Within this use case you learn about the constellations of the
Zodiac, i.e. those crossed by the apparent path of the Sun during the
year. Together with some characteristics the orbital motion of the
Earth, in this use case you also find a short excursion into history
of astronomy. The use case also introduces the precession of the
equinoxes.
Within this use case you discover the shape and thickness of the disc
of our own Galaxy by counting stars within and around the Milky Way.
With the use of both Aladin and Stellarium you draw the line
corresponding to the disc of the Milky Way in a coordinate diagram.
Within this use case you meet representatives of the most interesting
categories of celestial objects. From stellar clusters to galaxies.
All objects are from the Messier catalog that includes some of the
most viewed objects of the deep sky.
Within this case you discover the geometry of the orbit of the Moon
and the nature of its phases. As special case of the circumstances of
Moon's orbit, the use case introduces the eclipses, both of Moon and
Sun.
A catalogue of 541 nearby (within 10pc of the sun) stars, brown
dwarfs, and confirmed exoplanets in 336 systems, as well 21
candidates, compiled from SIMBAD and several other sources. Where
available, astrometry and photometry from Gaia eDR3 has been inserted.
Within this use case you recognize a physical association of stars
close in space as opposed to a superpositon created by projection
effects of stars very far one from the others. The key measure is
distance derived from parallax. With the true members of the
association (open cluster) you create a Herzsprung-Russell diagram as
in the tutorial “the stars” (ivo://edu.gavo.org/eurovo/aida_stars).
The Herzsprung-Russell diagram of stellar clusters is very important
because of the low noise of few unrelated stars.
If used in the classroom this advanced use case requires a reasonable
understanding of histograms and bidimensional scatter diagrams. It is
also rather long to perform from beginning to end.
Within this use case you discover the shapes of galaxies and their
classification according to the Hubble diagram. You are offered
sequences of galaxies with different morphologies and are asked to
order them. The morphological classification of galaxies is still in
use even if we have discovered that the Hubble diagram "per se" has no
direct physical or evolutionary meaning. Besides introducing the main
shapes of galaxies, the use case offer a demonstration of the
classification process, a fundamental tool of astronomers.
The Earth rotates around its polar axis and orbits around the Sun:
the sky above us (the celestial sphere) is in constant apparent
motion. Stellarium is the perfect tool to demonstrate the motions of
the sky, the use of coordinates and to illustrate constellations.
