1. There are several coordinate systems used in astronomy to specify locations, including equatorial coordinates (right ascension and declination), ecliptic coordinates, galactic coordinates, and horizon coordinates (altitude and azimuth).
2. Equatorial coordinates use the celestial equator and vernal equinox as references, ecliptic coordinates use the ecliptic plane and vernal equinox, and galactic coordinates use the galactic plane and galactic center.
3. Coordinates must specify an epoch since precession causes coordinates to change over time. Catalog values are given for standard epochs like J2000.0 and must be precessed to the current date.
1. There are several coordinate systems used in astronomy to specify locations, including equatorial coordinates (right ascension and declination), ecliptic coordinates, galactic coordinates, and horizon coordinates (altitude and azimuth).
2. Equatorial coordinates use the celestial equator and vernal equinox as references, ecliptic coordinates use the ecliptic plane and vernal equinox, and galactic coordinates use the galactic plane and galactic center.
3. Coordinates must specify an epoch since precession causes coordinates to change over time. Catalog values are given for standard epochs like J2000.0 and must be precessed to the current date.
1. There are several coordinate systems used in astronomy to specify locations, including equatorial coordinates (right ascension and declination), ecliptic coordinates, galactic coordinates, and horizon coordinates (altitude and azimuth).
2. Equatorial coordinates use the celestial equator and vernal equinox as references, ecliptic coordinates use the ecliptic plane and vernal equinox, and galactic coordinates use the galactic plane and galactic center.
3. Coordinates must specify an epoch since precession causes coordinates to change over time. Catalog values are given for standard epochs like J2000.0 and must be precessed to the current date.
Coordinates Unit Sphere Essentially all coordinate systems in astronomy are spherical coordinate systems. Consider a unit sphere. Ones location on the sphere is completely specified by the two angles, ! and " , which can be converted into Cartesian coordinates by the standard transformations: x= sin " cos !, y= cos " cos !, z=sin ! For any spherical coordinate system you also must define two great circles that define where the two angles equal zero. Equator: great circle that defines !=0. Prime meridian: great circle that defines "=0. Note that the equator and prime meridian must be orthogonal, so given the equator the prime meridian can be defined by a single reference point on the sphere that is neither on the equator or at one of the poles. Great circle: Any line on a sphere that is the intersection between the sphere and a plane passing through the center of the sphere.
Coordinates Horizon Coordinates (altitude & azimuth) Local coordinate system
Fundamental coordinates for telescopes.
Horizon coordinates are a local coordinate system, and perhaps the easiest to visualize. Imagine that you are standing outside. The defining great circles are the horizon and the circle passing through zenith and the north pole. Zenith: The point directly overhead. Nadir: The point directly below. The two angles are: altitude (!, commonly referred to as alt) -90 to 90 *angle above horizon azimuth (", commonly referred to as az) 0 to 360, -180 to 180 *Geographic definition, also commonly used in astronomy, is that azimuth is measured from the north point, increasing to the east. Note though that there is also an astronomical definition in which it is measured from the south point, increasing west. [So be careful]
Coordinates Terrestrial Coordinates (Locations on the Earth) Angles: Latitude (!) -90 to 90 Longitude (") 0-180 W, 0-180 E ** Equator: Earths equator Prime Meridian Reference Point: Greenwich, UK. **This is the common usage. The International Astronomical Union defines longitude as going from -180 to 180, with positive towards the east. There are however a cases in astronomy where the reverse convention is used (positive to the west), so make sure that you know which convention is being used in a given case. Globe image from www.lakelandsd.com/ tutorial/instructions.html 2 Coordinates Equatorial Coordinates (Locations on Celestial Sphere) Sphere) Fundamental coordinates for observing Angles: Declination (Dec, !#$) -90 to 90 Right Ascension (RA, "#%) 0-360, or 0-24 hours Equator: Celestial equator = Earths equator (extension of earths equatorial plane to be precise) Prime Meridian Reference Point: The point where the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator with the sun moving towards the summer solstice. [Direction of sun at the vernal equinox.] Image from www.science2life.org Coordinates Equatorial Coordinates
Ecliptic: The apparent path of the Sun on the celestial sphere over the course of a year.
Ecliptic plane: The plane of the Earths orbit, extended out to meet the celestial sphere. Images from John Olivers web page and http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/~fv/webnotes/chapter9.htm Apparent path of the sun Images from www.visualsunchart.com/.../ SolarDeclination/ and http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/AA/en/antwoorden/hemel.html Apparent path of the sun Autumnal Equinox Winter Solstice (III) Vernal Equinox (II) Summer Solstice (I) Coordinates Coordinates Equatorial Coordinates RAand Dec: We noted on a previous slide that the standard convention for right ascension is to measure it in terms of hours rather than degrees. Just to be clear: 1 hour = 15 degrees 1 minute = 15 arcminutes 1 second = 15 arcseconds You will normally see the coordinates given in the format of hours,minutes, and seconds for RAand degrees arcminutes, and arcseconds for declination. For example (%,$) = (10h15m30.0s,+45d00m30s). or (%,$) = (10:15:30.0,+45:00:30). It is also common though for the coordinates to be given in decimal format with the RAin degrees, in which case the above would be: (%,$) = (157.87500,+45.008333) where these values come from: % = 15 x (10 + 15/60 + 30/3600) $ = 45 + 0/60 + 30/3600 3 Coordinates Equatorial Coordinates Hour Angle The hour angle is defined as the distance in RAof an object from the local meridian.
It tells you how long ago an object was directly overhead. Negative values indicate that an object is in the east (still rising), while positive values indicate that the object has already passed zenith (setting). Images from John Olivers web page Coordinates Equatorial Coordinates RAand Dec (cont.) One last note of general relevance. It is often the case that you would like to know the angular separation between two objects that are close on the sky. Since we are on the surface of a sphere, this is not quite as simple as with Euclidean geometry. Coordinates Equatorial Coordinates RAand Dec (cont.) One last note of general relevance. It is often the case that you would like to know the angular separation between two objects that are close on the sky. Since we are on the surface of a sphere, this is not quite as simple as with Euclidean geometry. Consider a circle through a sphere at constant declination. As you move to larger dec, the radius of this circle decreases, until at the poles the radius is zero. In practical terms, this means that the angular separation of two points near the pole is nearly zero even if they differ in RAby 12 hours. In other words, for a unit sphere the radius of the circle is r=cos $. As a result, while the angular separation in declination is simply: angular separation in Dec = '$ = $1-$2 for RAyou have to take account this shrinking of the circle: angular separation in RA= '% cos $ For two closely separated objects (or more specifically two objects at similar dec), this means that '! = [('$) 2 + ('% cos $) 2 ] 1/2
Coordinates Ecliptic Coordinates Besides equatorial, there are several other coordinate systems that are useful for various applications. Ecliptic coordinates are useful for observations of solar system objects. They are also useful if you want to pick a field that is away from solar system objects, in which case you may want to observe near the eclipitic poles. One can convert between equatorial and ecliptic coordinates by a rotation of coordinate systems. Angles: Ecliptic latitude (!#() -90 to 90 Ecliptic longitude ("#)) 0-360, or 0-24 hours Equator: Ecliptic plane= Orbital plane of planets in solar system Prime Meridian Reference Point: Vernal equinox (same as for equatorial) Image from John Olivers web page 4 Coordinates Galactic Coordinates Galactic coordinates are another widely used coordinate system. The idea of galactic coordinates it to provide a reference frame based upon the galactic plane rather than solar system. Angles: Galactic latitude (b) -90 to 90 Galactic longitude (l) 0-360, or 0-24 hours Equator: Galactic Plane (inclined 62 36 relative to the celestial equator) Prime Meridian Reference Point: Galactic Center Location of galactic north pole: RA,Dec = 12:51:24,+27:07:00 (J2000.0) Location of galactic center: RA,Dec = 17:45:36,-28:56:00 (J2000.0) Images from www.mhhe.com/.../student/ chapter22/22f27.html and www.mhhe.com/.../student/ chapter22/22f27.html Coordinates Precession Now why on the last slide did I write (J2000.0) after the RAand Dec? What that notation means is that these are the coordinates at which you would find the galactic center on the first day of 2000. This is unfortunately necessary because the equatorial coordinates of objects change with time. Why? The primary reason is the Earths precession. Precessional period: 26000 yrs Yearly change: ~50 (360 degrees / 26000 years) There is also the Chandler wobble (433 day period), which is nutation, plus other small variations. For this reason, when object coordinates are given they are always accompanied by the epoch (also called equinox) for which these coordinates are valid. What this means in practice is that to observe an object you must start with the catalog values, which are given for a specific epoch (typically 1950.0 or 2000.0), and precess them to the current date. Typically this is done automatically by the telescope control software. Images from www.physics.hku.hk/.../ lectures/chap03.html Coordinates Precession Images from http://www.physast.uga.edu/~jss/1010/ch2/3fig2-19.jpg Time Rotation of the Earth Knowing the time is just as important as good coordinates. Otherwise, you cant convert between RA,Dec and altitude,azimuth. What shall we use as the basis for measuring time? 5 Time Rotation of the Earth Knowing the time is just as important as good coordinates. Otherwise, you cant convert between RA,Dec and altitude,azimuth. The Earths rotation is the basis of astronomical time, but the question arises -- rotation relative to what? Time Rotation of the Earth Knowing the time is just as important as good coordinates. Otherwise, you cant convert between RA,Dec and altitude,azimuth. The Earths rotation is the basis of astronomical time, but the question arises -- rotation relative to what? Sidereal Time Sidereal time is defined in terms of the Earths rotation relative to the fixed stars. Sidereal day = the time for the earth to complete one rotation relative to a fixed star. In other words, a distant star transiting the meridian will return to the meridian after 1 sidereal day. The length of a sidereal day is 23 hours, 56 minutes. Solar Time Solar time is defined in terms of the Earths rotation relative to the sun. Mean solar day: The average time between noon one day and the next. More specifically, it is the length of time between solar transits of the local meridian. The length of a mean solar day is 24 hours. Why are a sidereal day and mean solar day not the same length? Time Sidereal vs Solar Time The sidereal day is shorter due to the orbital motion of the Earth around the sun. Specifically, the Earth moves in its orbit roughly 1 degree per day (360/365.25 days to be precise). Sidereal Time Applet To reiterate the conversions from hours to degrees mentioned before: 1 day = 24 hours = 360 degrees 1 hour = 15 degrees (1 degree = 4 minutes) 1 minute = 15 arcmin (1 arcmin = 4 seconds) 1 second = 15 arcseconds (1 arcsec = 0.067 seconds) Consequently, if the earth has moved one degree, then it takes an extra degree of rotation (4 minutes) for the sun to return to the meridian that if the Earth were stationary. 1 year = 365.25 solar days = 366.25 sidereal days For astronomy, what we care about is sidereal. Movie and Image from http://bcs.whfreeman.com/universe7e/content/ch02/0203003.html and http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit2/time.html Time but of course everyone else cares about solar instead Solar Time Mean Solar Time is the time of day based upon the mean solar day (i.e. 24 hours long). For mean solar time the sun is at zenith at noon. Why is every solar day not exactly 24 hours long? Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or Universal Time (UT) is the mean solar time at the prime meridian. This serves as the reference for all local times. Local Mean Solar Time (LMT) is given by LMT=GMT+L, where L is the longitude. By definition, the sun is at zenith at noon LMT. [Note: beware of sign conventions for longitude. In the above equation east longitudes are positive.] You typically need to know the UT as well as the Local Sidereal Time, especially if your especially if the target is time variable. 6 Time Sidereal Time Sidereal time is kept relative to the stars instead of the sun. Thus sidereal time reflects the actual rotation of the Earth on its axis. Asidereal day is 23h56m long. Local Sidereal Time (LST) is defined as the RAcrossing the local meridian at a given instant. Since the RAis defined to be 0 hours at the vernal equinox, the LST is also 0 when the vernal equinox is on the observers local meridian. Greenwich Sidereal Time (GST) is the local sideral time at the prime meridian. The local and Greenwich sidereal times are related by LST=GST+L, where L is the longitude.
At the vernal equinox One hour later Images from www.polaris.iastate.edu/.../ Unit4/unit4_sub2.htm Time The complexities of normal time Civil time (what we use every day, also known as Standard Time) is based upon the 24 hour mean solar day, but is different from LMT because of the use of time zones. Time Zones While everyone would probably like to have their clocks read noon when the sun is overhead, there are also some obvious practical difficulties with having time change continuously with location. For this reason, standard time is divided up into 24 time zones, each approximately 1 hr (15 degrees) in width with a lot of quirkiness due to politics. The point here to keep in mind is that standard (civil) time is not generally the same as LMT. Daylight Saving Time Adding a bit of extra confusion, many locations observe some form of daylight saving time. - In the U.S. the time changes occur on the second Sunday in March (spring forward) and the first Sunday of November (fall back) at 2am local time. Note that these dates are relatively new -- the Energy Policy Act of 2005 modified the schedule by a few weeks, making the change earlier in the spring and later in the fall (and different from Europe). - In the EU, it runs from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October. - In the US, Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa dont observe daylight saving time. Time Time Zones While everyone would probably like to have their clocks read noon when the sun is overhead, there are also some obvious practical difficulties with having time change continuously with location. For this reason, standard time is divided up into 24 time zones, each approximately 1 hr (15 degrees) in widthwith a lot of quirkiness due to politics. Image from http://neptuno.fis.ua.pt/~mma/etc/time_zones/time_zones_1400.gif Time
Daylight Savings Time Adding a bit of extra confusion, many locations observe some form of daylight savings time. - In the U.S. the time changes occur on the second Sunday of March (spring forward) and the first Sunday of November (fall back) at 2am local time. - In the EU, it runs from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October. - In the US, Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa dont observe daylight savings time. 2014: DST is: March 9 to November 2 in US March 30 to October 26 in Europe October 12 to March 8 in Chile Most nations in the tropics do not observe daylight savings time. For obvious reasons, daylight savings time is not used in astronomy. Images from http://www.emarkay.com/win98se/windowstimezone.html 7 Time The complexities of normal time Civil time (what we use every day, also known as Standard Time) is based upon the 24 hour mean solar day, but is different from LMT because of the use of time zones. Time Zones While everyone would probably like to have their clocks read noon when the sun is overhead, there are also some obvious practical difficulties with having time change continuously with location. For this reason, standard time is divided up into 24 time zones, each approximately 1 hr (15 degrees) in width with a lot of quirkiness due to politics. The point here to keep in mind is that standard (civil) time is not generally the same as LMT. Daylight Saving Time Adding a bit of extra confusion, many locations observe some form of daylight saving time. - In the U.S. the time changes occur on the second Sunday in March (spring forward) and the first Sunday of November (fall back) at 2am local time. Note that these dates are relatively new -- the Energy Policy Act of 2005 modified the schedule by a few weeks, making the change earlier in the spring and later in the fall. - In the EU, it runs from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October. - In the US, Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa dont observe daylight saving time. Time Other Time Conventions Julian Day (JD) If youre dealing with observations over an extended time baseline (months, years, centuries), it is useful to have an means of keeping track without worry about leap years, days the month, changes in calendar systems in medievel times, etc. Julian days were introduced for this purpose. Julian days are a running count of days since noon UT, January 1, 4713 B.C. (The Modified Date is computed in the same way starting on November 17, 1858) Theres a calculator on the USNO web page (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.php) Examples: 2pm, January 12, 2006 JD 2453748.20833 2pm, January 12, 1000BC JD 1356185.20833 Beware, a number of non-astronomical software programs now use a Julian Date, which is not generally the same as the astronomical Julian Date. Greenwich Mean Sidereal Time can be calculated given the Julian Date: The formula GMST (in hours) = 18.697374558 + 24.06570982441908 (JD 241545.0) is a good approximation, with a loss in precision of 0.1 seconds per century. Time Other Time Conventions Julian Day (JD) If youre dealing with observations over an extended time baseline (months, years, centuries), it is useful to have an means of keeping track without worry about leap years, days the month, changes in calendar systems in medievel times, etc. Julian days were introduced for this purpose. Julian days are a running count of days since noon UT, January 1, 4713 B.C. (The Modified Date is computed in the same way starting on November 17, 1858) Theres a calculator on the USNO web page (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.php) Examples: 2pm, January 12, 2006 JD 2453748.20833 2pm, January 12, 1000BC JD 1356185.20833 Beware, a number of non-astronomical software programs now use a Julian Date, which is not generally the same as the astronomical Julian Date. Terresterial Dynamical Time (TDT) and International Atomic Time (IAT) The modern standard time is based upon the SI second, which is defined in terms of the oscillations for a particular transition of 133 Cs rather than astronomical measures. One second = 9192631770 oscillations. IAT is effectively the atomic equivalent of UT, based upon atomic clocks instead of mean solar time in Greenwich. TDT is additionally accounts for the gradual slowing of the Earths rotation. TDT =UT+ $T, where $T is an empirical correction that accounts for this slowing. TDT is used for spacecraft navigational planning and solar system motion studies among other things. The advantage is that TDT is independent of the slow increase in the Earths rotational period. (~a 2ms change since 1900, Birney et al.) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) UTC uses the SI second but is offset twice a year to adjust to UT (which is based upon the Earths rotation). These adjustments are leap seconds that are added June 30 and December 31 when necessary. Time
An Aside on Calendars Julian Calendar (not to be confused with Julian Date)
- Introduced in 46 BC - 12 months, 365 days, with a leap year every 4 years - 365.25 days per year is just inaccurate enough that by 1500s the vernal equinox was on March 11 rather than March 21, which led to Gregorian Calendar Gregorian Calendar
- Current calendar - Intended to correct the drift of the equinox - Established on October 4, 1582. Pope Gregory XIII declared that the next day would be October 15, 1582, so there is an 11 day gap in 1582. In other parts of the world (England, Germany, ) the switch to the Gregorian calendar occurred centuries later. - Introduced the rule that leap years do not occur if the year is divisible by 100 (i.e. 1900), unless the year is also divisible by 400 (i.e. 2000). Thus, the next time we skip a leap year will be 2100. 8 Time
An Aside on Calendars Julian Calendar (not to be confused with Julian Date)
- Introduced in 46 BC - 12 months, 365 days, with a leap year every 4 years - 365.25 days per year is just inaccurate enough that by 1500s the vernal equinox was on March 11 rather than March 21, which led to Gregorian Calendar Gregorian Calendar
- Current calendar - Intended to correct the drift of the equinox - Established on October 4, 1582. Pope Gregory XIII declared that the next day would be October 15, 1582, so there is an 11 day gap in 1582. In other parts of the world (England, Germany, ) the switch to the Gregorian calendar occurred centuries later. - Introduced the rule that leap years do not occur if the year is divisible by 100 (i.e. 1900), unless the year is also divisible by 400 (i.e. 2000). Thus, the next time we skip a leap year will be 2100.