Replogle Celestial Globe Handbuch Seite 2

Congratulations on the purchase of your new Celestial
globe from Replogle Globes, Inc. We are confident you will
have many fun hours with your new illuminated celestial
globe and that this globe will become an educational
piece as well as a decorative item in your home.
A celestial globe is a spherical map of the sun, moon, and
stars which appear to surround our planet Earth. To
understand and interpret the information from a celestial
globe, you must first imagine yourself located in the
center of the globe looking outward to the sky above. When
viewed from outside the globe, the star arrangements on
the sphere appear reversed since they are a mirror image
of what is seen from the inside. Some celestial bodies
may or may not be visible depending on the time of year
and your location on Earth.
HOW TO USE YOUR CELESTIAL GLOBE
To find the stars that are visible at certain dates and times it is important that you position the celestial globe matching
the latitude of your location on Earth. When watching the stars using your celestial globe, keep in mind that your globe is
mounted on a terrestrial globe base with the axis of the Earth placed on ½º.
In order for the stars to appear in a "natural" position in relation to each other at a specified date and time, perform the
following steps:
1. Set the date using the ecliptic which is represented on the globe by a series of small, orange-colored suns that are dated
at approximately ten day intervals. The dates are printed near each sun in the format of Arabic or modern numerals
representing the day and Roman numerals representing the month. For example, 0.IV. corresponds to the 0th of
April. The selected date with its corresponding orange-colored sun should be brought centrally under the semi-meridian.
ECLIpTIC DATE CHART
1.I. 1-Jan 11.III. 11-Mar
10.I. 10-Jan 1.III. 1-Mar 11.VI.
0.I. 0-Jan 10.IV. 10-Apr .VI.
0.I. 0-Jan 0.IV. 0-Apr .VII.
9.II. 9-Feb 0.IV. 0-Apr 1.VII.
19.II. 19-Feb 11.V. 11-May .VII.
1.III. 1-Mar 1.V. 1-May .VIII.
. Set the time dial on the top of the globe so that twelve o'clock coincides with the meridian (longitude) of the sun of the
appropriate date. The ball and time dial can be revolved together until the desired hour is under the semi-meridian.
Sunrise and sunset can be read by turning the globe (set as above) from east to west, and noting on the time disc when the
sun crosses the horizon.
Celestial globe mountings
vary. Your model may look
different than shown here.
1.VI. 1-Jun 1.VIII. 1-Aug .XI.
11-Jun 4.VIII. 4-Aug 1.XI.
-Jun .IX. -Sep .XI.
-Jul 1.IX. 1-Sep .XII.
1-Jul 4.X. 4-Oct 1.XII.
-Jul 14.X. 14-Oct .XII.
-Aug 4.X. 4-Oct

THE HISTORY OF STAR WATCHING
Since the earliest ages, stars have been of great importance to man's existence. As daylight disappeared at sunset, the
little lights of the night sky came into view, slightly dispelling the gloom and providing a reliable calendar.
During the night the stars moved overhead, but always in the same grouping or celestial pattern. Some stars could always
be seen as they moved round the heavens. Others came into view over the eastern horizon to follow the course of those
that disappeared in the west.
The stars that did not disappear, and at least one always seemed to be in the same place, were valuable in helping people
find their way on dark nights. These stars became good friends of the traveler and were named by the groups or
configurations of stars in which they seemed to travel. Today, these groupings of bright stars are called constellations.
The oldest names of the constellations can be tracked to approximately ,000 B.C. The Chaldeans, astrologers who
inhabited the region around the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, attached great importance to the science of astronomy.
It is from them that we get the names of the constellations grouped around the ecliptic, or apparent track of the sun
throughout the year. The constellation names Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius,
Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces can be found on your celestial globe. The Greeks added to these names based on their
mythology. Ptolemy, the nd-century Greek astronomer, compiled a treatise on astronomy, the Almagest, and in it he
names forty-eight constellations. Eighty-eight official constellations exist today.
Ancient people generally worshipped the phenomena of seasons, Sun, Moon and stars even though they could not explain
them. Their imagination stirred by nightly processions overhead, they soon linked stars with mythology. They named stars
and constellations after creatures such as Orion, the mighty hunter and warrior whom they believed lingered above them.
The stories told varied with their teller as indeed they do today. Most people now find it challenging to envision the images
which stars and constellations are supposed to suggest – the Square of Pegasus, the Chair of Cassiopeia, the Big Dipper or
Plough, and perhaps Orion himself, with his belt and sword.
The group known as the Big Dipper is easily recognized, and is probably the best known because it has a simple practical
value in indicating true North. It has different names in different countries, but is visible in the northern skies year-round.
From mythology it takes the name Ursa Major, or the Great Bear. To those in Britain it is known as the Plough or Charles'
Wain, to Americans it is the Dipper, to Artic natives it is the Reindeer, to Malaysians the Ship. Arabs call it the Bier,
incorporating four bearers and three mourners, while in ancient Egypt it was spoken of as the "Hind Legs of the Holy Ox."
-Nov
1-Nov
Early people soon realized the practical value of astronomy. The Dipper, always pointing to the Pole Star, served as a
-Nov
compass. Stars which came into view at certain seasons provided a perpetual calendar invaluable to agricultural and
-Dec nomadic people. In ancient Egypt it was very important to know when the floods of the Nile would start. The priests could
tell this by watching the stars. When the constellation Orion appeared in the east shortly before sunrise, they would keep
1-Dec
watch because they knew that the helical rise of Sirius was drawing near. They waited for Sirius to appear in the sky
-Dec
shortly before the sun came over the horizon, and when this happened the trumpets would be sounded as a warning that
the floods were about to begin. By our present-day reckoning this would be about July 0th. In the 6,000 years that have
since passed, a slow change in the position of the stars has brought the helical rise of Sirius to July nd, and it would no
longer serve as a warning for the Nile floods if modern methods had not provided an alternative. Sirius (Sothis to the
Egyptian) also marked the start of the Egyptian year and of the Sothis period.
Early people found it universally necessary to work out the approximate length of a year. Most established a time scale in
relation to the appearances of the Moon, and this Lunar Year they divided into months of twenty-nine or thirty days, with
a few months having additional days to compensate for inaccuracies.
There is evidence that it was early realized that a year contained about 65¼ days, and when it is remembered that this
was worked out without the aid of devices available today, one must agree with the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe that
astronomy is the oldest science and it is fundamentally important. Even today, as professional astronomical research is
carried out in observatories with the aid of costly and complex instruments, research continues to be supplemented by the
patient watching of amateur observers with simple equipment.