This
Star Chart below
shows the whole Universe that's rotating through our planet's sky above each and every one of us every single day of our lives. The undulating line through the middle of the chart exactly marks the position of the Universe above Greenwich England on the specified date at Noon at Greenwich, reflecting the changing angle of our planet to the Sun as we rotate around the Sun..
This chart also tells us what's above every position on our planet every day of the year.
This
Star Wheel Below
shows us the specific dark slice of our Universe as it is rotating across our visible night skies this evening. The Star Wheel can also be used to observe the invisible stars, except our brilliant Sun, that we can't see rotating across our daytime skies. The Star Wheel can be adjusted to any night (or day) of the year, from any location.
The Clock
Our Spinning Planet
Each of our positions on this planet is offset from Greenwich by a certain amount of Hours & Minutes on our rotating planet.
The Hands & Dial of Our Universal Clock
Every other physical position on our planet, and every position of celestial bodies in the sky, are measured in hours before or after its relative Eastern or Western distance from Greenwich, while its distance from the Equator is measured in degrees, with the Equator being 0 and the Poles 90.
Measuring our distance from Greenwhich identifies the point of the universe that will be above that point on the Earth, at local Noon of the specified day.
Slices of the Biggest Pie
The slice of the Universe we can actually see at night and what is overhead at Noon gradually changes with each passing day, as each day's rotation brings, "new sky," into view as it leaves behind the, "old," as our planet gradually steps around our planet's annual orbital viewing of the whole Universe around us.
So Close, Yet So Far
It takes a year for us to visibly view our whole universe once, at night, even as the whole thing rotates around us every day.
The Invisible World
Half of our "daily" view of the whole universe spinning around us every day is invisible, being "washed-out" by the daytime passage of the Sun, leaving only our nightly slice, our slice of our outward, "night-side," view of our Universe visible to observe. Our important questions are, "What slice of the night will we see at Night during our backpacking trip? What "slice" of the Universe will be washed out during the day?"
These questions are practically and esthetically important.
This page is hopeful it will answer those questions.
Our Favorite
Observational Astronomical Resource
Dominic Ford's
In the Sky
The
Universe @ Noon
The dates along the curving line undulating across the center of the All-Star Chart below correspond with the point in the sky above Planet Earth at 12 noon at Greenwich, UK, on that particular date. Our positions in the Sierra are 8 hours West of Greenwich during Standard Time, and 7 hours during Daylight Time.
That Classic star charts show us exactly what we cannot see in the sky during the day.
What's overhead at midnight of any particular date is not quite exactly six months different than the "Sun" dates on the chart below.
That's why I've included the Digital Star Wheel below.
It's adjustable to your current location, date, and time:
The In-The-Sky.org Star Wheel
In the Sky Home Page
This celestial information will be more important the further out into Nature that we hike, as the deepening darkness of wilderness opens up the depths of night skies to our experience. I want to know exactly what I am seeing, and why.
Paper Charts for Field Use
See the
Classic
Star Chart below
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More Information
The Universe, our Galaxy
CGMD
Our planet-wide destruction of dark night skies (we neglect nothing) diminishes and disappears the deeper we push into wilderness, finally revealing the full depth of Time and Space around us. These observable expanses bring up questions in my mind, such as what time is it, really, in terms of exactly where our planet is pointed in our Galaxy and Universe during Day and Night?
We've already used astronomical intformation to figure out basic local Noon and backpacker timekeeping. Now we want to put our daily Night and Day observations into a bigger "annual time" context, withing the physical reality of our own galaxy and the greater universe beyond.
As I mentioned above, we can find exactly where we are pointed in the Universe THROUGH THE SUN at 12 Noon every Day on the Star Chart featured on this page below, and find the exact position our Earth is pointed at, in the Universe at Midnight, here on our Digital Star Wheel:
Personal
Time-Space
Orientation
Set the TIME feature to Noon (and check "show daylight") to determine what part of our Stellar Universe is washed out by the Sun at the midpoint of day during daylight hours.
Setting the TIME to Midnight shows us the what part of the universe is visible directly above us, which centers what's visible between Sunset and rise.
Identify those positions on the whole year star chart below, and you will know what is passing overhead at Noon during the day, and be able to identify the seasonal constellations bracketing Midnight. Let's go to the next step, and figure out the main stars too.
Fire up the digital star wheel. Click the show "Alt/AZ grid" checkbox, then bring your cursor to the center of the circle in the middle of the Sky at Noon and at Midnight. Our goal is to determine Noon and Midnight's respective Right Ascension Times. These coordinates read-out on the upper-right of the page. Note them.
Big Context
Match these "RA Times" with those positions on the Star Chart below to see exactly what's straight overhead at Noon and Midnight, which puts the rest of the night and daytime skies into context, and puts our seasonal slices of Time into the biggest context.
Yup, that's it, and all there is. Our whole Universe spins around us every day.
Midnight and Noon define exactly what perspective we are going to have on the universe spinning around us every day and night of the year. Despite the fact that it takes a whole year's worth of nightly (and daily) observations to view the totallity of our surrounding universe (twice?), which, all together makes one (two?) full circle(s) around us each and every day.
Factoid
The whole universe spins around us twice a year. Once visibly, at night, the other invisibly, during the day.
Center Point
The center point of our physical celestial map below is anchored in time by the position of the Sun in the Sky at 12 Noon on the Vernal Equinox (March 20) in Greenwich, England, as measured on the sine wave (wiki) of the Earth's elipictic on the map below.
The Elipictic
This elipictical undulating line across the center of the map below marks out the effect of the Earth's off-axis tilt during one orbit around the Sun. It represent where we are. "pointing," so to speak.
Sometimes the Earth is pointed "up,"along this "line," other times "down." Our celestial "start point" of the year is the Vernal Equinox, which is the point in time when the tilting plane of the Earth is flat, halfway between its up and down rise and fall along itst elipictic path.
Can you see what I'm saying?
If not, you can actually look at it:
Our Favorite
Observational Astronomical Resource
Dominic Ford's
In the Sky
Below Runs on FLASH
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