Life in the Universe/ Patterns in the Night Sky

Life in the Universe- Part Two

The search for intelligent life began with civilization. Although we are more familiar with the search for intelligent life that has been taking place recently, such as the mars rover landing only a short time ago, the first contact time was on October 12^th, 1492. This contact was made possible because of the explorative institutions in both Spain and Portugal. The next big step in the search for intelligent life occurred when in the 1960s Russia and the United States began the study of life outside of Earth. However, 50 years later there still has yet to be a discovery of life outside of our planet. Some of the memorable scientists involved in this search are Alan Boss, who studied the formation of our solar system, and Peale who started Theoretical Planetology.

Patters in the Night Sky

The celestial pole provides an imaginary grid for which to better understand the equator and the ecliptic path which the Sun follows. From a simpler standpoint, the local sky is that which we can see from wherever we happen to be standing. The dome shape we see if caused from the fact that we only see half of the celestial sphere. While some stars appear to rise and set, the north celestial pole does not rise or set, and rather it remains above the horizon making counterclockwise circles. Stars near the south celestial pole never rise above the horizon, but all other stars have daily circles and move west to east.

Another big effect of the orbiting of the Earth is seasons. Summer seasons are caused from that part of the Earth receiving a more direct light from the sun, and in the winter that part of Earth receives less direct sunlight. Depending on where you are located on the Earth, you will experience seasons at different times of the year. Other things which effect the Earths seasons are the axis at which the Earth orbits and the altitude in which one lives.

One result of the orbit of the moons around the Earth is the different lunar phases. The lunar phase is the appearance and the time at which the moon rises and sets according to the cycle of the orbit. Earth has only ever seen one side of the moon because of the way in which it orbits. Eclipses occur every so often and can be either total, partial, or penumbral eclipses.

Lastly, we learned that planetary motion lasts anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, and it appears as though the other planets are moving backward in their orbit.  Because we pass the planets in their orbit, they appear to be moving backward although in reality they move the same way, just around a larger radius.