The Solar System

CHAPTER 2 | THE SKY 25 Th e cycles of the sky are so impressive that it is not surprising that people have strong feelings about ...

26 PART 1^ |^ EXPLORING THE SKY A second factor is also at work. Precession causes Earth’s axis to sweep around a cone with a pe ...

CHAPTER 2 | THE SKY 27 years, and the results were a surprise. Th e evidence seemed to show that Earth had begun warming up thou ...

28 PART 1^ |^ EXPLORING THE SKY scientists organize their ideas in logical arguments. Th roughout this book, many chapter sectio ...

CHAPTERCHAPTER 2CHAPTER2 2 ||| THETHE SKYTHE SKYSKY 2299 Summary ▶ Astronomers divide the sky into 88 constellations (p. 12). Al ...

30 PART 1^ |^ EXPLORING THE SKY Learning to Look Find Sagittarius and Scorpius in the photograph that opens this chapter. The s ...

Enhanced visual image 31 A total solar eclipse is a lunar phenomenon. It occurs when the moon crosses in front of the sun and hi ...

32 PART 1^ |^ EXPLORING THE SKY the moon’s near side, but you never see the far side of the moon. Th e changing shape of the moo ...

CHAPTER 3 | CYCLES OF THE MOON 33 ■ Figure 3-1 In this sequence of lunar phases, the moon cycles through its phases from crescen ...

PART 1 | EXPLORING THE SKY First quarter Waxing gibbous Waxing crescent Waning gibbous Waning crescent Full New Third quarter Mi ...

CHAPTER 3 | CYCLES OF THE MOON 35 Ecliptic Ecliptic Ecliptic The sun and moon are near each other at new moon. Sagittarius Scorp ...

36 PART 1^ |^ EXPLORING THE SKY To sun Visual During a total lunar eclipse, the moon takes a number of hours to move through Ear ...

CHAPTER 3 | CYCLES OF THE MOON 37 a bb c Solar Eclipses For millennia, cultures worldwide have understood that the sun is the so ...

38 PART 1^ |^ EXPLORING THE SKY use their imaginations to visualize how nature works, but with a key diff erence; they test thei ...

CHAPTER 3 | CYCLES OF THE MOON 39 The Moon’s Shadow To see a solar eclipse, you have to be in the moon’s shadow. Like Earth’s sh ...

40 PART 1^ |^ EXPLORING THE SKY Path of total eclipse Moon Sunlight a b Visual ■ Figure 3-8 (a) The umbra of the moon’s shadow s ...

CHAPTER 3 | CYCLES OF THE MOON 41 corona is made of hot, low-density gas that is given a wispy appear- ance by the solar magneti ...

42 PART 1^ |^ EXPLORING THE SKY Dense fi lters and exposed fi lm do not necessarily provide protection because some fi lters do ...

CHAPTER 3 | CYCLES OF THE MOON 43 Predicting Eclipses A Chinese story tells of two astronomers, Hsi and Ho, who were too drunk t ...

44 PART 1^ |^ EXPLORING THE SKY spinning on the ground. Th is precession is caused mostly by the gravitational infl uence of the ...