Introduction to Solar System Class Notes | ASTRO 342, Study notes of Astronomy

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How do you discover that you live.in a Solar system’ ¢ What is our solar system? What does it consist of? - Discussion of basic facts & geography. What d’ya know? ¢ How would you discover it? Determine its basic properties? Focus on key elementary (naked eye) observations. - Star patterns stay together --> constellations. - Stars move across the sty through the night (Earth rotates). - Stars change with the scason, "constellation of the month" --> the Sun apparently drifts through the stars. - Moon moves through the stars with mo(o)nthly phases. - Planets = brightest stars (apparently!) = ancient wanderers - also move through the stars (with less regular seasons). - stay near the ecliptic, Zodiacal plane. - have very long term periodicities. ¢ Systematic observations and mapping of cycles needed before these things could be understood. To obtain these we need coordinate systems...