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What is Star Finder
Star finders are an important tool used to orient students about the sky in the night sky. Some commonly used tools include RASC Star Finders. The equipment has been designed to help beginners to learn more about Astronomy. A planisphere (also known as a star finder) is circular. It contains an overlayed map that turns to show the region of the sky through an opening in the overlay. The equipment shows the region of the sky at a given time, date, and location.
How to use the RASC Star Finder
If you are new to astronomy, the Star Finder might not be easy for you to use. Let us begin by understanding how to use the Star Finder to read star charts. First, you must have identified that the Start Chart looks like a map. Just the same way we use the terrestrial map to find directions on earth, the star finder guides you on how to navigate the sky to find a star. The start chart represents the stellar drone showing constellations, brightest stars, and objects. Normally, the start chart only shows stars that are visible with our bare eyes. It looks the same as the planisphere but differs with the uses.
Stars in the star finder are represented in black dots on a white background. The color makes it easy to read especially since it is used at night. The dots are printed in different sizes to represent the difference in brightness on star brightness in real life. Therefore, the bigger the dot, the brighter the star. Gray dots refer to star clusters while oval dots represent galaxies. However, since not all the nights are present in the star finder, astronomers use the brighter objects as reference points to finding fainter ones.
The map also shows the milky way either in the grayed out area or as an outline.
Night Sky Coordinates
Before indulging further into details, the star finder chart, it is important to first understand a little about night sky coordinates. Assuming that you are looking to locate Arizona on a map, but you are somewhere on the bottom left in the United States. It would be much easier to give exact coordinates that AZ is 34o North or 1110 West. This will make it easy to locate the state in a jiffy.
Similarly, locating things in the sky at night requires astronomer reference to navigate. The references used to locate stars are equivalent to latitudes and longitudes used on maps on earth. However, they are called right ascension and declination. The celestial equator mirrors the earth’s equator while the north and south celestial poles are located directly above the earth.
How to Read the Star Chart
When reading the star chart, it is important to think of the sky as a dome around the earth as where the stars and planets reside. As the darkness on earth increases, the little dome turns so that the stars seem to rise in the east and set in the west. Since the earth is above, the star chart is designed to be held overhead when reading. The point positioned directly on the overhead is called the Zenith. It is also located in the center of the chart, while the edges of the circular map represent the horizon.
Star Finder Assignment Help
At the same time, finding your way around the night sky might be overwhelming, exciting, and scary. Do not Worry! Reliable Assignments Help experts are here to help you with Star Finder Assignment. We understand that finding an object in the sky at night is not easy. Our astronomy assignment help experts have perfected the art of finding the stars among many dots on the star maps.