STUDY GUIDE FOR PART 3 (Astronomy)
The Solar System
INTRODUCTION:
Having surveyed our course (Part 1) and built our spaceship (Part 2) we are finally ready to take off on our
journey through the universe. The first part of this trip will take us around our neighborhood: the solar system.
In Section A we look back at our home base, Earth, from our new perspective from space. We will see where our
seasons come from, a theory on the cause of ice ages, and where the expression "Age of Aquarius" comes from.
In Section B we look at our nearest neighbor, the only place a human has personally visited so far: the moon.
We will consider its motion, its phases, and its surface features. We will also consider the moon's effect on earth:
eclipses and tides.
In Section C we will deal with the major bodies of the solar system: the planets and their satellites (moons). We
delay, however, discussion of the greatest body of the solar system, the sun, until Part 4 since the sun is a star and
so inherently different than the rest of the solar system.
In Section D we will look at the minor bodies in the solar system: meteors, asteroids, comets.
Finally in Section E we consider theories on the origin of the solar system.
A. THE EARTH - A CELESTIAL BODY
[text: Ch 1, Sections 6-7]
OUTLINE:
1. The orientation of the earth in space
a) tilt of the earth (23½°) and the seasons (MAJOR effect)
b) elliptical orbit of earth ( = .017) and the seasons (MINOR effect)
c) precession of the equinoxes due to "wobble"
d) variation of the tilt - link to ice ages?
2. Time
a) sidereal time (with respect to the STARS)
b) solar time and local time (with respect to the SUN)
c) standard time and daylight savings time (with respect to transportation)
d) calendars: (one year = 365.2422 days = 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 sec)
Study Questions for Part A:
*1. What is responsible for the seasons? Be able to provide evidence to support your answer.
2. Why are leap years necessary?
*3. What is the precession of the equinoxes and how does it relate to the "Age of Aquarius"
and the position of the North Star?
4. Distinguish between sidereal and solar time.
5. Distinguish between standard and local time.
