Sunday, 29 November 2009

observation - Can an observer on Earth only see half of the sky?

At any given instant of time, in any place on Earth, if the sky is clear and the horizon is low and flat, you see half of the celestial sphere - at that very instant.



But as the Earth keeps turning, you may end up seeing more, depending on where you are.



If you're at the North or South Pole, you see exactly half of the sky no matter how long you wait. That's all you'll ever see from there.



If you move closer to the Equator, you'll end up seeing more than half, if you're willing to wait.



At the Equator, you see pretty much all the sky, if you wait as the Earth keeps spinning around, revealing all the sky to you eventually.

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