DIRECTIONS: Answer what you would see from a garden at night.
As the earth spins, every star circles one point in the sky. In the
north a star sits almost exactly there: Polaris, only about the 24th
brightest star.
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Question
Your answer
1.
does Polaris rise and set?
2.
do the stars near it rise and set?
3.
do stars low in the south rise and set?
4.
what is actually turning
The pole star stays put all night while everything else circles it. Say what that tells you about which way the earth's axis points.
How High Is the Pole Star?
Nothing but Light · Page 2 of 3
DIRECTIONS: Fill in how high Polaris appears from each place.
How high Polaris is above your horizon is your latitude. At the
North Pole it is straight overhead (90°); on the equator it sits on the horizon (0°); in Ohio it is about 40°
up.
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Standing here
Latitude
How high Polaris appears
6.
the North Pole
90° N
7.
London
51° N
8.
the equator
0°
9.
Australia
34° S
A ship sails south for a week and the crew watch Polaris drop lower each night. Say what they can work out from that, and what they still cannot.
Go Outside and Check
Nothing but Light · Page 3 of 3
DIRECTIONS: On a clear night, sketch the Plow and Polaris next to a roof or tree. Two hours later, sketch again from the same spot.
First look
Two hours later
time
where the Plough was
where Polaris was
Which way did the Plough go round — clockwise or counterclockwise? Did Polaris move?
The whole sky turns once in about 24 hours. Using your two sketches, work out roughly how far round it should have gone in two hours, and say whether that matches what you saw.