You want to look at the bright star Vega (18 36 56.3 + 38 47 01.3) on a clear ni

Question

You want to look at the bright star Vega (18 36 56.3 + 38 47 01.3) on a clear night. You check your astronomical clock and it says that the LST at your location is 20: 06: 56.3. A. Will you look for Vega east or west of the meridian? Why? B. What is the hour angle of Vega? Be sure to specify your answer in the conventional unit for hour angle (fractional hour with appropriate sign). C. If you want to see Vega at its highest point in your sky, in how many hours should you come back and look for it? D. When you come back and catch Vega at its highest position, you notice that it is not at your Zenith. Given your observing location from Atlanta, how would you explain this?

Explanation / Answer

(a) Vega is 85 degree above the north hemisphere and 90 degree towards the horizon. Since LST of location is close to the midnight, we weill look for Vega east at the meridian.

(b) Hour angle of vega = 384,70',13''+18,36',56''

= 403,47',9''

(c) Vega remains at its hightest point after midnight at 3,32',46''. So, we have to wait for 7 hours and come back to look for it.

(d) It is about 88 degree to the zenith at our local standard time. But it comes to its highest peak after seven years of our LST, and thus the angle with te zenith changes and so as vega's position.

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