orientation of galactic coordinate system centered at Earth's sun, looking from Earth's perspective? Ouch my brain exploded! - sci.math

Message from discussion orientation of galactic coordinate system centered at Earth's sun, looking from Earth's perspective? Ouch my brain exploded!

Ultrus

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More options Oct 6 2008, 10:57 pm

Newsgroups: sci.math

From: Ultrus <ownthe...@gmail.com>

Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2008 19:57:16 -0700 (PDT)

Local: Mon, Oct 6 2008 10:57 pm

Subject: Re: orientation of galactic coordinate system centered at Earth's sun, looking from Earth's perspective? Ouch my brain exploded!

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On Oct 6, 10:45 am, Raphanus <lester.we...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Oct 6, 11:41 am, Ultrus <ownthe...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > > Fake it. Have them move a small - barely perceptible amount in an direction opposite to the direction of motion.

> > Raphanus,
> > Good point and great idea! That will work well for this project. I
> > guess the biggest issue on faking it right now is the current
> > orientation around the sun. The big dipper (seen in orange in my
> > project) looks upside down, where in our sky in the US it looks right
> > side up.

> Believe me - the big dipper doesn't move just because the observer
> moves from the sun to the earth. I have seen the big dipper appear to
> be upside down. It depends on the time of night and the season.

> Of course everything looks different standing on the Earth's

> > surface. I'm looking for ways to verify which way is up, down, etc. in
> > the star sphere so that the stars are in the somewhat correct
> > directions. It is very possible that my calculations may have inverted
> > where things really should be, or rotated everything 90 or more
> > degrees, etc.

> Remember that a reference frame doesn't dictate in which direction the
> oberver is looking - only where the observer is located. The earth's
> surface is a moving reference frame.

> My impression is that you may have more thinking to do about what
> you're trying to accomplish.

> The star Polaris could be "the star" of your show.

> Good luck.

Raphanus,
Thanks again for your feedback. I understand what your saying and
apologize if my words aren't making much sense. Let me show you a
draft:
http://www.christopherstevens.cc/fun/test2.htm

The stars don't "move" themselves, but they do move on the screen as I
rotate about the Earth. The star locations will never physically
change in this project. I hope that helps clarify. You can see the
potential in the link I sent, but calculating or faking what direction
the sun is in relation to the Earth (I can figure this part out), and
galactic angle of the galactic star shpere in relation to this project
scene, makes my left eye fall out of the socket.

One point that bugs me is Polaris. Polaris is highlighted in orange,
just "south" of the Big Dipper. To me it seems to be an odd location
for a "north star", even if the the Earth's surface is a moving
reference frame. That's when I started seeking calculations that might
put the sun and earth into perspective with the rest of the galaxy,
rotating the star sphere to fit the scene anyway. After some sleep
though it may come together. If you hold apple/ctrl+click and drag,
you'll see the "star sphere" or backdrop I speak of.

Thanks much for your input. I look forward to any additional thoughts
out there. :)

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