W2 L1 Pre Intro Time Kine

Orbital Mechanics: Day 1
Dr. Kira Abercromby
1
Today (part a) Objectives
• Determine the orientation of the earth-sun

system
• Discuss various ways of time
• Compute time based on day of year and
location (homework!)
2
Review Items
• Review on your own, if necessary

– Vector algebra
– Dynamics
– MATLAB
– Methods of solving ODEs
– Numerical Integration
– MATLAB
3
Equinox and Solstice
• Equinox: occurs twice a year when equatorial

plane and the orbital plane meet
– March 20/21
– September 22/23
• Solstice: occurs twice a year when the
equatorial plane and the orbital plane are
furthest away
– June 20/21
– December 22/23
4
Solstices and Equinoxes
Image from http://shamanicastrology.com/ 5

First point of Aries
• One of the two points on the celestial sphere

where the celestial plane intersects with the
earth’s orbital plane
• Defined as the position of the sun at the time
of vernal equinox
• Named for the constellation where the sun was
when it occurred in ancient times (not so any
more, now in Pisces, and in Aquarius in 2600
A.D.) and the symbol is of a ram
6
First point of Aries
(http://www.mywiseowl.com/articles/Vernal_point)
7
Versions of Time
• (Apparent) Mean solar Time
– Kept by clocks
– Time it takes the sun to return to the same position
overhead
– Assumes the earth’s orbit is circular orbit whose
period matches the actual period of the earth and
the axis of rotation is perpendicular to the orbital
plane
8
Versions of Time (1)
• Sidereal time – time it takes for a star to return to

its same position overhead (due to the earth
rotation this is not 1 solar day)
• Earth needs to move a bit more for 1 mean solar
day than it does for 1 sidereal day
– 1 day of mean solar time = 1.0027379093 days of
mean sidereal time
– 1 sidereal day = 23 hrs 56 min
– Earth rotates 360° in one sidereal day, and
360.986° in a solar day
9
Solar and Sidereal Time
http://www.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses/astro2201/sidereal.htm
10
• Local Mean Solar Time

– Earth divided into 24 time zones ~ 15° of longitude
(meridans) apart
– Local mean solar time differs by 1 hour per longitudinal
bin
• Universal Time (UT), Zulu (Z), and Greenwich
Mean Time (GMT)
– Local mean solar time on the Greenwich meridian
(location of the prime meridan)
– Local standard time = UT + # of longitude bins
(measured westward)
11
Versions of Time -- calculations
• Local Sidereal Time, θ

– Time since local meridan passed through vernal
equinox in hours * 15°/hr
12
More Time
• Julian Date (JD)

– # of days since noon UT on Monday, 1 Jan 4713 BC
– J0 = 367*Y - floor((7*(Y+floor((M+9)/12)))/4) +
floor((275*M)/9) + D + 1721013.5
Floor is the integer portion of x, Y is the 4-digit year, M is the 2-digit month, and D
is the 2-digit day of the month
– JD = J0+ (UT/24)
• Note that J0 is the Julian date at 0hr UT (half a Julian day)
• UT is time in fractions of that day
– 14:45:30 would be 14.758 hr
13
• Epoch: used a a reference point so that you

don’t need to use the entire JD term
– Can use J2000.0 (meaning time from January
1, 2000 at noon)
– J2000.0 has an exact JD of 2,451,545.0
– Epoch of date (meaning you have to specify an
exact time for which those observations are
determined)
14
Local Sidereal Time Calc (section 5.4)
• Calculate the J0 using the year, month and day

• Calculate a T0, time in Julian centuries between J0 and
J2000.0
– A Julian Century has 36,525 days (since there are
365.25 days in a Julian year)
– T0 = (JD0-J2000.0)/(Julian Century) …unitless
• Compute the Greenwich sidereal time,θG0, at 0 hr UT
– By series expansion
• θ G0=100.4606184 + 36000.77004*T0+0.000387933*T 02-2.58x10^-8 *T 03
(degs)
– Can yield a result outside of 0 – 360°. If so, add or
subtract multiples of 360 to get into the right range
15
LST calc
• Calculate Greenwich sidereal time at any other time, θG

– θG=θG0 + 360.98564724*(UT/24) (degs)
– Make sure UT is in hours
– What is that 360 number above?
• Get LST, θ, by adding Greenwich sidereal time to east
longitude of location
– θ = θG + Λ
– where Λ is east longitude
– Can yield a result outside of 0 – 360°. If so, add or
subtract multiples of 360 to get into the right range
16
Lecture Wrapper – determine 5 versions of
time
17
Some bad science
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUbGkSfaK
rs
18

W2 L1 Pre Intro Time Kine

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

W2 L1 Pre Intro Time Kine

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

W2 L1 Pre Intro Time Kine

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Orbital Mechanics: Day 1

Dr. Kira Abercromby

• Determine the orientation of the earth-sun

• Review on your own, if necessary

• Equinox: occurs twice a year when equatorial

Image from http://shamanicastrology.com/ 5

• One of the two points on the celestial sphere

• Sidereal time – time it takes for a star to return to

• Local Mean Solar Time

• Local Sidereal Time, θ

• Julian Date (JD)

• Epoch: used a a reference point so that you

• Calculate the J0 using the year, month and day

• Calculate Greenwich sidereal time at any other time, θG

You might also like