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Homework #2
Please answer all questions to the best of your ability. Make sure you answer
them completely, using full sentences and including explanations for all of
your answers.

Print this assignment out and write your answers in the spaces provided.
Upload a copy of your assignment (only .docx or .pdf formats will be
accepted) to the homework dropbox.

Question 1
Because the stars are so far away from Earth, they seem to hold the same
patterns from one night to the next. We call these patterns asterisms. The
surrounding regions of the sky are called constellations. The stars appear to
move overhead continually due to Earth’s rotation.

Because we can measure which directions the stars are in and how quickly
Earth rotates, we can predict precisely where stars will be at any time. A map
of stars’ positions at a specific time is called a finder’s chart.

The finder’s chart below shows where the constellation Ursa Minor was
visible from Huntsville on March 21, 2023, at 11 PM. Many of the brightest
stars retain their medieval Arabic names; somewhat dimmer stars are named
with ancient Roman letters.
The asterism associated with Ursa Minor was known to ancient Romans as
the “little bear” to help them remember the location of this pattern of stars.
With some imagination, the star Kochab represents the bear’s shoulder; the
stars Pherkad and Eta represent the bear’s hips; and the stars Zeta, Epsilon,
Yildun, and Polaris represent the bear’s tail.

A) Using the finder’s chart, record the altitude and azimuth of each of
the seven brightest stars in Ursa Minor. Note the name of each star
next to your observations.

B) At the time shown, which one of the seven stars is closest to each of
the following four locations? Explain each answer using your data from
Part (A).
◦ Your zenith:

◦ Your horizon:

◦ East:

◦ West:
By squashing a region of the night sky onto a small piece of paper, it can be
difficult to tell how much of the sky we’re looking at. One “handy” way to
think about angular sizes is to hold your hand out at arm’s length and
consider the following approximations.

1 degree = the width of your pinky finger

5 degrees = the width of your three middle fingers, combined
10 degrees = the width of your fist
20 degrees = the width of your hand with your fingers stretched out

C) Of these four options, which one is closest to the overall size of Ursa
Minor? Explain your answer by using your data from Part (A).

The stars in a constellation may appear close to each other in the sky, but
that doesn’t mean they’re close to each other in space.

The distances to the seven brightest stars in Ursa Minor are as follows. The
stars are listed in order from brightest to dimmest.

Polaris: 2.74 × 107 AU

Kochab: 8.280 × 106 AU
Pherkad: 3.1272 × 107 AU
Yildun: 1.15359 × 107 AU
Epsilon: 2.0912 × 107 AU
Zeta: 2.2710 × 107 AU
Eta: 6.1721 × 106 AU

D) Rank these seven stars in order from closest to farthest. Explain how
scientific notation lets you compare numbers without having to
convert them into standard notation.
 E) Which word is the best choice to describe the distances from Part (E):
thousands, millions, or billions? Explain your choice.

Although the stars in a constellation aren’t related to each other and

therefore don’t carry scientific significance, constellations do carry cultural
significance because they preserve the stories that cultures employed to
make sense of the world around them.

In American history, one prominent use of constellations was in the

Underground Railroad, an informal network that guided early African
Americans to freedom. This journey was dangerous and required traveling at
night, but maps and compasses were difficult to obtain. Using the night sky
as an atlas could be a matter of life and death.

F) Suppose you began traveling north from Huntsville. As you traveled,

would the altitude of Polaris increase, decrease, or stay the same?
Explain.

G) Suppose you paused traveling and observed Ursa Minor again from the
same location an hour later. How would the azimuth of Pherkad be
different? How would the altitude be different?
Question 2
The Sun is arguably the most visible object in the sky. It provides light for
crops to grow and warmth to keep us healthy. To ancient cultures,
understanding the patterns of the Sun guided life-and-death decisions such
as when to plant and harvest fields.

What does the Sun’s position in the sky tell us about the seasons on Earth?
How did ancient cultures use this knowledge to construct the earliest
calendars? As modern, stone-age students of the cosmos, let’s use
contemporary data to understand these traditions from our ancient past.

The graph below shows the Sun’s altitude near the middle of the day as seen
from Houston over the course of a year. This is real data tabulated by the
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

A) Using the graph, record the altitude of the Sun at solar noon on each
of the four labeled days (A – D).
B) On which day, if any, does the Sun pass through your zenith? Use your
answers from part (A) to explain.

C) Suppose you observe the shadow that a tall building casts at solar
noon each day. On which day (A – D) will this shadow be shortest? Use
your answers from part (A) to explain.

When the Sun is high in the sky, sunlight falls directly onto Earth. When
the Sun is low, near the horizon, the sunlight spreads out over a larger
area, and its power is diluted.

D) On which day (A – D) does the Sun shine most strongly on Earth? Use
your answer from part (C) to explain.

E) As you’ve presumably observed, surface temperatures on Earth are

hotter in summer and colder in winter. Based on your previous
answers, match each day (A – D) with the corresponding date from
the list below. Explain your reasoning.

(Note that day 0 on the graph does not necessarily correspond to

January 1.)

March 21 (the spring equinox):

June 20 (the summer solstice):

September 21 (the fall equinox):

December 21 (the winter solstice):

F) Around which two days (A – D) does the Sun’s altitude at solar noon
change the least from one day to the next? Use the graph to explain
your reasoning. To which two seasons do these dates correspond?

The higher the Sun reaches in the sky at solar noon, the longer it takes
the Sun to reach that altitude.

G) Around which two days (A – D) does the timing of sunset change the
least from one day to the next? Use your answer from part (F) to
explain. To which two seasons do these dates correspond?

H) Monuments such as Stonehenge use the Sun’s location at sunset to

measure the date of the year. Based on your answer to part (G), why
might ancient civilizations choose to align their monuments with the
solstices more often than the equinoxes?
Question 3
The table below shows the number of daylight hours at various cities around
the world on 21 June, the date of one of the two solstices.

Latitude (degrees) Daylight

City + North/- South of (hours)
Equator on 21 June
Houston, Texas 29.7 13.9
Stockholm, Sweden 59.3 18.3
Invercargill, New
-46.4 8.4
Zealand
Mexico City, Mexico 19.7 13.2
Sydney, Australia -33.8 9.8
Darwin, Australia -12.7 11.3
Quito, Ecuador 0.3 12
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska 70 24

You want to determine the relationship between the number of daylight

hours and the latitude of the city.

A) If you plot daylight hours on the y-axis, what are the minimum and
maximum values you could plot?

B) If you plot latitude on the x-axis, what are the minimum and maximum
values you could plot?
C) Create a graph of the data from the table above.

D) On 21 June, is there a relationship between the number of daylight

hours and the latitude? If so, is it a direct or inverse relationship?

E) Imagine that you were at a latitude of 82 degrees north of the equator.

How many daylight hours would you expect to experience there on 21
June?
F) Determine how many nighttime hours there are for each location.

Latitude (degrees) Nighttime

City + North/- South of (hours)
Equator on 21 June
Houston, Texas 29.7
Stockholm, Sweden 59.3
Invercargill, New
-46.4
Zealand
Mexico City, Mexico 19.7
Sydney, Australia -33.8
Darwin, Australia -12.7
Quito, Ecuador 0.3
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska 70

G) Create a graph of nighttime hours on the x-axis and latitude on the y-

axis.

H) On 21 June, is there a relationship between the number of nighttime

hours and the latitude? IF so, is it direct or inverse?
Go to the following website:
https://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/daylighthoursexpl
orer.html

This app will show you how the number of daylight hours varies across the
year at various latitudes. You can type in any latitude (or use the slider bar
to set it). You can also adjust the date using a separate slider bar, or by
clicking and dragging the dot on the graph.

Set the latitude for Houston and the date for June 21 to verify the number of
daylight hours on this date.

Now change the date to December 21.

I) How does the number of daylight hours on December 21 compare to

the number of daylight hours on June 21? To the number of nighttime
hours? What is the relationship between the two?

J) Based on your observation in part (I), predict the number of daylight

hours in the other cities in the table on December 21.

Latitude (degrees) Daylight

+ North/- South of (hours)
City
Equator on 21
December
Houston, Texas 29.7
Stockholm, Sweden 59.3
Invercargill, New
-46.4
Zealand
Mexico City, Mexico 19.7
Sydney, Australia -33.8
Darwin, Australia -12.7
 Quito, Ecuador 0.3
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska 70

Once you have completed the table, feel free to use the app to confirm
your answers.