Constellations

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Constellations
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Patterns of stars

• Ancient origins (Greek and other cultures)
  modern (Southern hemisphere)
• Honor characters and things (may not resemble
  them!)
• 88 have borders defined by the International
  Astronomical Union (IAU)

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Example Cassiopeia

• Visible rising in the evening now
• Handouts
• SC001 and SC002 charts in lab

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Stars really not close to each other!
Distance determination
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How we know distances Parallax

• measured by our changing viewpoint
• a parallax of one arc-second means a star is one
  parsec away (sorry Hans Solo, it is a unit of
  distance)
• one parsec is about 3.26 ly (light years) also
  a unit of distance!