Dumb Question - Sorry

When in the Northern hemisphere and an object is referred to as (say) West
of North, is the reference to North from the (true) North Horizon upto the
Zenith, from the (true) North Horizon upto Polaris or is the North South
divide simply a great semicircle linking the South and North Horizons?

For example, Cassiopea is in the northern sector of the sky tonight, How
would you explain the relationship between Cas a and Cas b, which is North
of which..?

Sorry, I hate asking stupid questions..


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===========================
Martyn K


http://www.czd.org.uk

KM wrote:
When in the Northern hemisphere and an object is referred to as (say) West
of North, is the reference to North from the (true) North Horizon upto the
Zenith, from the (true) North Horizon upto Polaris or is the North South
divide simply a great semicircle linking the South and North Horizons?

For example, Cassiopea is in the northern sector of the sky tonight, How
would you explain the relationship between Cas a and Cas b, which is North
of which..?

Sorry, I hate asking stupid questions..

Where will it be 12 hours later?

This is an interesting question. But here's how I would answer it.

As we are talking about celestial objects, land based compass points don't
apply. We are talking about compass points based on the sky, so here's the
explaination. Using the Cas a and Cas b example, Cas b is always North of
Cas a. This is assuming that I know the constellation properly. If you
think of Cas as being a big W in the sky, Cas a is the star on the bottom of
the second V and Cas B is the point on the top right of the W.

The most northern point in the celestial sphere is the North celestial pole.
You can't go north from that point.


Personally, I prefer to use the old fashioned method of pointing and saying
that one over there, up a bit, right a bit and you'll see a dimmer one, yeah
that's it. ;-) Or even resorting to a big green laser.

Regards

Colin Dawson
www.cjdawson.com


"Weatherlawyer" wrote in message
oups.com...

KM wrote:
When in the Northern hemisphere and an object is referred to as (say)
West
of North, is the reference to North from the (true) North Horizon upto
the
Zenith, from the (true) North Horizon upto Polaris or is the North South
divide simply a great semicircle linking the South and North Horizons?

For example, Cassiopea is in the northern sector of the sky tonight, How
would you explain the relationship between Cas a and Cas b, which is
North
of which..?

Sorry, I hate asking stupid questions..

Where will it be 12 hours later?

Colin Dawson wrote:
This is an interesting question. But here's how I would answer it.

As we are talking about celestial objects, land based compass points
don't apply. We are talking about compass points based on the sky,
so here's the explaination. Using the Cas a and Cas b example, Cas b
is always North of Cas a. This is assuming that I know the
constellation properly. If you think of Cas as being a big W in the
sky, Cas a is the star on the bottom of the second V and Cas B is the
point on the top right of the W.
The most northern point in the celestial sphere is the North
celestial pole. You can't go north from that point.


Personally, I prefer to use the old fashioned method of pointing and
saying that one over there, up a bit, right a bit and you'll see a
dimmer one, yeah that's it. ;-) Or even resorting to a big green
laser.
Thanks

I thought that may be the answer, it does seem confusing though, referring
to an object south of x on the northern horizon..

===========================
Martyn K


http://www.czd.org.uk