Today's transcript is sponsored by ScreenThemes - exploring the final frontier on your desktop every day. Over the next three months, the Sun will travel ever-farther northward, bringing longer, warmer days to those of us north of the equator. Theoretically, on the equinox all points on Earth should see equal amounts of daylight and darkness. The vernal equinox marks the starting point for the system that astronomers use to plot the sky.
Right ascension is measured in hours.
The point where the Sun crosses the celestial equator on the vernal equinox is designated as zero hours. And just as Earth's equator marks zero degrees latitude, the celestial equator is designated zero degrees declination. Seats of honor for tribal astronomers, tomorrow. The University of Texas McDonald Observatory - all rights reserved.