolving as old granules are pushed aside by newly emerging ones.
The flow within the granules can reach supersonic speeds of more than 7 km/s (15,000 mph) and produce sonic
"booms" and other noise that generates waves on the Sun's surface.
Super granules are much larger versions of granules (about 35,000 km across) but are best seen in measurements of
the "Doppler shift" where light from material moving toward us is shifted to the blue while light from material moving
away from us is shifted to the red. These features also cover the entire Sun and are continually evolving. Individual
super granules last for a day or two and have flow speeds of about 0.5 km/s (1000 mph). The fluid flows observed in
super granules carry magnetic field bundles to the edges of the cells where they produce the chromospheric network.
Faculae are bright areas that are usually most easily seen near the limb, or edge, of the solar disk. These are also
magnetic areas but the magnetic field is concentrated in much smaller bundles than in sunspots. While the sunspots
tend to make the Sun look darker, the faculae make it look brighter. During a sunspot cycle the faculae actually win
out over the sunspots and make the Sun appear slightly (about 0.1%) brighter at sunspot maximum than at sunspot
minimum.
Limb darkening refers to the diminishing of intensity in the image of a star as one moves from the center of the image
to the edge or "limb" of the image. Limb darkening occurs as the result of two effects:
 The density of the star diminishes as the distance from the center increases
 The temperature of the star diminishes as the distance from the center increases.
The amount of the limb darkening varies strongly with wavelength. In the blue light, the decrease in brightness towards
the limb is more than in the red. Therefore, the limb is dominated by the red portion of the light.
chromospheric features
Monochromatic light" refers to light of a narrow frequency.
The chromospheric network is a web-like pattern most easily seen in the emissions of the red line of hydrogen (H-
alpha) and the ultraviolet line of calcium (Ca II K - from calcium atoms with one electron removed). The network
outlines the super granule cells and is due to the presence of bundles of magnetic field lines that are concentrated there
by the fluid motions in the super granules.
Filaments are dark, thread-like features seen in the red light of hydrogen (H-alpha). These are dense, somewhat cooler,
clouds of material that are suspended above the solar surface by loops of magnetic field. Plages, the French word for
beach, are bright patches surrounding sunspots that are best seen in H-alpha. Plage is also associated with
concentrations of magnetic fields and forms a part of the network of bright emissions that characterize the
chromosphere.
Prominences are dense clouds of material suspended above the surface of the Sun by loops of magnetic field.
Prominences and filaments are actually the same thing, except that prominences are seen projecting out above the
limb, or edge, of the Sun. Both filaments and prominences can remain in a quiet or quiescent state for days or weeks.
However, as the magnetic loops that support them slowly change, filaments and prominences can erupt and rise off of
the Sun over the course of a few minutes or hours. They are often visible during a total solar eclipse.
Spicules are small jet-like eruptions. They are usually seen as dark streaks in hydrogen-alpha light except at the limb,
where they are seen as emission features. They last only a few minutes and eject
material into the corona at speeds up to 30 km/second. They are typically 300 miles
(480 km) in diameter and shoot a relatively modest 3,000 miles (4,830 km) above
the Sun's surface. They scream upward at 50,000 mph (22 kps) and then vanish
within five minutes, making them hard to study. More than 100,000 spicules reach
the solar atmosphere, called the corona, at any time.
Solar flares are tremendous explosions on the surface of the Sun. In a matter of
just a few minutes they heat material to many millions of degrees and release as
much energy as a billion megatons of TNT. They occur near sunspots, usually along
the dividing line (neutral line) between areas of oppositely directed magnetic fields.
Flares release energy in many forms - electro-magnetic (Gamma rays and X-rays), energetic particles (protons and
electrons), and mass flows. Flares are characterized by their brightness in X-rays .The energy sent out by the flares
can not only cause great damage to the astronauts onboard the International Space Station, (ISS), but also disrupt
electrical and radio installations on Earth, as well as giving us nice displays of aurora! These flares are normally
referred to as Coronal Mass Ejections or CMEs.

Sun spots and solar cycle :

Sunspots are regions on the solar surface that appear dark because they are cooler than the
surrounding photosphere, typically by about 1500 K (thus, they are still at a temperature
of about 4500 K, but this is cool compared to the rest of the photosphere). They are only
dark in a relative sense; a sunspot removed from the bright background of the Sun would
glow quite brightly.
They consist of two parts, a dark umbra and a lighter penumbra. Sunspots are areas where
a concentrated magnetic field protrudes through the hot gases of the photosphere.
 In 1609 Galileo focused his telescope on the sun and
announced his discovery of sunspots. Sunspots appear
to be small black blotches on the sun, though in fact,
even the smallest sunspot visible to us is several times
the size of the earth. Galileo's personal discovery of
sunspots was not the first time sunspots had been known to mankind.The number of
sunspots correlates with the intensity of solar radiation over the period since 1979, when
satellite measurements of absolute radiative flux became available. Since sunspots are
darker than the surrounding photosphere it might be expected that more sunspots would
lead to less solar radiation and a decreased solar constant. The "sunspot number" is then
given by the sum of the number of individual sunspots and ten times the number of
groups. The formation of sunspot is due to differential rotation of sun.The Sun has a north and south pole, just as the
Earth does, and rotates on its axis. However, unlike Earth which rotates at all latitudes every 24 hours, the Sun rotates
every 25 days at the equator and takes progressively longer to rotate at higher latitudes, up to 35 days at the poles.
This is known as differential rotation.

Differential rotation twists the Sun's subsurface magnetic field until it breaks through the surface as sunspots.

The modern period of sunspot research began with Heinrich Schwabe.Year after year, beginning in 1826, on
every clear day, Schwabe would scan the sun and record its spots, until 17 years later he began to suspect a
regular variation. This striking variation in the number of sunspots which was cyclic, with a period of
approximately 11 years was observed and this 11 year periodicity was called the sunspot cycle.
sunspots come in pairs, one tends to have a magnetic field polarity that is opposite that of the other that is,
one behaves magnetically like the north pole of a bar magnet and the other behaves magnetically like the
south pole of a bar magnet. Observations over many years reveal a 22 year cycle of activity in the
photosphere. The number of sunspots reaches a maximum about every 11 years, but successive maxima have
spots with reversed magnetic polarity. sunspots appear first at mid-latitudes, and then closer and closer to the
equator until solar minimum is reached. This pattern is best visualized in the form of the so-called butterfly
diagram, first constructed by the husband-wife team of E. Walter and Annie Maunder in the early twentieth
century.

The butterfly diagram shows the positions of the spots for each rotation of the sun since May 1880 and that
these bands first form at mid-latitudes, widen, and then move toward the equator as each cycle progresses,
 concluding that sunspots do not appear at random over the surface of the sun but are concentrated in two
latitude bands on either side of the equator.

Solar wind:The solar wind is a stream of energized, charged particles, primarily electrons and protons, flowing
outward from the Sun, through the solar system at speeds as high as 900 km/s and at a temperature of 1 million degrees
(Celsius). It is made of plasma.The solar wind streams off of the Sun in all directions at speeds of about 400 km/s
(about 1 million miles per hour). The source of the solar wind is the Sun's hot corona. The temperature of the corona
is so high that the Sun's gravity cannot hold on to it. Although we understand why this happens we do not understand
the details about how and where the coronal gases
are accelerated to these high velocities. The solar
wind is what blows the tails of comets back away
from the bodies of comets as they go through the
solar system. It mostly consists
of electrons andprotons with energies usually
between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles
varies in temperature and speed over time. These
particles can escape the Sun's gravity because of
their high kinetic energy and the
high temperature of the corona. In 1910 British
astrophysicist Arthur Eddington essentially
suggested the existence of the solar wind.Later
Eugene Parker explained it with his model of
corona and named it as solar wind. The total
number of particles carried away from the Sun by the solar wind is about 1.3×10 36 per second. Thus, the total mass
loss each year is about (2–3)×10−14 solar masses, or about 4–6 billion tonnes per hour. This is equivalent to losing a
mass equal to the Earth every 150 million years. However, only about 0.01% of the Sun's total mass has been lost
through the solar wind. The solar wind is divided into two components, respectively termed the slow solar wind and
the fast solar wind. The slow solar wind has a velocity of about 400 km/s, a temperature of 1.4–1.6×106 K and a
composition that is a close match to the corona. By contrast, the fast solar wind has a typical velocity of 750 km/s, a
temperature of 8×105 K and it nearly matches the composition of the Sun's photosphere. The slow solar wind is twice
as dense and more variable in intensity than the fast solar wind. The slow wind also has a more complex structure,
with turbulent regions and large-scale structures. The solar wind creates the heliosphere, an enormous bubble in
the interstellar medium that surrounds the Solar System. Other phenomena include geomagnetic storms that can
knock out power grids on Earth, the aurorae (northern and southern lights), and the plasma tails of comets that always
point away from the Sun. As the solar wind approaches a planet that has a well-developed magnetic field (such as
Earth, Jupiter and Saturn), the particles are deflected by the Lorentz force. This region, known as the magnetosphere,
causes the particles to travel around the planet rather than bombarding the atmosphere or surface. The magnetosphere
is roughly shaped like a hemisphere on the side facing the Sun, then is drawn out in a long wake on the opposite side.
The solar wind is responsible for the overall shape of Earth's magnetosphere, and fluctuations in its speed, density,
direction, and entrained magnetic field strongly affect Earth's local space environment. The solar wind also affects the
other incoming cosmic rays interacting with the atmosphere of planets. Moreover, planets with a weak or non-existent
magnetosphere are subject to atmospheric stripping by the solar wind.

Van Allen Belts is the name given to plasma trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field. It is mainly made up of electrons
and protons and a few others like Helium nuclei. There are actually two main belts. It is generally understood that the
inner and outer Van Allen belts result from different processes. The inner belt, consisting mainly of energetic protons,
is the product of the decay of so-called "albedo" neutrons which are themselves the result of cosmic ray collisions in
the upper atmosphere. The outer belt consists mainly of electrons. A gap between the inner and outer Van Allen belts,
sometimes called safe zone or safe slot, is caused by the Very Low Frequency (VLF) waves which scatter particles
in pitch angle which results in the gain of particles to the atmosphere.
The Van Allen Belts were named after James Van Allen, who confirmed the presence of the inner radiation belts in
1958. The Earth's Van Allen Belts consists of highly energetic ionized paticles trapped in the Earth's geomagnetic
fields. It extends from an altitude of about 1,000 to 60,000
kilometres above the surface, in which region radiation levels
vary. It is thought that most of the particles that form the belts
come from solar wind, and other particles by cosmic rays. Van
Allen radiation belts do exist on other planets in the solar
system. Solar cells, integrated circuits, and sensors can be
damaged by radiation. The belts are a hazard for artificial
satellites and are moderately dangerous for human beings, but
are difficult and expensive to shield against.

UNIT IV

Discovery and designation,Origin,Nature and orbits of Asteroids :Asteroids are small, airless rocky worlds
revolving around the sun that are too small to be called planets. They are also known as planetoids or minor
planets. In total, the mass of all the asteroids is less than that of Earth's moon. But despite their size,
asteroids can be dangerous. Many have hit Earth in the past, and more will crash into our planet in the
future. Asteroids are material left over from the formation of the solar system. One theory suggests that they are
the remains of a planet that was destroyed in a massive collision long ago. More likely, asteroids are material that
never coalesced into a planet. In fact, if the estimated total mass of all asteroids was gathered into a single object,
the object would be less than 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) across -- less than half the diameter of our Moon.
Much of our understanding about asteroids comes from examining pieces of space debris that fall to the surface of
Earth. On the first day of January 1801, Giuseppe Piazzi discovered an object which he first thought was a new
comet. But after its orbit was better determined it was clear that it was not a comet but more like a small planet.
Piazzi named it Ceres, after the Sicilian goddess of grain. Three other small bodies were discovered in the next few
years (Pallas, Vesta, and Juno). By the end of the 19th century there were several hundred. Because asteroids are
material from the very early solar system, scientists are interested in their composition. Spacecraft that
have flown through the asteroid belt have found that the belt is really quite empty and that asteroids are
separated by very large distances. Before 1991 the only information obtained on asteroids was though
Earth based observations. Then on October 1991 asteroid 951 Gaspra was visited by
the Galileo spacecraft and became the first asteroid to have hi-resolution images taken of it. Again on
August 1993 Galileo made a close encounter with asteroid 243 Ida. This was the second asteroid to be
visited by spacecraft. Both Gaspra and Ida are classified as S-type asteroids composed of metal-rich
silicates.

Bode's Law and the discovery of asteroidsIn 1766, Johann Titius of Wittenburg
published a numerical observation of the relative distances of the planets from
the sun: 4. 7. 10. 16. 28. 52. 100. Titius set Saturn, the outermost planet
known in 1766, as 100, and found the other planets almost fitted in:
The law relates the semi-major axis of each planet outward from the
Sun in units such that the Earth's semi-major axis is equal to 10:
a=4+n
where n = 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 …, each value of n > 3 twice the previous
value. The resulting values can be divided by 10 to convert them
into astronomical units (AU)

 Mercury = 4, real relative distance = 3.9

 Venus = 7, real relative distance = 7.2
 Earth = 10, real relative distance = 10
 Mars = 16, real relative distance = 15.2
 Then came a gap at 28
 Jupiter = 52, real relative distance is 52
 Saturn is 100, real relative distance is 95.4.

Several hundred thousand asteroids have been discovered and given provisional designations so far. Thousands
more are discovered each year. There are undoubtedly hundreds of thousands more that are too small to be seen
from the Earth. There are 26 known asteroids larger than 200 km in diameter. Our census of the largest ones is now
fairly complete: we probably know 99% of the asteroids larger than 100 km in diameter. Of those in the 10 to 100
km range we have cataloged about half. But we know very few of the smaller ones; there are probably considerably
more than a million asteroids in the 1 km range.The largest asteroid by far is 1 Ceres. It is 974 km in diameter and
contains about 25% of the mass of all the asteroids combined. The next largest are 2 Pallas, 4 Vesta and 10
Hygiea which are between 400 and 525 km in diameter. All other known asteroids are less than 340 km across.The
asteroid belt is a region of space between Mars and Jupiter. It is generally called the main belt to distinguish it from
the Kuiper belt and the scattered disc. More than half the mass of the belt is is composed by Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and
Hygiea. Ceres makes up nearly 25% of the asteroid belt’s mass by itself. The asteroids range from the size of Ceres
down to many that are as small as a dust particle.

There is some debate as to the classification of asteroids, comets and moons. There are many planetary satellites that
are probably better thought of as captured asteroids. Mars's tiny moons Deimos and Phobos, Jupiter's outer eight
moons, Saturn's outermost moon, Phoebe, and perhaps some of the newly discovered moons
of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are all more similar to asteroids than to the larger moons. Asteroids are classified into
a number of types according to their spectra (and hence their chemical composition) and albedo:

 C-type, includes more than 75% of known asteroids: extremely dark (albedo 0.03); similar to carbonaceous
chondrite meteorites; approximately the same chemical composition as the Sun minus hydrogen, helium and
other volatiles;
 S-type, 17%: relatively bright (albedo .10-.22); metallic nickel-iron mixed with iron- and magnesium-
silicates;
 M-type, most of the rest: bright (albedo .10-.18); pure nickel-iron.
 There are also a dozen or so other rare types.

Asteroids are also categorized by their position in the solar system:

 Main Belt: located between Mars and Jupiter roughly 2 - 4 AU from the Sun; further divided into subgroups:
Hungarias, Floras, Phocaea, Koronis, Eos, Themis, Cybeles and Hildas (which are named after the main
asteroid in the group).
 Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs): ones that closely approach the Earth
o Atens: semimajor axes less than 1.0 AU and aphelion distances greater than 0.983 AU;
o Apollos: semimajor axes greater than 1.0 AU and perihelion distances less than 1.017 AU
o Amors: perihelion distances between 1.017 and 1.3 AU;
 Trojans: located near Jupiter's Lagrange points (60 degrees ahead and behind Jupiter in its orbit). Several
hundred such asteroids are now known; it is estimated that there may be a thousand or more altogether.
Curiously, there are many more in the leading Lagrange point (L4) than in the trailing one (L5). (There may
also be a few small asteroids in the Lagrange points of Venus and Earth (see Earth's Second Moon) that are
also sometimes known as Trojans; 5261 Eureka is a "Mars Trojan".)

Between the main concentrations of asteroids in the Main Belt are relatively empty regions known as the Kirkwood
gaps. These are regions where an object's orbital period would be a simple fraction of that of Jupiter. An object in
such an orbit is very likely to be accelerated by Jupiter into a different orbit.
Measurements of the rotation rates of large asteroids in the asteroid belt show that there is an upper limit.
No asteroid with a diameter larger than 100 meters has a rotation period smaller than 2.2 hours.
Meteors
A meteoroid is a sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System.
The visible path of a meteoroid that enters Earth's (or another body's) atmosphere is called a meteor, or
colloquially a shooting star or falling star.
If a meteoroid reaches the ground and survives impact, then it is called a meteorite.
Many meteors appearing seconds or minutes apart are called a meteor shower. Around 15,000 tonnes of
meteoroids, space dust, and debris of different types enters Earth's atmosphere each year.
Although meteors have been known since ancient times, they were not known to be an astronomical
phenomenon until early in the 19th century. Prior to that, they were seen in the West as an atmospheric
phenomenon, like lightning, and were not connected with strange stories of rocks falling from the sky.
Meteors create a streak of light when they enter the Earth's atmosphere. The meteors travel at high speeds when
they enter the atmosphere and the friction they encounter heats the surrounding area. Atoms and molecules in the
surrounding area are excited and the atmosphere becomes luminescent.
Meteors enter the Earth's atmosphere on a regular basis and on most nights you can see a few meteors per hour.
During meteor showers, however, meteors are visible at a much higher rate. Meteor showers are usually associated
with comets. Comets cast off debris when they near the Sun and when Earth passes through the debris, its sky
displays astonishing meteor showers.
Meteors also originate from asteroids that collided within the Asteroid Belt. These meteors are usually larger than
those left behind by comets and are more likely to become meteorites by striking the Earth.
Meteorites vary in size and, fortunately, most of them are small. The largest meteorite ever discovered weighs 60
metric tons. The meteorite was found on a farm near Grootfontein, Namibia. Since many meteorites originated from
asteroids, which are planetary objects that never fully formed a planet, they are studied closely to gain knowledge
about planet formation.A Meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to
radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris
called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most
meteors are smaller than a grain of sand, so almost all of them disintegrate and never hit the Earth's surface.
Because meteor shower particles are all traveling in parallel paths, and at the same velocity, they will all
appear to an observer below to radiate away from a single point in the sky,this is called radiant point. Meteor
showers are almost always named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. The
most visible meteor shower in most years are the Perseids, which peak on 12 August of each year at over
one meteor per minute. The Leonids meteor shower peaks around 17 November of each year. The annual
nature of meteor showers suggests that they are associated with the Earth encountering an unusually large number
of meteoroids on particular parts of its orbit. As the following figures illustrate, meteor showers result when the
Earth passes through the orbit of periodic comets. As comets move about their orbits they leave a stream of debris
because dust and rocky material is liberated from the head as the ices vaporize. If the earth crosses the cometary
orbit, this debris leads to an increased number of meteors (left figure). These periods are called meteor showers.
That meteors in meteor showers appear to radiate from a single point in the sky is an optical illusion, as illustrated
in the figure on the right. The meteor stream that produces the shower has meteoroids moving on essentially parallel
trajectories, but because of perspective (parallel lines appear to meet at infinity) the meteors actually entering
Earth's atmosphere on parallel trajectories seem to radiate from a point, as viewed from a site on Earth.
Sporadic meteors are usually considered as random occurrences not associated with any particular meteor shower.
In fact there are areas of the sky which continually produce activity not associated with any known showers.
There are six known sources of sporadic activity. They are called the Helion, Antihelion, Northern Apex, Southern
Apex, Northern Toroidal, and Southern Toroidal sources. The meteors from the Helion source are from an area near
the sun's location in the sky and rarely seen visually. The word 'Helion' comes from the Greek 'helios' meaning sun.
The two Toroidal sources refer to debris in orbits highly inclined to the ecliptic. They are not well known and are in
need of study before accurate positions can be published.

This leaves the two Apex sources plus the Antihelion source as possible targets for the visual meteor observer. The
difficulty in shower association with these sources is the large size of the radiant areas compared to the tight radiants
for the major annual showers. The radiants can be as large as 20 degrees by 20 degrees which may encompass
several constellations. If the observer is aware of the nightly positions of these sources and the fact that these
meteors vary in apparent velocity, according to their distance from the radiant, then it may be possible to identify
potential members of these sources.
The first source active each night is the Antihelion radiant. These meteors are produced by low inclination particles
in direct orbit around the sun that intercept the Earth at a perpendicular angle. The position of this radiant is on the
ecliptic, 195 degrees east of the sun (or 165 degrees west). This places it in the opposite portion of the sky from the
sun. This means it will rise in the east shortly after sunset and will be visible the remainder of the night. It is best
seen near 0100 local standard time when it culminates in the southern or northern sky, depending upon your
observing location. Since they encounter the Earth in a "broadside" direction their actual velocity will be neither
slow or fast, but rather somewhere in between. Their observed velocity will appear slower than most meteors,
especially when meteors are seen near the radiant as these meteors will be coming right at the observer and
foreshortening will occur. Meteors seen far from the radiant will appear a bit faster as they produce longer paths in
the sky. The reason these meteors do not have a radiant exactly opposite the sun (180 degrees) is an effect called
the "Apex Attraction". The motion of the Earth causes the apparent radiant of all of these sporadic sources to be
shifted towards the direction the earth is traveling in space.
The two Apex sources are produced by debris orbiting in a retrograde motion, encountering the earth in a "head-
on" direction. This is essentially material hitting the earth's "front windshield" as we move through space. There is a
distinct lack of low inclination particles from this source which creates the double radiant located 15 degrees north
and 15 degrees south of the ecliptic, 90 degrees west of the sun. This area of the sky does not rise until midnight
local standard time. Therefore, these meteors are strictly a morning display and are best seen just before the start
of morning twilight, when the radiants are highest in the sky. Since these meteors strike the Earth from a "head-on"
direction they will appear swift, and often long, except near the radiant, where foreshortening will create short paths
in the sky.
All of these sources produce low activity and rarely exceeds 5 meteors per hour to the unaided eye. They are of little
interest to the casual meteor observer but they offer observers, especially those who plot, an opportunity to
recognize some interesting sources of meteor activity.
Types of Metors
Iron Meteorites
Iron meteorites are the type most people think of when they hear the word. However, only about 10% of the meteorites
that reach Earth are Irons. The rest are stone or stony-irons. Iron meteorites are thought to originate from the metallic
cores of planets or planetoids, or perhaps from the explosion of a supernova. Iron is a major by-product of stellar
fusion. The core of the Earth is thought to be nickel-iron. In fact, iron meteorites also contain some portion of nickel.
Iron and nickel are related metals, and only one other element, cobalt, separates them on the periodic table of elements.
The amount of nickel is what determines a meteorite's classification within the iron family. The combination of these
two metals makes for an extremely hard material, well-suited for survival in deep space, and even the more harsh
erosive environment here on Earth. The metals melted in deep space, and were then crystallized in the near absolute-
zero, high vacuum void of outer space, resulting in a crystalline structure unlike any found on Earth.
The crystalline structure is revealed when a freshly cut or ground section of meteorite is etched with a mild acid.
The Widmanstatten pattern is the unmistakable signature of an iron meteorite. It is rated in various classifications
from fine to coarse, depending on the size of the crystal structure. Some meteorites with high nickel content will show
no such pattern, however, nor do stone meteorites.
Most of the time the pattern is broken up by inclusions of various types, made up of silicates, sulphur, carbon, and
other material. If inclusions dominate extensively, the meteorite is reclassified.
Silicated Iron Meteorites
Silicated irons have a large percentage of inclusions. So much so that the metal pattern inside is made up of clumps
and veins of metal and other material. They are lighter than pure Irons, and because the different materials have
varying burn characteristics, the surface texture is more interesting, with more "thumbprints"- concave depressions
resembling craters or hollows.
Stony-Iron Meteorites
Stony-Irons are rare and among the most beautiful and precious of meteorites. It is unclear when a silicated iron
becomes a Stony-Iron. There are two kinds: mesosiderites, and pallasites. Mesosiderites are a conglomeration of stone
and metal, while pallasites, for our money the most beautiful meteorite that exists, is nickel-iron interspersed with
large crystals of olivine, a yellow-green igneous rock, translucent in thin slices or polished tones.
Stone Meteorites
Stone meteorites are the most common type, but also the most precious and valuable because they are hard to
distinguish from Earth rocks. They also erode more quickly than the durable irons and stony-irons. Although these are
the most varied in structure and content, they are divided up into two main
types, chondrites and achondritesChondrites contain chondrules, microscopic to marble-sized spherical globs of
silicates from the earliest solar nebula, sometimes pre-dating even planetary formation!
Chondritic material accreted into planetesimals, which were then bombarded by other bodies, resulting in the breakup
and destruction of the planetesimal. If the parent planetesimal grew large enough, the pressure and temperature melted
and re-crystallized the chondritic material,resulting in achondrites, the rarest form of meteorite. Achondritic
meteorites can be pieces of other mature planets or moons, which were ejected by a large impact, and may have
traveled the solar system for eons before landing on Earth. Such is the case with the Antarctic Mars meteorite alleged
to contain fossils of Martian microbes.

Comets

A comet is an icy body that releases gas or dust. They are often compared to dirty snowballs, though recent
research has led some scientists to call them snowy dirtballs. Comets contain dust, ice, carbon dioxide, ammonia,
methane and more. Some researchers think comets might have originally brought some of the water and organic
molecules to Earth that now make up life here.Comets orbit the sun, but most are believed to inhabit in an area
known as the Oort Cloud, far beyond the orbit of Pluto. Occasionally a comet streaks through the inner solar system;
some do so regularly, some only once every few centuries.
Physical Characteristics
The solid nucleus or core of a comet consists mostly of ice and dust coated with dark organic material, with the
ice composed mainly of frozen water but perhaps other frozen substances as well, such as ammonia, carbon
dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane. The nucleus might have a small rocky core.
As a comet gets closer to the sun, the ice on the surface of the nucleus begins turning into gas, forming a cloud
known as the coma. Radiation from the sun pushes dust particles away from the coma, forming a dust tail, while
charged particles from the sun convert some of the comet's gases into ions, forming an ion tail. Since comet tails are
shaped by sunlight and the solar wind, they always point away from the sun.
The nuclei of most comets are thought to measure 10 miles (16 km) or less. Some comets have comas that can
reach nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) wide, and some have tails reaching 100 million miles (160
million kilometers) long.
We can see a number of comets with the naked eye when they pass close to the sun because their comas and tails
reflect sunlight or even glow because of energy they absorb from the sun. However, most comets are too small
or too faint to be seen without a telescope.
Comets leave a trail of debris behind them that can lead to meteor showers on Earth. For instance, the Perseid
meteor shower occurs every year between August 9 and 13 when the Earth passes through the orbit of the Swift-
Tuttle comet.
Orbital Characteristics
Asteroids classify comets based on the durations of their orbits around the sun. Short-period comets need roughly
200 years or less to complete one orbit, long-period comets take more than 200 years, and single-apparition
comets are not bound to the sun, on orbits that take them out of the solar system. Recently, scientist have also
discovered comets in the main asteroid belt — these main-belt comets might be a key source of water for the inner
terrestrial planets.
Scientists think short-period comets, also known as periodic comets, originate from a disk-shaped band of icy
objects known as the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune's orbit, with gravitational interactions with the outer planets
dragging these bodies inward, where they become active comets. Long-period comets are thought to come from the
nearly spherical Oort cloud even further out, which get slung inward by the gravitational pull of passing stars.
Some comets, called sun-grazers, smash right into the sun or get so close that they break up and evaporate.
Naming
In general, comets are named after their discoverer, either a person. For example, comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 got
its name because it was the ninth short-periodic comet discovered by Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David
Levy. Spacecraft have proven very effective at spotting comets as well, so the names of many comets incorporate
the names of missions such as SOHO or WISE.
Formation
Astronomers think comets are leftovers from the gas, dust, ice and rocks that initially formed the solar
system about 4.6 billion years ago.
Comet Life Cycle
Departure
Some comets are not bound to the sun, on orbits that take them out of the solar system.
Extinction
Comets lose ice and dust each time they come near the sun, leaving behind trails of debris. Eventually,
they can lose all their ices, with some turning into fragile, inactive objects similar to asteroids.
Breakup
Other comets, upon losing all their ices, break up and dissipate into clouds of dust.
Collisions
The orbits comets take sometimes end with them colliding with planets and their moons. Many impact
craters seen in the solar system were caused by such collisions.
History
In antiquity, comets inspired both awe and alarm, "hairy stars" resembling fiery swords that appeared
unpredictably in the sky. Often, comets seemed to be omens of doom — the most ancient known mythology,
the described fire, brimstone, and flood with the arrival of a comet, and Emperor Nero of Rome saved
himself from the "curse of the comet" by having all possible successors to his throne executed. This fear
was not just limited to the distant past — in 1910, people in Chicago sealed their windows to protect
themselves from what they thought was the comet’s poisonous tail.
For centuries, scientists thought comets traveled in the Earth's atmosphere, but in 1577, observations made
by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe revealed they actually traveled far beyond the moon. Isaac Newton
later discovered that comets move in elliptical, oval-shaped orbits around the Sun, and correctly predicted
that they could return again and again.
Chinese astronomers kept extensive records on comets for centuries, including observations of Halley's
Comet going back to at least 240 BC, historic annals that have proven valuable resources for later
astronomers.
A number of recent missions have ventured to comets. NASA's Deep Impact collided an impactor into
Comet Tempel 1 in 2005 and recorded the dramatic explosion that revealed the interior composition and
structure of the nucleus. In 2009, NASA announced samples the Stardust mission returned from Comet
Wild 2 revealed a building block of life. The European Space Agency's Rosetta is scheduled to orbit Comet
Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 and deploy a probe to make the first landing on a comet.
Famous Comets
Halley's Comet is likely the most famous comet in the world, even depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry that
chronicled the Battle of Hastings of 1066. It becomes visible to the naked eye every 76 years when it nears
the sun. When Halley's Comet zoomed near Earth in 1986, five spacecraft flew past it and gathered
unprecedented details, coming close enough to study its nucleus, which is normally concealed by the
comet's coma. The roughly potato-shaped, nine-mile-long (15 km) contains equal part ice and dust, with
some 80 percent of the ice made of water and about 15 percent of it consisting of frozen carbon monoxide.
Researchers believe other comets are chemically similar to Halley's Comet. The nucleus of Halley's Comet
was unexpectedly extremely dark black — its surface, and perhaps those of most others, is apparently
covered with a black crust of dust over most of the ice, and it only releases gas when holes in this crust
expose ice to the sun.
The comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided spectacularly with Jupiter in 1994, with the giant planet's
gravitational pull ripping the comet apart for at least 21 visible impacts. The largest collision created a
fireball that roseabout 1,800 miles (3,000 km) above the Jovian cloudtops as well as a giant dark spot more
than 7,460 miles (12,000 km) across — about the size of the Earth —and was estimated to have exploded
with the force of6,000 gigatons of TNT.
A recent, highly visible comet was Hale-Bopp, which came within 122 million miles (197 million kilometers)
of Earth in 1997. Its unusually large nucleus gave off a great deal of dust and gas — estimated at roughly
18 to 25 miles (30 to 40 kilometers) across — appeared bright to the naked eye.
When Earth crosses the path of a comet, even if the comet hasn't been around for a few years, leftover
dust and ice can create increased numbers of meteors in what's known as a meteor shower.
 When they are near the Sun and active, comets have several distinct
parts:

 nucleus: relatively solid and stable, mostly ice and gas with a
small amount of dust and other solids;
 coma: dense cloud of water, carbon dioxide and other neutral
gases sublimed from the nucleus;
 hydrogen cloud: huge (millions of km in diameter) but very
sparse envelope of neutral hydrogen;
 dust tail: up to 10 million km long composed of smoke-sized
dust particles driven off the nucleus by escaping gases; this is the most
prominent part of a comet to the unaided eye;
 ion tail: as much as several hundred million km long composed
of plasma and laced with rays and streamers caused by interactions with
the solar wind.

Comets are invisible except when they are near the Sun. Most comets
have highly eccentric orbits which take them far beyond the orbit
of Pluto; these are seen once and then disappear for millennia. Only the
short- and intermediate-period comets (like Comet Halley), stay within the orbit of Pluto for a significant fraction of
their orbits.
Comet structures are diverse and very dynamic, but they all develop a surrounding cloud of diffuse material, called a
coma, that usually grows in size and brightness as the comet approaches the Sun. Usually a small, bright nucleus (less
than 10 km in diameter) is visible in the middle of the coma. The coma and the nucleus together constitute the head
of the comet.
As comets approach the Sun they develop enormous tails of luminous material that extend for millions of kilometers
from the head, away from the Sun. When far from the Sun, the nucleus is very cold and its material is frozen solid
within the nucleus. In this state comets are sometimes referred to as a "dirty iceberg" or "dirty snowball," since over
half of their material is ice. When a comet approaches within a few AU of the Sun, the surface of the nucleus begins
to warm, and volatiles evaporate. The evaporated molecules boil off and carry small solid particles with them, forming
the comet's coma of gas and dust.
When the nucleus is frozen, it can be seen only by reflected sunlight. However, when a coma develops, dust reflects
still more sunlight, and gas in the coma absorbs ultraviolet radiation and begins to fluoresce. At about 5 AU from the
Sun, fluorescence usually becomes more intense than reflected light.
As the comet absorbs ultraviolet light, chemical processes release hydrogen, which escapes the comet's gravity, and
forms a hydrogen envelope. This envelope cannot be seen from Earth because its light is absorbed by our atmosphere,
but it has been detected by spacecraft.
The Sun's radiation pressure and solar wind accelerate materials away from the comet's head at differing velocities
according to the size and mass of the materials. Thus, relatively massive dust tails are accelerated slowly and tend to
be curved. The ion tail is much less massive, and is accelerated so greatly that it appears as a nearly straight line
extending away from the comet opposite the Sun. The following view of Comet West shows two distinct tails. The
thin blue plasma tail is made up of gases and the broad white tail is made up of microscopic dust particles.
Each time a comet visits the Sun, it loses some of its volatiles. Eventually, it becomes just another rocky mass in the
solar system. For this reason, comets are said to be short-lived, on a cosmological time scale. Many scientists believe
that some asteroids are extinct comet nuclei, comets that have lost all of their volatiles.

Periodic comets are comets having orbital periods of less than 200 years (also known as "short-period
comets") or which have been observed during more than a single perihelionpassage (e.g. 153P/Ikeya–Zhang).
("Periodic comet" is also sometimes used to mean any comet with a periodic orbit, even if greater than 200 years.)
Periodic comets receive a permanent number prefix usually after the second perihelion passage, which is why there
are a number of unnumbered periodic comets, such as P/2005 T5 (Broughton).
In nearly all cases, comets are named after their discoverer(s), but in a few cases such
as 2P/Encke and 27P/Crommelin they were named for a person who calculated their orbits (the orbit computers).
The long-term orbits of comets are difficult to calculate because of errors in the known trajectory that accumulate
with perturbations from the planets, and in the days before electronic computers some people dedicated their
entire careers to this. Even so, quite a few comets were lost because their orbits are also affected by non-
gravitational effects such as the release of gas and other material that forms the comet's coma and tail. Unlike
a long-period comet, the next perihelion passage of a numbered periodic comet can be predicted with a high
degree of accuracy.
Periodic comets sometimes bear the same name repeatedly (e.g. the nine Shoemaker–Levy comets or the twenty-
four NEAT comets); the IAU system distinguishes between them either through the number prefix or by the full
designation (e. g. 181P and 192P are both "Comet Shoemaker–Levy"). In the literature, an informal numbering
system is applied to periodic comets (skipping the non-periodic ones), thus 181P and 192P are known as Comet
Shoemaker–Levy 6 and Comet Shoemaker–Levy 1, respectively. Non-periodic Shoemaker–Levy comets are
interleaved in this sequence: C/1991 B1 between 2 and 3, C/1991 T2 between 5 and 6, C/1993 K1 and C/1994
E2 after Shoemaker–Levy 9.
In comet nomenclature, the letter before the "/" is either "C" (a non-periodic comet), "P" (a periodic comet), "D"
(a comet which has been lost or has disintegrated), "X" (a comet for which no reliable orbit could be calculated —
usually historical comets), or "A" for an object that was mistakenly identified as a comet, but is actually a minor
planet. Some lists retain the "C" prefix for comets of periods larger than about 30 years until their return is
confirmed.

UNIT I

Coordinate systems: the horizontal or "alt-az" system

The location of an object on the sky is fixed by celestial coordinates

analogous to the terrestrial latitude/longitude system.
There are various systems, suitable for different purposes;
each system needs a fundamental circle and a fixed point on it.
The simplest is the horizontal system, which uses the horizon as its fundamental circle.
The poles of this circle are the zenith overhead and the nadir underfoot;
these are defined by the local vertical (using a plumb-line or similar).
Draw a vertical circle from the zenith to the nadir through
object X.
The altitude (a) of object X is the angular distance along the
vertical circle from the horizon to X,
measured from -90° at nadir to +90° at zenith.
Alternatively, the zenith distance of X is 90° - a.
(Some authors use h instead of a .)
Any two objects with the same altitude
lie on a small circle called a parallel of altitude.
To fix a point of origin on horizon,
we look at where the spin axis of the Earth intersects the celestial
sphere,
at the North and South Celestial Poles.
The vertical circle through these is called the principal vertical.
Where this intersects the horizon, it gives the north and
south cardinal points
(the north point is the one nearest the North Celestial Pole).
Midway between these are the east and west cardinal points;
the vertical circle through these is called the prime vertical
(not shown on the diagram), at 90° to the principal vertical.
The azimuth (A) of object X is the angular distance around the horizon
from the north cardinal point to the vertical circle through X,
measured 0°-360° westwards (clockwise).
Coordinate systems: the first equatorial or "HA-dec." system
Any coordinates given in the horizontal or alt-az system depend on the place of observation
(because the sky appears different from different points on Earth) and on the time of observation
(because the Earth rotates, and each star appears to trace out a circle centred on North Celestial Pole).
We need a system of celestial coordinates which is fixed on the sky, independent of the observer's time and place.
For this, we change the fundamental circle from the horizon to the celestial equator.
The North Celestial Pole (NCP) and the South Celestial Pole (SCP) lie directly above North and South Poles of
Earth. The NCP and SCP form the poles of a great circle on celestial sphere, analogous to the equator on Earth.
It is called the celestial equator and it lies directly above the Earth's equator.Any great circle between the NCP and
the SCP is a meridian. The one which also passes through the zenith and the nadir is "the" celestial meridian, or
the observer's meridian. This provides our new zero-point; in this case, we use the point where it crosses
the southern half of the equator.

A typical star comes up over the horizon (rises) somewhere in the

eastern sector; it moves round to the right, climbing higher in the
sky; it reaches its highest point when it's due south, i.e. on the
meridian; it continues moving right, and sinking lower;
and it disappears below the horizon (sets) somewhere in the western
sector. The star's highest point, due south, is called (upper)
transit or culmination. The star will also cross the meridian again,
in the opposite direction, at the lowest point in its daily path.
This is called lower transit, and it occurs below the horizon unless
the star is circumpolar.
Stars close to North Celestial Pole never set;
if a star's north polar distance is less than the altitude of the Pole,
then that star cannot reach the horizon. These are defined as north
circumpolar stars. Similarly, stars close to the South Celestial Pole will never rise: these are south circumpolar
stars. All others are equatorial stars, which rise and set.The division between circumpolar and equatorial stars
depends on the altitude of the North Celestial Pole, i.e. on the observer's latitude.
To fix the coordinates of an object X on the celestial sphere, draw the meridian through X.
The declination δ of X is the angular distance from the celestial equator to X, measured from -90° at the SCP to
+90° at the NCP. Any point on celestial equator has declination 0°.
Alternatively, the North Polar Distance of X = 90° - δ.
Any two objects with the same declination lie on a parallel of declination.The Hour Angle or HA (H) of object X
is the angular distance between the meridian of X and "the" celestial meridian.
It is measured westwards in hours, 0h-24h, since the Earth rotates 360° in 24 hours.
time interval angle
1 hour 15°
1 minute 15'
1 second 15"

An object on the meridian (culminating) has H = 0h. Its HA then steadily increases as the object moves westwards.
At lower transit, when it is due north (and possibly below the horizon), H = 12h. At H = 23h, it is just one hour short
of culminating again.This system is still dependent on the time of observation, but an object's declination generally
doesn't change rapidly, and its Hour Angle can be determined quite simply, given the time and the location.
Coordinate systems: the second equatorial or "RA-dec." system

Coordinates in the first equatorial system (HA and declination)

still depend on the time of observation. Now we change the zero-
point for our coordinates. We choose a fixed point on the celestial
equator, called the vernal equinox, or the First Point of Aries.
The symbol for this is the astrological symbol for Aries:

The declination (δ) of object X is measured in the same way as before.

The Right Ascension or RA (α) of object X is the angle along the
celestial equator measured eastwards from the vernal equinox to the
meridian of X. Like HA, RA is measured in hours 0-24h, but it goes in
the opposite direction.

Galactic coordinates
The equatorial system of coordinates (Right Ascension and declination) is the one most often used.
But the galactic system is sometimes more useful,
e.g. for seeing how objects are distributed with respect to the galactic plane.
In this system, the fundamental great circle is the galactic equator,
which is the intersection of the galactic plane with celestial sphere,
with corresponding galactic poles. We define the North Galactic Pole as that pole
in same hemisphere as the North Celestial Pole. The positions of the poles were
determined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1959.
To fix the galactic coordinates of object X, draw a great circle between the two
galactic poles, passing through X.
The galactic latitude (b) of object X is the angular distance on this circle from
galactic equator to X, from - 90° at South Galactic Pole to +90° at North Galactic
Pole.The zero-point for longitude is the centre of galaxy; again, the position was
fixed by the IAU. The galactic longitude (l) of object X is the angular distance around the galactic equator from the
centre of the galaxy to the great circle through X, measured eastwards 0-360°.Although later research may come up
with better values for the positions of the galactic poles and the centre of the galaxy, the IAU values will still be
used to determine this coordinate system.
Ecliptic coordinates
All the objects considered so far have been "fixed stars", which keep almost constant values of Right Ascension and
declination. But bodies within the Solar System change their celestial positions.The most important one to consider
is the Sun. The Sun's declination can be found by measuring its altitude when it's on the meridian (at midday).
The Sun's Right Ascension can be found by measuring the Local Sidereal Time of meridian transit. We find that the
Sun's RA increases by approximately 4 minutes a day, and its declination varies between +23°26' and -23°26'.
This path apparently followed by Sun is called the ecliptic.

The reason the Sun behaves this way is that the Earth's axis is tilted to its orbital plane. The angle of tilt is +23°26',
which is called the obliquity of the ecliptic (symbol ε).
Any two great circles intersect at two nodes. The node where the Sun crosses the equator from south to
north (the ascending node) is called the vernal (or spring) equinox.
The Sun passes through this point around March 21st each year. This is the point from which R.A. is measured, so
here RA = 0h. At RA = 12h, the descending node is called the autumnal equinox;
the Sun passes through this point around September 23rd each year. At both these points, the Sun is on the equator,
and spends 12 hours above horizon and 12 hours below.
The most northerly point of the ecliptic is called (in the northern hemisphere)
the Summer Solstice (RA = 6h):the Sun passes through this point around June 21st each year.The most southerly
point is the Winter Solstice (RA = 18h);the Sun passes through this point around December 21st each year.
At the northern Summer Solstice, the northern hemisphere of Earth is tipped towards Sun, giving longer hours of
daylight and warmer weather .Thus the Sun's motion is simple when referred to the ecliptic;
also the Moon and the planets move near to the ecliptic. So the ecliptic system is sometimes more useful than the
equatorial system for solar-system objects.
Sidereal Time
To know which stars are on your local meridian,depends on the time at which you observe.In
fact, it depends on both the date and the (clock) time,
because the Earth is in orbit around the Sun.Consider the Earth at position E 1 on the diagram. The
star shown is on the meridian at midnight by the clock.
But three months later, when the Earth reaches position E 2 , the same star is on the meridian at 6
p.m. by the clock.Our clocks are set to run (approximately) on solar time (sun time).
But for astronomical observations, we need to use sidereal time (star time).
Consider the rotation of the Earth relative to the stars. We define one rotation of Earth as
one sidereal day,measured as the time between two successive meridian passages of the same
star.Because of the Earth's orbital motion, this is a little shorter than a solar day. In one year, the
Earth rotates 365 times relative to the Sun,
but 366 times relative to the stars. So the sidereal day is about 4 minutes shorter than the solar
day.
We define Local Sidereal Time (LST) to be 0 hours when the vernal equinox is on the
observer's local meridian. One hour later, the local Hour Angle (LHA) of the equinox is +1h (by
the definition of Hour Angle),
and the Local Sidereal Time is 1h. So at any instant, Local Sidereal Time = Local Hour Angle of the vernal
equinox.Here's an alternative definition: suppose that LST = 1h.
This means that the vernal equinox has moved 15° (1h) west of the meridian, and now some other star X is on the
meridian. But the Right Ascension of star X is the angular distance from the vernal equinox to X = 1h = LST.
So at any instant, Local Sidereal Time = Right Ascension of whichever stars are on the meridian.

sine rule:
sin(a)/sin(A) = sin(b)/sin(B) = sin(c)/sin(C)
cosine rule:
cos(a) = cos(b) cos(c) + sin(b) sin(c) cos(A)
cos(b) = cos(c) cos(a) + sin(c) sin(a) cos(B)
cos(c) = cos(a) cos(b) + sin(a) sin(b) cos(C)

Calendars
The current standard epoch for star catalogues etc. is J2000.0; the previous one was B1950.0.
In this context, “B” signifies a Besselian year, which begins when the mean longitude of the Sun is exactly 280°;
this always occurs very close to the start of the calendar year, but not always at the same instant.
For example, “B1950.0” represents the instant 1950 January 0.9235.“J” signifies a Julian year, which is exactly
365.25 days long. “J2000.0” represents midday on 2000 January 1, and every other Julian year begins at an exact
multiple of 365.25 days from then. In 1984 the International Astronomical Union recommended that star positions
should be calculated on the basis of Julian years rather than Besselian ones.Julian years are named for Julius
Caesar, who is credited with the first reform of the calendar. The year (more accurately, the “tropical year”),
is measured from one spring equinox to the next, an interval of 365.2421988 mean solar days.
In the Julian calendar, most years have 365 days, with an extra day every fourth year (called a leap-year),
thus averaging 365.25 days to a year, with an error of 1 day every 128 years.By the 16th century, the accumulated
error was 10 days, and Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar, where century years are only leap-
years if they are divisible by 400; thus 1900 was not a leap-year, but 2000 was. The Gregorian year thus averages
365.2425 days to a year, with an error of 1 day every 3320 years. The extra 10 days were arbitrarily omitted,
1582 October 4th being followed by 1582 October 15th. The Gregorian calendar was adopted in different countries
at various different dates over the next 350 years.
Twilight
Since the atmosphere scatters sunlight, the sky does not become dark instantly at sunset;
there is a period of twilight.
During civil twilight, it is still light enough to carry on ordinary activities out-of-doors; this continues until the Sun's
altitude is -6°.
During nautical twilight, it is dark enough to see the brighter stars, but still light enough to see the horizon,
enabling sailors to measure stellar altitudes for navigation; this continues until the Sun's altitude is -12°.
During astronomical twilight, the sky is still too light for making reliable astronomical observations;
this continues until the Sun's altitude is -18°.
Once the Sun is more than 18° below the horizon, we have astronomical darkness.
The same pattern of twilights repeats, in reverse, before sunrise.