The Celestial Sphere

ASTR 1010

Name________________________________

Overview –
In this activity you will implement what you know about the celestial sphere and
celestial coordinates to locate the Sun, stars, and planets in the sky. You will also
explore how the positions of these bodies change throughout the year.

Objectives –
After completing this activity students will be able to:
• Comprehend why a celestial sphere model is useful.
• Understand the Sun’s altitude and duration of time in the sky.
• Use an astronomical database and coordinates to locate and name bright stars.
• See what changes in the night sky over a few years, and what appears unchanging.

Definitions –
• Celestial Sphere: the imaginary sphere which surrounds the Earth, onto which
all celestial bodies – stars, planets, the Moon, and even the Sun can be projected.
• Celestial Equator: imaginary projection of Earth's equator onto the celestial sphere.
• Ecliptic: the apparent path that the sun traces across the sky over the course of a
year as observed from Earth.
• Right Ascension (RA): the East-to-West celestial coordinate. Analogous to
longitude on Earth. It is measured in hours, minutes,
and seconds.
• Declination (Dec): the North-to-South celestial
coordinate. Analogous to latitude on Earth. It is
measured in units of degrees, arcminutes, and
arcseconds.
• Ecliptic: the Sun's apparent path through the sky.
• Constellation: a group of stars that forms a
recognizable pattern or shape in the night sky.
• Circumpolar Star: a star that, from a particular
latitude on Earth, never set below the horizon. Image Credit: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/skytellers/constellations/

• North Celestial Pole: the point in the sky directly above Earth's North Pole.
• South Celestial Pole: the point in the sky directly above Earth's South Pole.
Part 1. Celestial Sphere
1) Match each letter with the corresponding definition from the list provided.

A:

B:

C:

D:

2) Why are the celestial equator and ecliptic offset from each other?

3) How does the celestial sphere relate to the Earth’s position in space?

Part 2. The Motion of the Sun

For this section we will be using the Motions of the Sun simulator which can be
found here: https://ccnmtl.github.io/astro-simulations/sun-motion-simulator/
Once the applet has loaded, set your location to Atlanta by changing the observer’s
latitude to 33.8° N. In the General Settings (bottom right), make sure the boxes for
the sun’s declination circle, the ecliptic, underside of celestial sphere, stick figure
and shadow, and time of day, are checked. 2
To begin, change the date in the simulator to find the Sun’s right ascension and
declination at the equinoxes, solstices, and today. Complete the table below:
DATE RA (hours, minutes) Dec (degrees)
March 21
June 21
September 21
December 21
Today’s Date:

4) How does the declination of the Sun in June compare to the declination in
December? Explain why.

5) Is your answer to the question above true for everyone on the Earth? Explain.

Now, let us compare the amount of time the Sun spends in the sky. Set the
simulator to your June date and drag the Sun so it is just peaking above the eastern
horizon to imitate sunrise. Record the time in the table below. Now drag the Sun
across the sky so it is just below the western horizon. This will imitate sunset, and
again record the time. Change to your December date and repeat.
DATE Sunrise Time Sunset Time
June 21
December 21

6) In which month does the Sun spend the least time above the horizon? Explain why.

7) Is your answer to the question above true for everyone on the Earth? Explain.

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8) Change the latitude to 90 degrees North. For the entire month of June, how
many times does the Sun set?

9) While at 90 degrees North, how many times does the Sun rise in December?

10) Where on Earth are you at 90 degrees North?

Part 3. Finding Stars

For this section we will be using the “Coordinate Query” task from the
astronomical database SIMBAD, which can be found at the here:
https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-fcoo
Copy and paste the RA and Dec given in the table below to find 10 bright stars in
the night sky – NB: Make sure you include the +/- on the declination values!
Star RA (hrs,min,s) Dec (deg,arcsec,arcmin) Name of Star
1 06:45:09 -16:42:58
2 07:39:18 +05:13:30
3 20:41:26 +45:16:49
4 19:50:47 +08:52:06
5 05:16:41 +45:59:53
6 05:14:32 -08:12:06
7 14:15:40 +19:10:57
8 05:55:10 +07:24:25
9 16:29:24 -26:25:55
10 18:36:56 +38:47:01

Let’s do the first one together! Click the link above to open the “Coordinate
Query” task in SIMBAD. Copy the coordinates for Star 1 and paste them into the
“Coordinates” text box (circled in blue) and press ‘submit query’ (circled in red):

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Once you submit your query, you should see a table generated that is very similar
if not exactly like this (note that the image below is truncated):

For Star 1, the RA values for “alf CMa” and “alf CMa B” are both nearly exactly
6:46:09, but the DEC value (-16:42:58.0171) for the first object is a much closer
match to the Dec value in the table, so ‘alf CMa’ (in the red square) is our star!
Click on “alf CMa” and you will come to a screen that has basic data and an image
of the star. Scroll down to “Identifiers” –

Look for “NAME”. Looking at the screenshot above we see that the name of Star
1 is “Dog Star” or “Sirius” or “Sirius A”. If your star has multiple names, record
them all in the table! The different names can be for various reasons. In the case of
Sirius, the name “Dog Star” is tied in to history and culture and can be traced back
to the Ancient Egyptians. “Sirius” refers to the binary star system located in the
constellation Canis Major, while “Sirius A” specifically denotes the primary star.
Again, for our purposes, list all the names.

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Part 4. The Sky
For this final section we will be using the Stellarium Web which can be found
here: https://stellarium-web.org/
First, at the top left corner, click on “View Settings” then make sure that “Ecliptic
Line” is checked. To get into full screen mode click on the three horizontal lines
on the top left corner of the screen. At the bottom of the screen there are nine
icons. Click on the third from the left, which is “Atmosphere”. Next click on
“Constellations”. Click on the location box (bottom left) to make sure it is set to,
or near, Atlanta. Also note that you can click on the map and drag it around,which
you will need to do to answer the questions below.

11) Record the current time, and list all planets (if any) that are visible in the sky.

12) Now move the screen so that you have a good view directly below (in other
words, look at the ground and it will become transparent). What planets are
currently (if any) below the horizon?

If you click on the bottom right (the time) you will see this interactive icon:

You can now see how the sky changes per hour, per minute, per second, per day,
per month, or even per year! You can pause the sky, or if you need to reset the little
clock image will take you back to the current time. Such power at your fingertips.

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13) Go to Feb 03, 2025 at about 12:30. Looking up at the sky, you should see the
Sun and a few planets – if you do not see anything make sure you click on
“Atmosphere”. What planets do you see? Is the Moon up in the sky?

14) Now, jump a year forward! What planets do you see? Is the Moon up in the sky?

15) Keep clicking “up” each year until you get to the year 2100! What
changes/moves from year-to-year, and what appears to hardly change if at all?

16) Explain why is it that in 75 years some “things” look like they have not really
changed/moved at all?

17) Based on your answers to the previous questions, what does the movement of
celestial bodies in our Solar System as well as the relatively fixed positions of
other celestial objects reflect in our understanding of the Earth's orbit and the
nature of planetary motion?