Night Sky Observation

Observed item

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

The Moon and its phases

The moon is currently in the new moon phase.

It appears to be a waxing crescent.

The moon rise time is 10:20 am and its distance is 233,460 miles away from Earth

The moon is in the first quarter phase and appears to be a waxing gibbous.

The moon rise time is 4:52 pm and its distance is 252,058 miles away from Earth

The moon is a full moon.

The moon rise time is 10:10 pm and its distance is 248,185 miles away from Earth

The moon is in the third quarter phase and appears to be a waning crescent

The moon rise time is 3:12 am and its distance is 228,034 miles away from Earth

New Moon Phase

The moon was a waxing crescent. The moonrise time was at 7:25 am and it’s distance from Earth is 230,118 mi.

North Star

The north star is slightly visible and it is assoiated with Ursa Minor

The north star is visible

The north star is slightly visible

The north star is visble.

The north star is visible and it is assoiated with Ursa Minor

Position of two constellations

At 8:00 pm the two constellations were almost side by side, Ursa Major was slightly higher than Ursa Minor.

At 11:00 pm Ursa Major was directly above Ursa Minor

At 8:00 am Ursa Minor was above Ursa Major. Ursa Minor was located to the right of Ursa Major.

At 8:00 pm Ursa Major had moved to the right side and appeared to be higher than Ursa Minor.

At 8:00 am Ursa Minor was directly above Ursa Major.

At 8:00 pm Ursa Major had moved to the right side and was higher than Ursa Minor.

At 8:00 am Ursa Minor was directly above Ursa Major.

At 8:00 pm Ursa Major had moved to the right side and was almost directly above Ursa Minor

At 6:50 pm the two constellations were almost side by side and at 9:50 pm the Ursa Major was directly above the Ursa Minor.

Identify at least four other constellations.

Scorpius:

Zodiac

Distance:474.06 ly

Elevation: 7° @ 11:00 pm

Libra:

Zodiac

Distance: 163.16 ly

Elevation: 22° @ 11:00pm

Lupus:

Non-zodiac

Distance: 460 ly

Elevation: 4° @ 11:00pm

Virgo

Zodiac

Distance: 260 ly

Elevation: 23° @ 11:00pm

Cygnus:

Non Zodiac

Distance:

171 ly

Elevation:

-4° @ 11:00 pm

Leo:

Zodiac

Distance:

77.5 ly

Elevation:

52° @ 11:00 pm

Ursa Major:

Non-Zodiac

Distance:

81 ly

Elevation:

64° @ 11:00 pm

Cassiopeia:

Non-Zodiac

Distance:

613 ly

Elevation:

8° @ 11:00 pm

Cygnus:

Non Zodiac

Distance:

171 ly

Elevation:

-7° @ 11:00 pm

Centaurus

Non-zodiac

Distance:

59 ly

Elevation:

9° @ 11:00 pm

Libra:

Zodiac

Distance: 185.11 ly

Elevation: 18° @ 11:00pm

Hercules:

Non-zodiac

Distance:

376.62

Elevation: 60° @ 11:00 pm

Scorpius:

Zodiac

Distance:

553.75 ly

Elevation:

-5° @ 11:00 pm

Aquila:

Non-zodiac

Distance:

395 ly

Elevation:

-22° @ 11:00 pm

Cancer:

Zodiac

Distance:

290 ly

Leo:

Zodiac

Distance:

125.64 ly

Elevation: 65° @ 11:00 pm

Scorpius:

Zodiac

Distance:

553.75 ly

Elevation:

-5° @ 11:00 pm

Aquila:

Non-zodiac

Distance:

395 ly

Elevation:

-22° @ 11:00 pm

Cancer:

Zodiac

Distance:

290 ly

Leo:

Zodiac

Distance:

125.64 ly

Elevation: 65° @ 11:00 pm

Milky Way

The Milky Way is not visible

The Milky Way is slightly visible

The Milky Way is visible

The Milky Way is visible

The Milky Way is not visible

Planet movement

Neptune:

Initially appears very close to the ground

Saturn:

Saturn is high in the sky, it is located more south. Significantly higher than Neptune

Neptune appears to be moving further north east

Saturn has moved south east. It’s position is getting lower in the sky.

Neptune appears to continuing it’s movement north east.

Saturn keeps moving lower

Neptune appears to continuing it’s movement north east, but it’s distance is getting close to Earth.

Saturn’s position is almost half of what it used to be. It is no longer high in the sky

Neptune is now almost completely overhead and more east than it’s intial position

Saturn now appears to be lower than Neptune and has moved more North.

Celestial objects or phenomena

Satalites are visible in the sky

Satalites are visible in the sky

Satalites are visible in the sky

Satalites are visible in the sky

Satalites are visible in the sky

Meteorological conditions

It is hard to view the stars and observe them outside. The conditions caused by light pollution make it hard to really observe the stars and constellations

It is hard to view the stars and observe them outside. The conditions caused by light pollution make it hard to really observe the stars and constellations

It is hard to view the stars and observe them outside. The conditions caused by light pollution make it hard to really observe the stars and constellations

It is hard to view the stars and observe them outside. The conditions caused by light pollution make it hard to really observe the stars and constellations

It is hard to view the stars and observe them outside. The conditions caused by light pollution make it hard to really observe the stars and constellations

Summary of findings (300–500 words):

When initially filling out this chart, I assumed it would be easy and straight forward. I assumed most of the material would be relatively in the same locations and easy to figure out. As soon as I began tracking the stars and constellations, it became apparent that the night sky was not a stagnant thing. Tracking the Ursa Minor and Major relative to each other showed that the two constellations were moving clockwise as the day progressed. Initially, Ursa Minor was above Ursa Major and by the end of the day Ursa Major seemed to be above Ursa Minor. The same could be said about the Moon. When first observing it, the Moon was crescent shaped with the illumination appearing on the right hand side. It continued through it’s phases and eventually it was crescent shaped again, this time the illumination was on the left side.

Tracking the movement of the stars in the night sky was not an easy task. Due to light pollution, it was hard to see many stars with the naked eye and it was hard to find new constellations. I used Stellarium to be able to better track the constellations and to fill out the table correctly. Even when using a computer program, it was hard to really understand how far the constellations were. Despite being in the same constellation, stars can vary in their distance away from Earth. Some stars in Leo’s constellation were 100’s of lightyears further away than others, so it was really hard to figure out exactly how far the actual constellation was from Earth. The individual stars that made up the shape varied both in their elevation and their distance, so I tried to fill out the table the best I could.

The most interesting part was tracking the movement of Neptune and Saturn. Originally Saturn appeared to be higher up in the sky than Neptune, but at the end of the five weeks Neptune looked higher than Saturn.