answers to lesson one

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10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Dear Gauranga,

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10.0pt;font-family:Arial">1. Explain the changing of the seasons and its

connection with the astronomical factors

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10.0pt;font-family:Arial">The Earth rotates on its own axis in 24 hours. Along

with this rotation it revolves around the Sun taking one year. The path of the

earth around the Sun appears to us on Earth as the Sun’s path around the

Earth. This path is called the Ecliptic. In relation to the Earth, the Ecliptic

is placed obliquely to the Earth’s equator. Equator divides the Earth in

to two halves. Half of Sun’s path is in the north of the Equator and the

other half is in the south of the Equator. In the movement of the Earth around Sun,

the Equator is crossed by the Sun twice in the year. This gives rise to the

Earth’s seasons. When the Sun is in the northerly course we have the summer,

and when it is in the southerly course we have the winter in the Northern

hemisphere. When it is on par with the equator we have autumn and spring. So

the obliquity of the ecliptic to the equator results in the formation of the seasons.

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10.0pt;font-family:Arial">2. There are some days of the year when the Sun doesn’t

either rise or set above certain parts of the globe. Explain this phenomenon. .

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10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Because Earth is tilted towards the Sun in its orbit

around the Sun this happens.

mso-ansi-language:EN-NZ;mso-fareast-language:EN-NZ">When the north pole is

tilted towards the sun around the time of summer solstice, parts close to the

north pole receive sunlight at all times  and the sun does not appear to set at all. At

the same the South Pole does not receive any sunlight and the sun does not

appear to rise at all. The opposite happens at winter solstice when parts close

to the North Pole do not receive any sunlight and parts close to the South Pole

get 24 hours of sunlight.

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mso-ansi-language:EN-NZ;mso-fareast-language:EN-NZ">3. Moving and non-moving heavenly

bodies and their astrological significance.

mso-ansi-language:EN-NZ;mso-fareast-language:EN-NZ">Astrological prediction

depends on the planets, houses and the nakshastras.

font-family:"Courier New";mso-ansi-language:EN-NZ;mso-fareast-language:EN-NZ">The

nakshatras are the non-moving bodies and the grahas (planets) are the moving

ones.Nakshastras are the fixed stars. The nakshatras are the zodiac against the

background of which the grahas travel. The nakshatras help to identify the

positions of the planets in the zodiac. Planets in their travel pass through

the belt of nakshastras and behave or absorb the characteristics of the nakshastras

as they pass through them. In astrological prediction how a graha acts depends

on the nakshastra it is in among other things.

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10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Chitra