Stellarium Project—Part 1. Due: Wed. Nov. 25
This is a short assignment to make sure that you have downloaded Stellarium (go to
stellarium.org or other websites) and can use it properly. Icons may appear when you put your
cursor over the left and lower edges of the screen. You can make these icons appear all the time
if you hit the tiny arrows in the lower left corner of the screen (they turn into squares).
The first thing you should do when running Stellarium is you must properly set your location.
Do this by choosing the location icon (on the left). Make sure it is set properly to your location
You can choose for the software to figure out your current location. Otherwise, in the search
window, you can type in Los Angeles, and then select that, and set it as your default location. It’s
OK if you are a few miles off of your actual location. It should be very roughly around 34
degrees north and 118 degrees west.
Next, set the time and date as desired. To pause the time, hit the right-facing arrow (triangle) on
the time icon, to unpause, hit it again. You can also fast-forward with >> or fast backward with
<<. To go to the present time, hit the hourglass icon.
Some tricks: To zoom in on an object, click on the object, then click on the “center” icon (4
arrows diagonally pointing toward the center). Then zoom in by hitting command-up arrow
(Mac) or control-up arrow (PC). To zoom out, hit the down arrow with cmd or cntrl key.
See the ? key for more tricks. Experiment with everything Stellarium has to offer, even if it’s
not in the instructions.
Assignment, part 1:
1) Make sure your location is correct. Set the date and time to Nov. 23, 2015 at 9:00pm.
Times are for a 24 hour clock so 9pm is 9+12 = 21:00:00.
2) Turn on the constellation “lines” and names (icons on the bottom).
3) Hit the “azimuthal grid” icon and zoom up toward your zenith (straight overhead).
4) Zoom in toward the zenith and find the brightest star nearest the zenith. Its name should
appear, and it is called Mirach.
5) Click on that star and look at the information about that star that pops up on the screen.
6) Fill in the next page and turn it in
Have fun!
Stellarium Project: Part 1
Due: Nov. 25
Name:_________________________
Reminder: set time/date to 9:00pm on Nov. 23, 2015.
Star name: Mirach
Apparent Magnitude:______________ Absolute magnitude:__________
Spectral type: ____________
Circle one: this star is a a) main sequence star b) giant c) supergiant
Distance: ___________light years
Parallax :_______________
Check that the distance and parallax make sense. Compute the distance to this star
in light years using d = 1/(parallax) and then using 1 parsec = 3.26 light years.
Show your work here:
Distance=____________________________________________light years
What constellation is this star in?___________________
What is the phase of the Moon (zoom in to see its appearance)? _____________
What % illumination is the Moon (click on the Moon)?___________
Extra Credit:
Sometime in the evening of Nov. 23, go outside. You need to know which way is
north/south/east/west first. Look on a map or use a map app/compare to streets. It
may be hard to see Polaris to see which way is north. If it is cloudy, you may do
this on Nov. 24, but the Moon will be in a different place!
1) Is it clear enough to see the Moon? Y N
2) Record the time:____________and date __________(it does not have to be
exactly at 9pm)
3) Estimate the Moon’s azimuth (degrees east of north, horizontally) and altitude
(angle above the horizon, vertically) at the time of your observation. One fist at
arm’s length is about 7 degrees. A pinky width is about 1 degree.
a) Moon’s approximate direction (azimuth) ___________degrees.
Note: North is 0, east is 90, south is 180 and west is 270. Just make a rough
estimate to the nearest 20 degrees or so (again, you can use your fist/fingers)
b) Moon’s approximate altitude above horizon:_____________degrees
4) Go back inside. Use Stellarium and report the Altitude and Azimuth (it says
Az/Alt, apparent):
a) Az:________________, b) Alt:__________________
Does it roughly agree with your estimate? Y N