24
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On Mars, why are the seasons "strongly amplified" in the southern hemisphere and masked in the northern hemisphere?
Your solution is correct. Mars has a perihelion that is, coincidentally, quite close to the southern Hemisphere summer solstice. Perihelion is actually about one (Earth) month before the solstice. ...
- 116k
13
votes
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Straightforward derivation of the sunrise equation
We can start by converting between equatorial coordinates (right ascension $\alpha$ and declination $\delta$) to horizontal coordinates (azimuth $\text{Az}$ and elevation/altitude $a$). If you want to ...
- 36k
12
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On Mars, why are the seasons "strongly amplified" in the southern hemisphere and masked in the northern hemisphere?
Apart from the eccentricity you pointed out that has a role in a difference in the weather, one more factors that plays a role is the difference in the terrain and topology between the hemisphere. ...
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8
votes
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When was/will Polaris's declination be maximised?
Soon after 2100:
In 2018 Polaris was 0.66° away from the pole of rotation (1.4 times the Moon disc) and so revolves around the pole in a small circle 1.3° in diameter. It will be closest to the pole (...
- 116k
7
votes
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Measuring misalignment between two positions on sky
Assuming you mean the angle between the meridian line through A and the great circle that goes through points A and B, then it goes something like this.
Define vectors from the origin to A and B ...
- 146k
7
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A Noob's question on declination
I don't think this particularly useful way to think about it. The equator is the equator, Cancer is 23.4 North, and Capricorn is 23.4 South. The equator is a great circle on the sphere of the sky, but ...
- 116k
7
votes
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What is the area of the Summer Triangle?
The area of a triangle enclosed by 3 stars on the celestial sphere, in square degrees, is given by:
$$ A = \frac{180}{\pi}\times E$$
Where E is the spherical excess and is equal to the sum of all ...
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6
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Is the Ra/Dec of Alnitak in Orion's Belt known to be correct?
I tried to reproduce your result. I took the values of RA and DEC from Wikipedia: Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka.
The values are the following:
Alnitak: Ra = 05h 40m 45.52666s, Dec = −01° 56′ 34.2649″
...
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6
votes
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Deriving the apparent angular speed of a star
As you mention, the angular speed of the celestial sphere on the equator is 0.25° per minute. The speed on a declination circle is proportional to the circumference of that circle, relative to the ...
- 13.1k
5
votes
How to manually locate a certain declination in the sky for a given location? (no sextant available)
Jacob's staff is probably all you need. It is a pole with a cross arm. By positioning the arm at a certain point on the pole and sighting down the pole one can get a position on the sky. A skilled ...
- 116k
5
votes
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Does RA/Dec vary with the Earth's orbit around the Sun?
This is called "parallax". The observed position of a star (as measured by RA and Dec) does vary ever so slightly.
For example, Proxima centauri, the closest star has a parallax of 0.77 ...
- 116k
4
votes
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Convert a Decimal into RA or Dec
DecRA is the decimal right ascension
RAh, RAm, RAs are the hms form
$${\rm DecRA} = {\rm RAh}\times 15.0 + {\rm RAm}/4.0 + {\rm RAs}/240.0$$
$$ {\rm RAh} = {\rm INT}({\rm DecRA}/15.0) $$
$${\rm RAm} =...
- 146k
4
votes
Measuring misalignment between two positions on sky
The position angle P of a body ($\alpha_1, \delta_1$) with respect to another body ($\alpha_2, \delta_2$) can be calculated from
$$tan(P)={sin(\Delta\alpha)\over cos(\delta_2)tan(\delta_1)-sin(\...
- 7,797
4
votes
Accepted
How to calculate the ground track of the Moon's position on the Earth's surface?
Given a date and time, the position of the Moon can be calculated to provide the declination and right ascension. The sub-point of the Moon (the point on the Earth at which the Moon is at the zenith) ...
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4
votes
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What is meant by *topocentric* right ascension and declination?
You are correct that topocentric coordinates are for the position of "close" objects, corrected for observing from the Earth's surface instead of the theoretical center.
The topocentric and ...
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4
votes
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At what time of the day of autumnal equinox the Sun's equatorial coordinates reach max value?
As noted in comments, at the september equinox, the sun's declination is decreasing (slightly) during the day, so the declination will be slightly higher in the morning than in the evening.
But the ...
- 116k
4
votes
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How to calculate the nodal precession range of the Moon with respect to the celestial equator?
You want to know the range of RA where the Moon's orbital plane crosses the celestial equator from south to north, so we need to find the line of intersection of those two planes.
The vector ...
- 13.1k
4
votes
What's the Right Ascension & Declination of Galactic Left & Galactic Right?
I think it makes sense to first think of the directions not in terms of equatorial coordinates (right ascension and declination) but in galactic coordinates (galactic latitude and galactic longitude, ...
- 36k
4
votes
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Sidereal time of rising and setting of the sun on the arctic circle
You need to intepret the question a bit. By "June 22" they probably mean "Summer Solstice", likewise for "Dec 22". At the solstice the right ascension of the sun is 6hr/...
- 116k
3
votes
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How to calculate declination of Moon?
The complexity of the formula depends on the precision you need.
We can make a crude approximation with two sine waves: one for the Moon's travel eastward around the ecliptic over a
tropical month
$$\...
- 18.2k
3
votes
Moon equatorial coordinates
It's a bit late but hopefully it will help others in the future.
The calculations can be found on this site, article from Keith Burnett ([email protected])
The first problem is that you use ...
3
votes
Accepted
Precise declination of Moon
I just want 28.88 deg = 28 deg 53' confirmed.
Yes, 0.88 degrees is equal to 53 arc minutes, so 28.88 deg = 28 deg 53'.
But the Yahoo source is off in its value. According to this reference, the ...
- 7,797
3
votes
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When does a star rise with the sun?
The formula you gave is to find the hour angle of the star while setting, not the setting time itself. Suppose the hour angle of star is $HA\star$, and $RA=\alpha$,then the Local Sidereel Time is ...
- 266
3
votes
Where is 0 R.A.?
0 RA is the direction from the center of the Earth to the vernal equinox. You've already imagined the plane in space created by projecting the equator into space. Now consider the plane formed by the ...
- 493
3
votes
Accepted
Centre (projected) of a galaxy cluster
Short answer, no, they don't.
Longer answer, it's complicated. There are, in essence, five different measures for the centre of a galaxy cluster, based on different physical properties of the cluster,...
- 2,275
3
votes
Why are tides biggest during the equinoxes?
Only a syzygial tide during/near an equinox is the strongest. This means, there must be either new or full moon. In general, syzygial tides are strong because three bodies (Earth, Moon, Sun) align ...
- 270
3
votes
Need Simple equation for Rise, Transit, and Set time
The calculations are not trivial, but they are encapsulated in software libraries such as pyephem, which has examples of finding rise, set and transit
If you want to understand how these are ...
- 116k
3
votes
an exercise from Spherical Astronomy by Smart
Constant for every star with different declination's.
Though you would have to assume the the declination is such that it can have an azimuth of 90 each, not all stars will. Depending on your ...
- 1,223
3
votes
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Help with Converting Right Ascension and Declination into 3D Vectors
The stars should fit $r = \sqrt{x^2 + y^2 + z^2}$ but seem to be plotted in the $x = r$ plane instead.
Conventionally the x axis is at (α=0h, δ=0°),
the y axis is at (α=6h, &...
- 18.2k
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