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# Celestial Bodies and the Night Sky **Stars and Calendars** * Stars rise and set earlier each day by 4 minutes. * This means that each month has a new set of stars in the sky. * People used this to create calendars. * Stonehenge was built in stages between 3000 BCE and 1100 BCE. * The...

# Celestial Bodies and the Night Sky **Stars and Calendars** * Stars rise and set earlier each day by 4 minutes. * This means that each month has a new set of stars in the sky. * People used this to create calendars. * Stonehenge was built in stages between 3000 BCE and 1100 BCE. * The stones were positioned to calculate day length and sunlight. **Constellations and Asterisms** * A constellation is a group of stars that forms a picture or a figure in the night sky. * There are 88 official constellations. * An asterism is an unofficially recognised star group. **Tracking Celestial Bodies** * To track a celestial body's movement, use the stars as a frame of reference, not the Earth. * Observe the body and surrounding stars, then make subsequent observations over time. * This allows you to determine the body's direction of movement. **The Sun's Orbit and Solstices** * We use solstices to describe how the Sun's orbit influences our daylight. * Solstices are the dates when the Earth is positioned to receive the most or least sunlight compared to other days of the year. **Winter and Summer Solstices (Northern Hemisphere)** | Solstice | Date | |---|---| | Winter Solstice | December 21st | | Summer Solstice | June 21st | **Image Description:** The image includes diagrams of the Earth and Sun. These diagrams illustrate the relative positions of the Earth, and Sun during the winter and summer solstices, highlighting how the angle of sunlight affects the length of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere.