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Now lets consider some of
the star constellations that we can see from
Bloomington. Lets concentrate on the big dipper and the little dipperstars keep the same position relative to each other. For example, the stars forming the lip of the Big Dipper always point toward the tail star of the Little Dipper (which is the star Polaris). Thus we can consider the stars as attached to the celestial sphere. The fact that a star changes its position during the course of a night informs us that the celestial sphere is not stationary. It is, in fact moving. Do you know why the celestial sphere is moving? Think of what causes day and night on the Earth and the answer will reveal itself. The motion of the celestial sphere in the sky is actually quite simple. The fact that
the motion is as simple as possible, was an attractive fact to the ancient Greek
philosophers: it demonstrated design deserving an explanation. |
| back to top | Astronomer Note: Notice that the tail of the Little Dipper (the star Polaris) remained fixed while the other stars just rotated around it. Why do you think this is the case? |