Read Online The Old Farmer's Almanac 2015 by Old Farmer's Almanac - Free Book Online
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than 2,000 years ago after constellations within each area. Because of precession and other factors, the zodiac signs no longer match actual constellation positions.
Morning Star: A planet that is above the eastern horizon at sunrise and less than 180° west of the Sun in right ascension.
Node: Either of the two points where a celestial body’s orbit intersects the ecliptic. Ascending: When the body is moving from south to north of the ecliptic. Descending: When the body is moving from north to south of the ecliptic.
Opposition: The Moon or a planet appears on the opposite side of the sky from the Sun (elongation 180°).
Perigee (Perig.): The point in the Moon’s orbit that is closest to Earth.
Perihelion (Perih.): The point in a planet’s orbit that is closest to the Sun.
Precession: The slowly changing position of the stars and equinoxes in the sky caused by a slight wobble as Earth rotates around its axis.
Right Ascension (R.A.): The celestial longitude of an object in the sky, measured eastward along the celestial equator in hours of time from the vernal equinox; analogous to longitude on Earth.
Solar Cycle: In the Julian calendar, a period of 28 years, at the end of which the days of the month return to the same days of the week.
Solstice, Summer: When the Sun reaches its greatest declination (23½°) north of the celestial equator, around June 21. Winter: When the Sun reaches its greatest declination (23½°) south of the celestial equator, around December 21.
Stationary (Stat.): The brief period of apparent halted movement of a planet against the background of the stars shortly before it appears to move backward/westward (retrograde motion) or forward/eastward (direct motion).
Sun Fast/Slow: When a sundial reading is ahead of (fast) or behind (slow) clock time.
Sunrise/Sunset: The visible rising and setting of the upper edge of the Sun’s disk across the unobstructed horizon of an observer whose eyes are 15 feet above ground level.
Twilight: For definitions of civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight, see The Twilight Zone [>] .
Astronomy: 24 Strange Things About the Universe
1
The slowest-spinning object in the known universe is the nearest planet, Venus . A person could walk faster than it rotates.
2
The density of every neutron star is equivalent to what you would have after crushing a cruise ship until it’s the size of the ball in a ballpoint pen.
3
The longest star name still in common usage is Libra’s Zubeneschamali. The shortest is Sun.
4
Mid-19th century scientists found that sunspots increase and then fade out in an 11-year cycle. Other scientists knew that earthly compasses strangely fluctuate in the same 11-year period. Yet it was years before anyone put these ideas together and realized that the Sun intimately affects our world through magnetism.
5
The large dark blotches on the Moon, called mares or seas, are all named for weather events (Ocean of Storms) or emotions (Sea of Tranquility).
6
There’s a separate “Earth” inside our planet: Earth’s core is not liquid iron as was once believed, but a solid ball the size of Pluto—and it spins faster than the rest of our world.
7
The Sun’s energy output is equivalent to the explosion of 91 billion 1-megaton hydrogen bombs each second.
8
Astronomer Percival Lowell obsessively hunted for a ninth planet, “Planet X,” in vain. However, it was discovered from his observatory in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, and this is one reason that the name Pluto was chosen to honor Lowell. The first two letters are his initials.
9
The rocky celestial body with the shortest life span is Mars’s moon Phobos . The closest moon to any planet, it will crash into the Martian surface in 10 million years.
10
The first person who said that our planet moves was not Copernicus or Galileo. It was Aristarchus of
Morning Star: A planet that is above the eastern horizon at sunrise and less than 180° west of the Sun in right ascension.
Node: Either of the two points where a celestial body’s orbit intersects the ecliptic. Ascending: When the body is moving from south to north of the ecliptic. Descending: When the body is moving from north to south of the ecliptic.
Opposition: The Moon or a planet appears on the opposite side of the sky from the Sun (elongation 180°).
Perigee (Perig.): The point in the Moon’s orbit that is closest to Earth.
Perihelion (Perih.): The point in a planet’s orbit that is closest to the Sun.
Precession: The slowly changing position of the stars and equinoxes in the sky caused by a slight wobble as Earth rotates around its axis.
Right Ascension (R.A.): The celestial longitude of an object in the sky, measured eastward along the celestial equator in hours of time from the vernal equinox; analogous to longitude on Earth.
Solar Cycle: In the Julian calendar, a period of 28 years, at the end of which the days of the month return to the same days of the week.
Solstice, Summer: When the Sun reaches its greatest declination (23½°) north of the celestial equator, around June 21. Winter: When the Sun reaches its greatest declination (23½°) south of the celestial equator, around December 21.
Stationary (Stat.): The brief period of apparent halted movement of a planet against the background of the stars shortly before it appears to move backward/westward (retrograde motion) or forward/eastward (direct motion).
Sun Fast/Slow: When a sundial reading is ahead of (fast) or behind (slow) clock time.
Sunrise/Sunset: The visible rising and setting of the upper edge of the Sun’s disk across the unobstructed horizon of an observer whose eyes are 15 feet above ground level.
Twilight: For definitions of civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight, see The Twilight Zone [>] .
Astronomy: 24 Strange Things About the Universe
1
The slowest-spinning object in the known universe is the nearest planet, Venus . A person could walk faster than it rotates.
2
The density of every neutron star is equivalent to what you would have after crushing a cruise ship until it’s the size of the ball in a ballpoint pen.
3
The longest star name still in common usage is Libra’s Zubeneschamali. The shortest is Sun.
4
Mid-19th century scientists found that sunspots increase and then fade out in an 11-year cycle. Other scientists knew that earthly compasses strangely fluctuate in the same 11-year period. Yet it was years before anyone put these ideas together and realized that the Sun intimately affects our world through magnetism.
5
The large dark blotches on the Moon, called mares or seas, are all named for weather events (Ocean of Storms) or emotions (Sea of Tranquility).
6
There’s a separate “Earth” inside our planet: Earth’s core is not liquid iron as was once believed, but a solid ball the size of Pluto—and it spins faster than the rest of our world.
7
The Sun’s energy output is equivalent to the explosion of 91 billion 1-megaton hydrogen bombs each second.
8
Astronomer Percival Lowell obsessively hunted for a ninth planet, “Planet X,” in vain. However, it was discovered from his observatory in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, and this is one reason that the name Pluto was chosen to honor Lowell. The first two letters are his initials.
9
The rocky celestial body with the shortest life span is Mars’s moon Phobos . The closest moon to any planet, it will crash into the Martian surface in 10 million years.
10
The first person who said that our planet moves was not Copernicus or Galileo. It was Aristarchus of
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