Astronomical Bodies: Moon Phases

amateur  astronomy series #2

Some astronomical bodies:

Milky Way (our galaxy)

Rotational velocity near the Sun 250 km/sec.

Rotational period near the Sun 225 million years.

Earth (our  Planet)A planet (from Ancient Greek αστήρ πλανήτης (astēr planētēs), meaning "wandering star") is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity,

Spin on axis 23h 56m 4.091s

Orbits  Sun in 365days 5hours 48minutes 45.51seconds

Equatorial rotational velocity .5 km/sec

Escape velocity 11.2 km/sec

Nebula: Celestial objects that are clouds of gas and dust and so can not be resolve into stars. They emit their light in a series of emission lines.

Ursa Minor (Constellation)

The yellow dashed lines are constellation boundaries, the red dashed line is the ecliptic, and the shades of blue show Milky Way areas of different brightness. The map contains all Messier objects, except for colliding ones. The underlying database contains all stars brighter than 6.5. All coordinates refer to equinox 2000.0.
The map is calculated with the equidistant azimuthal projection (the zenith being in the center of the image). The north pole is to the top. The (horizontal) lines of equal declination are drawn for 0°, ±10°, ±20° etc. The lines of equal right ascension are drawn for all 24 hours. Towards the rim there is a very slight magnification (and distortion).

distances from our earth is;

Polaris (431.42 light years),

Yildun (182.72 lght years),

E Umi (346.61 light years),

T Umi (375.76 light years),

Kocab (126.47 light years),

Pherkad (480.35 light years),

n Umi (97.30 light years).

Polaris facts;

14,000 years time.

47° away from celestial pole

(1°=3600 seconds of arc)

Aries:

(Mesarthim, Sheratan, Hamal, Mu, Ari).

is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac. It spans the 0-30th degree of the zodiac, between zero and 27.25 degree of celestial longitude, which the Sun transits this area on average between March 21 to April 19 each year.

Moon Phases (Moon as seen by an observer, usually on  Earth):

*new moon (Full in shadow),
*Waxing Crescent (Less than half is illuminated),
*First Quarter (Approximately half is illuminated),
*Waxing Gibbons (More than half is illuminated),
*full moon (Whole moon illuminated),
*Waning Gibbons (More than half is illuminated),
*Last Quarter (Appoximately half is illuminated),
*Waning Crescent ( Less than half is illuminated and this gets less each night).
*Note: all pictures thankfully shared from various sources..
geographic coordinate system

latitude (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latitude): (abbreviation: Lat., φ, or phi)
positive value represent North of the equator 
negative value represent South of the equator 

longitude (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude): (abbreviation: Long., λ, or lambda)

positive value represent East of the Greenwitch Meridian
negative value represent West of the Greenwitch Meridian

# A sum up to follow for details if required:

Solar System	Extrasolar objects
	Simple objects	Compound objects	Extended objects
Sun Planetary system Planets Mercury Venus Earth Moon Mars satellites Jupiter satellites Saturn satellites Uranus satellites Neptune satellites Dwarf planets Pluto satellites Eris Dysnomia Ceres Makemake Haumea satellites Asteroids "Vulcanoids" "Apoheles" Near-Earth asteroids "Arjunas" Atens Apollos Amors Mars-crossers Asteroid belt Hungarias Phocaeas Nysas Alindas Hildas Pallas Marias Koronis Eos Themis Griquas Cybeles Thule Vesta Trojan asteroids Earth trojans Mars trojans Jupiter trojans Neptune trojans Outer-planet crossers Damocloids Centaurs Trans-Neptunian objects Kuiper belt Classical Kuiper-belt objects (cubewanos) Resonant trans-Neptunian objects Plutinos (2:3) Twotinos (1:2) Scattered-disc objects Detached objects Comets Oort cloud Meteoroids Meteors Meteor showers Solar wind	Exoplanets Hot Jupiters Eccentric Jupiters Pulsar planets Hot Neptunes / Super-Earths Transiting planets Rogue / Interstellar planets Hypothetical planet types Chthonian planets Ocean planets Trojan planets Brown dwarfs L-type stars T-type stars Sub-brown dwarfs Stars by spectral type O-type (blue) stars B-type (blue-white) stars A-type (white) stars F-type (yellow-white) stars G-type (yellow) stars K-type (orange) stars M-type (red) stars Peculiar stars Carbon stars S-type stars Shell stars Wolf-Rayet stars Peculiar A-type stars Metallic A-type stars Barium stars P Cygni stars Blue stragglers Stars by luminosity class Subdwarf stars Dwarf (Main sequence) stars Subgiant stars Giant stars Bright giant stars Supergiant stars Hypergiant stars Stars by population Population III stars Population II stars Halo stars Thick disk stars Population I stars Stars by stellar evolution Protostars Young stellar objects Main sequence stars Red giant stars Red supergiant stars Blue supergiant stars Wolf-Rayet stars White dwarf stars Neutron stars Variable stars Intrinsic variables Pulsating variables Cepheid variables W Virginis variables Delta Scuti variables RR Lyrae variables Mira variables Semiregular variables Irregular variables Beta Cephei variables Alpha Cygni variables RV Tauri variables Eruptive variables Flare stars T Tauri variables FU Orionis variables R Coronae Borealis variables Luminous blue variables Cataclysmic variables Symbiotic variables Dwarf novae Novae Supernovae Type I supernovae Type II supernovae Hypothetical Collapsars or Hypernovae Extrinsic variables Rotating variables Alpha2 CVn stars Rotating ellipsoidal variables Eclipsing binaries Algol stars, Algol Beta Lyrae stars W Ursae Majoris stars Compact stars White dwarfs Black dwarfs Neutron stars Magnetars Pulsars Hypothetical stars Quark stars Preon stars Black holes Stellar black hole Intermediate-mass black holes Supermassive black holes Gamma ray bursts	Planetary systems Star systems Single star systems Solar system Multiple star systems Binary stars Observation method: Optical binaries Visual binaries Astrometric binaries Spectroscopic binaries Eclipsing binaries Close binaries Detached binaries Semidetached binaries Contact binaries Unresolved binaries X-ray binaries X-ray bursters Triple star systems Stellar groupings Star clusters Stellar associations Open clusters Globular clusters Hypercompact stellar system Constellations Asterisms Galaxy components Galactic bulges Galactic bars Galactic rings Spiral arms Thin disks Thick disks Galactic halos Galactic coronae Galaxies Galaxies by morphology Spiral galaxies Barred spiral galaxies Lenticular galaxies Elliptical galaxies Ring galaxies Irregular galaxies Galaxies by size Brightest cluster galaxies Giant ellipticals Dwarf galaxies Active galaxies Quasars Blazars Radio galaxies Seyfert galaxies Starburst galaxies Dark galaxies Galaxy groups Galaxy clusters Superclusters Galaxy filaments and Voids	Accretion disc Circumstellar matter Debris disks Interplanetary medium Interplanetary magnetic field Circumstellar disk Protoplanetary disks Interstellar medium Interstellar cloud Nebulae Emission nebulae Planetary nebulae Supernova remnants Plerions H II regions Reflection nebulae Dark nebulae Molecular clouds Bok globules Proplyds H I regions Intergalactic medium Cosmic microwave background radiation Dark matter MACHOs WIMPs Hypothetical Cosmic string Domain