GC Astronomy Drawing a Simple Sketch of The Horizon Question

Jupiter and Saturn are currently prominent in the early evening sky.  In this project you are going to go outside around 8pm, find Jupiter and Saturn, and measure their azimuth with a real compass, or if you don’t have one, a fake compass, such as the compass utility on your phone.  Fakeness is quite fashionable these days, and apparently completely ok.

So, step one, GO OUTSIDE at around 8pm.  Face East.  If you don’t know where East is, use a compass.  East has a compass heading of 90 degrees.  If you don’t have a real compass, use the compass utility on your phone.

Now, you are facing East.  Fairly low in the sky you will easily see the current brightest star in the sky.  You can’t miss it.  There is no other star in the area nearly that bright.  That “star” is the planet Jupiter.  It is bright white.

Aim your compass at Jupiter.  Read the heading.  It will be around 90 degrees, but its exact heading depends on the time, so measure it accurately.  That heading is Jupiter’s azimuth.  You measured the Sun’s elevation in a previous project, but not its azimuth.  Azimuth is the number of degrees around the horizon circle, starting at North and moving East, to some point of interest.  If Jupiter’s azimuth were 80 degrees, Jupiter would be directly above that 80-degree point on the horizon.  If you have binoculars or a telescope, take a look at Jupiter.  You’ll see three or four tiny “stars” in a line across Jupiter.  Those are some of Jupiter’s moons.

Once you have measured Jupiter’s azimuth, turn to face South.  South is 180 degrees on your compass.  Now look up at an angle of about 45 degrees.  That’s halfway from the horizon to the point straight up.  There will be a medium bright star in the area.  It is most unremarkable, but it is the brightest thing in the area.  That “star” is the planet Saturn.  Use you compass to measure Saturn’s azimuth.  

Go back inside and scrub the kitchen and the bathroom for two hours.  Don’t forget to scrub behind the toilet.  Then go back outside and measure Jupiter’s and Saturn’s azimuth again.  You will see it has changed for both planets.

Draw me a simple sketch of the horizon.  On a piece of paper, the horizon is NOT circular.  It is a straight line.  Draw it parallel to the bottom edge of the paper.  Put in a few major landmarks on your horizon.  For example, a phone pole, big tree, big building, incoming missile, etc.  Don’t think artist, think map maker.  Then draw in two dots for Jupiter at 8 pm and 10 pm and two dots for Saturn at 8 pm and 10 pm.  9 pm and 11 pm is also fine.  Times don’t have to be exactly 8, 9, 10 or 11, but whatever they are, be sure to record them.  Label the dots with the name of the planet and the azimuth at the two times.  

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