Astronomy Midterm Reviewer
7% more energy in January than in July, this
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EARTH-SUN RELATIONSHIPS
Sun - where nearly all of the energy that drives Earth’s variable
weather and climate comes from.
 Earth intercepts only a minute percentage of the
energy given off by the Sun (less than 1 two-billionth).
Solar energy - is not distributed evenly over Earth’s land–sea
surface. The amount of energy received varies with:
 Latitude
 Time of day
 Season of the year
Contrasting images of polar bears on ice rafts and palm trees
along a remote tropical beach serve to illustrate the extremes.
 It is the unequal heating of Earth that creates winds
and drives the ocean’s currents.
Weather – the phenomena which are the consequences of these
processes: movements of air and water, in turn, transport heat
from the tropics toward the poles, in an unending attempt to
balance energy inequalities.
If the Sun were “turned off,” global winds and ocean currents
would quickly cease.
 Yet as long as the Sun shines, the winds will blow and
weather will persist.
Variations in solar heating - caused by the motions of Earth
relative to the Sun and by variations in Earth’s land–sea surface.
Earth’s Motions
Two Principal Motions of the Earth
1. Rotation - the spinning of Earth about its axis.
 Axis - an imaginary line running through the poles.
Our planet rotates once every 24 hours, producing the daily
cycle of daylight and darkness.
At any moment, half of Earth is experiencing daylight and the
other half darkness.
 Circle of Illumination - line separating the dark half of
Earth from the lighted half.
2. Revolution - movement of Earth in a slightly elliptical orbit
around the Sun.
The distance between Earth and Sun averages about 150
million km (93 million mi).
Because Earth’s orbit is not perfectly circular, the distance
varies during the course of a year.
 Perihelion - Earth is closer from the Sun.
January 3: Our planet is about 147.3 million km (91.5
million mi) from the Sun, closer than at any other time.
 Aphelion – Earth is farther from the Sun.
July 4: Earth is about 152 million km (94.5 million
miles) from the Sun, farther away than at any other
time.
Although Earth is closest to the Sun and receives up to
difference plays only a minor role in producing
seasonal temperature variations, as evidenced by the
fact that Earth is closest to the Sun during the
Northern Hemisphere winter.
What Causes the Seasons?
If variations in the distance between the Sun and Earth
are not responsible for seasonal temperature changes,
what is? The gradual but significant change in the length
of daylight certainly accounts for some of the difference
we notice between summer and winter. Furthermore, a
gradual change in the angle (altitude) of the Sun above
the horizon is also a contributing factor (FIgURE 16.12).
For example, someone living in Chicago, Illinois,
experiences the noon Sun highest in the sky in late June.
But as summer gives way to autumn, the noon Sun
appears lower in the sky, and sunset occurs earlier each
evening. The seasonal variation in the angle of the Sun
above the horizon affects the amount of energy received
at Earth’s surface in two ways. First, when the Sun is
directly overhead (at a 90-degree angle), the solar rays
are most concentrated and thus most intense (FIgURE
16.13A). The lower the angle, the more spread out and
less intense is the solar radiation that reaches the
surface (FIgURE 16.13B,c). To illustrate this principle,
hold a flashlight at a right angle to a surface and then
change the angle. Second, but of lesser importance, the
angle of the Sun determines the path solar rays take as
they pass through the atmosphere (FIgURE 16.14).
When the Sun is directly overhead, the rays strike the
atmosphere at a 90-degree angle and travel the shortest
possible route to the surface. This distance is referred to
as 1 atmosphere. However, rays entering at a 30-degree
angle travel through twice this distance before reaching
the surface, while rays at a 5-degree angle travel
through a distance roughly equal to the thickness of 11
that govern the many other objects populating the great
expanses of space.
Thus, to understand explanations of our planet’s origin,
it is useful to learn something about the other members
of our solar system.
Views about the Universe:
 Ancient view: focused on the positions and
movements of celestial objects
 Modern view: focuses on understanding how
these objects came to be and
why they move the way they do.
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Origins of Modern Astronomy

Ancient Astronomy
Long before recorded history, people were aware of the close
relationship between events on Earth and the positions of
heavenly bodies.
*They realized that changes in the seasons and floods
of great rivers such as the Nile in Egypt occurred when
certain celestial bodies, including the Sun, Moon,
planets, and stars, reached particular places in the
heavens.
*Early agrarian cultures, whose survival depended on
seasonal change, believed that if these heavenly objects
could control the seasons, they could also strongly
influence all Earthly events.
These beliefs undoubtedly encouraged early civilizations to begin
keeping records of the positions of celestial objects.
The origin of astronomy began more than 5,000 years ago
when humans began to track the motion of celestial objects so
they knew when to plant their crops or prepare to hunt
migrating herds.
The ancient Chinese, Egyptians, and Babylonians are well
known for their record keeping.
*These cultures recorded the locations of the Sun,
Moon, and the five visible planets as these objects
moved slowly against the background of “fixed” stars.
It was not enough to track the motions of celestial objects;
predicting their future positions (to avoid getting married at
an unfavorable time, for example) became important.
A study of Chinese archives shows that the Chinese recorded
every appearance of the famous Halley’s Comet for at least 10
centuries.
*However, because this comet appears only once
every 76 years, they were unable to link these
appearances to establish that what they saw was the
same object multiple times.
*Like most ancients, the Chinese considered comets to
be mystical.
Generally, comets were seen as bad omens and were blamed
for a variety of disasters, from wars to plagues.
The Chinese kept quite accurate records of “guest stars.”
Guest star - a normal star, usually too faint to be visible, which
increases its brightness as it explosively ejects gases from its
surface.
*Supernova or nova (novus = new) – the phenomenon
when a star ejects gases from its surface
The Golden Age of Astronomy
Greece – where the “Golden Age” of early astronomy (600 B.C.–
A.D.150) was centered.
Although the early Greeks have been criticized, and rightly so,
for using purely philosophical arguments to explain natural
phenomena, they employed observational data as well.
*Basics of geometry and trigonometry - developed by
ancient Greeks; were used to measure the sizes of and
distances to the largest appearing bodies in the
heavens
*Sun and Moon – the largest appearing bodies
in the heavens.
Geocentric view of the universe (geo = Earth, centric =
centered) – incorrectly held by early Greeks which professed that
Earth was a sphere that remained motionless at the center of
the universe.
*Orbiting the Earth:
 Moon
 Sun
 Mercury
 Venus
 Mars
 Jupiter
 Saturn
*The Sun and Moon were thought to be perfect crystal
spheres.
*Celestial sphere – found beyond the planets was a
transparent and hollow sphere on which the stars were
attached and traveled daily around Earth
Although it appears that the stars and
planets move across the sky, this effect is
actually caused by Earth’s rotation on its
axis.
Some early Greeks realized that the motion of the stars could be
explained just as easily by a rotating Earth, but they rejected
that idea because Earth exhibits no sense of motion and
seemed too large to be movable.
*Proof of Earth’s rotation was not demonstrated until
1851.
To the Greeks, all of the heavenly bodies, except seven, appeared
to remain in the same relative position to one another.
Seven wanderers (planetai in Greek) – included:
 Sun
 Moon
 Mercury
 Venus
 Mars
 Jupiter
 Saturn
Each was thought to have a circular orbit around Earth.
*Although this system was incorrect, the Greeks refined
it to the point that it explained the apparent
movements of all celestial bodies.
Aristotle (384–322 B.C.) – a famous Greek philosopher
concluded that Earth is spherical because it always casts a
curved shadow when it eclipses the moon.
*His belief in a spherical Earth was lost during the
Middle Ages.
Measuring the Earth’s Circumference
Eratosthenes (276–194 B.C.) – credited the first successful
attempt to establish the size of Earth. He observed the angles of
the noonday Sun in two Egyptian cities that were roughly north
and south of each other; Syene (presently Aswan) and
Alexandria.
Finding that the angles of the noonday sun differed by 7
degrees, or 1/50 of a complete circle.
*He concluded that the circumference of Earth must
be 50 times the distance between these two cities.
The cities were 5,000 stadia apart, giving him a measurement
of 250,000 stadia.
*Many historians believe the stadia was 157.6 meters
(517 feet).
Eratosthenes’s calculation of Earth’s circumference: 39,400
km (24,428 mi)
Modern value of Earth’s circumference: 40,075 km (24,902
mi)
A
Sun-
Cent
ered
Universe?
Aristarchus (312–230 B.C.) - first professed the heliocentric
view of the universe (helios = Sun, centric = centered). He also
used simple geometric relations to calculate the relative
distances from Earth to the Sun and the Moon. He later used
these data to calculate their sizes.
*As a result of an observational error beyond his
control, he came up with measurements that were
much too small.
*He did discover that the Sun was many times more
distant than the Moon and many times larger than
Earth.
The latter fact may have prompted him to
suggest a Sun-centered universe.
Because of the strong influence of Aristotle’s writings, the
Earth-centered view dominated Western thought for nearly
2,000 years.
Mapping the Stars
Hipparchus (2nd century B.C.) - probably the greatest of the
early Greek astronomers, best known for his star catalogue. He
determined the location of almost 850 stars, which he divided
into six groups according to their brightness. He measured the
length of the year to within minutes of the modern value and
developed a method for predicting the times of lunar eclipses
to within a few hours.
Although many of the Greek discoveries were lost during the
Middle Ages, the Earth-centered view that the Greeks proposed
became entrenched in Europe.
Ptolemaic System – a geocentric outlook presented in
its finest form by Claudius Ptolemy.
Ptolemy’s Model
Almagest – a 13-volume treatise which was compiled by Ptolemy
in A.D.141 which presents a summary of Greek astronomical
knowledge.
Claudius Ptolemy - credited with developing a model of the
universe that accounted for the observable motions of the
celestial bodies. The universe according to Ptolemy:
 Star-studded celestial sphere made a daily trip
around a motionless Earth. The Sun, Moon, and planets
made trips of various lengths along individual orbits.
 A three-dimensional model of an Earth-centered
system. Ptolemy likely utilized something similar to this
to calculate the motions of the heavens
Ptolemaic model - had the planets moving in perfect circular
orbits around a motionless Earth.
*The Greeks considered the circle to be the pure and
perfect shape.
The motion of the planets, as seen against the background of
stars, is not so simple.
*Each planet, if watched night after night, moves
slightly eastward among the stars. Periodically, each
planet appears to stop, reverse direction for a period of
time, and then resume an eastward motion.
Retrograde motion (retro = to go back, gradus = walking) – the
apparent westward drifting of the planets. This rather odd
apparent motion results from the combination of the motion of
Earth and the planet’s own motion around the Sun.

When viewed from Earth, Mars moves eastward among the stars
each day, then periodically appears to stop and reverse direction.
*This apparent westward drift is a result of the fact
that Earth has a faster orbital speed than Mars and
overtakes it. As this occurs, Mars appears to be moving
backward, that is, it exhibits retrograde motion.
*This is analogous to what a driver sees out the side
window when passing a slower car.
*The slower planet, like the slower car, appears to be
going backward, although its actual motion is in the
same direction as the faster-moving body.
It is difficult to accurately represent retrograde motion using
the incorrect Earth-centered model, but that is what Ptolemy
was able to accomplish.
Rather than using a single circle for each planet’s orbit, Ptolemy
proposed that the planets orbited on small circles, revolving
along large circles.
*Epicycles – small circles; for orbits
*Deferents – large circles; for revolution
By trial and error, Ptolemy found the right combination of
circles to produce the amount of retrograde motion observed for
each planet.
*Almost any closed curve can be produced by the
combination of two circular motions.
It is a tribute to Ptolemy’s genius that he was able to account for
the planets’ motions as well as he did, considering that he used
an incorrect model.
*The precision with which his model was able to
predict planetary motion is attested to by the fact that
it went virtually unchallenged, in principle if not in
detail, until the 17th century.
When Ptolemy’s predicted positions for the planets became out
of step with the observed positions (which took 100 years or
more), his model was simply recalibrated using the new
observed positions as a starting point.
With the decline of the Roman Empire (4th century), much of
the accumulated knowledge disappeared as libraries were
destroyed.
After the decline of Greek and Roman civilizations, the center
of astronomical study moved east to Baghdad where,
fortunately, Ptolemy’s work was translated into Arabic.
Arabic astronomers - expanded Hipparchus’s star
catalog and divided the sky into 48 constellations,
which is the foundation of our present-day
constellation system.
It wasn’t until some time after the 10th century that the ancient
Greeks’ contributions to astronomy were reintroduced to
Europe through the Arabic community.
The Ptolemaic model soon dominated European thought as the
correct representation of the heavens, which created problems
for anyone who found errors in it.
Despite the success of Ptolemy’s Theory, it was still rejected.
*The discovery of Jupiter’s moons showed that there
was a fundamental flaw in the Ptolemaic theory, which
described motion in the universe.
*Ptolemy’s Earth-centered model – states that all
heavenly bodies revolved around Earth.
*When Galileo, using a crude telescope, saw four
moons revolving around Jupiter, he demonstrated that
Earth was not the center of all motion.
*Consequently, at least one of the basic tenets of the
Ptolemaic model had to be incorrect. Astronomers
soon demonstrated that the other basic assumptions of
the Earth-centered model were also inconsistent with
observations.
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The Birth of Modern Astronomy
Ptolemy’s Earth-centered universe was not discarded
overnight.
Modern astronomy’s development was more than a scientific
endeavor, it required a break from deeply entrenched
philosophical and religious views that had been a basic part of
Western society for thousands of years.
*Its development was brought about by the discovery
of a new and much larger universe governed by
discernible laws.
The work of five noted scientists involved in this:
  From: an astronomy that merely describes what is
observed
 To: an astronomy that tries to explain what is
observed and more importantly why the universe
behaves the way it does.
Five noted scientists were:
 Nicolaus Copernicus
 Tycho Brahe
 Johannes Kepler
 Galileo Galilei
 Sir Isaac Newton
For almost 13 centuries after the time of Ptolemy, very few
astronomical advances were made in Europe—some were even
lost, including the notion of a spherical Earth.
1. Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus - the first great astronomer to emerge after
the Middle Ages from Poland. He became convinced that:
 Earth is a planet, just like the other five then-known
planets, after discovering Aristarchus’s writings.
 The daily motions of the heavens could be more simply
explained by a rotating Earth.
Having concluded that Earth is a planet, Copernicus
constructed a heliocentric model for the solar system, with
the Sun at the center and the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn orbiting it.
*This was a major break from the ancient and
prevailing idea that a motionless Earth lies at the
center of all movement in the universe.
*However, Copernicus retained a link to the past and
used circles to represent the orbits of the planets.
Because of this Copernicus was unable to accurately
predict the future locations of the planets.
*Copernicus found it necessary to add smaller
circles (epicycles) like those used by Ptolemy.
*Copernicus also used philosophical justifications to
support his point of view:
“... In the midst of all stands the Sun. For who could in this
most beautiful temple place this lamp in another or
better place than that from which it can at the same time
illuminate the whole?”
De Revolutionibus, Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolution of
the Heavenly Spheres) - Copernicus’s monumental work; which
set forth his controversial Sun-centered solar system, was
published as he lay on his deathbed.
*Hence, he never suffered the criticisms that fell on
many of his followers.
Although Copernicus’s model was a vast improvement over
Ptolemy’s, it did not attempt to explain how or why planetary
motions occurred.
The greatest contribution of the Copernican system to
modern science is its challenge of the primacy of Earth in the
universe.
*At the time this was considered heretical by many
Europeans. Professing the Sun-centered model cost at
least one person his life.
Giordano Bruno - seized by the Inquisition, a
Church tribunal, in 1600, and, refusing to
denounce the Copernican theory, was
burned at the stake.
2. Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe - was born of Danish nobility 3 years after the
death of Copernicus. He became interested in astronomy while
viewing a solar eclipse that had been predicted by astronomers.
He persuaded King Frederick II to establish an observatory
near Copenhagen, which Tycho headed.
*There he designed and built pointers, which he used
for 20 years.
Pointers - systematically measure the
locations of the heavenly bodies in an effort to
disprove the Copernican theory.
His observations, particularly of Mars, were far more
precise than any made previously and are his legacy to
astronomy.
Tycho’s accurate measurements
of Mars enabled Johannes Kepler
to formulate his three laws of
planetary motion.
Tycho did not believe in the
Copernican model because he
was unable to observe an
apparent shift in the position of
stars that should result if Earth
traveled around the Sun.
His argument went like this:
If Earth orbits the Sun, the position of a nearby star, when
observed from two locations in Earth’s orbit 6 months
apart, should shift with respect to the more distant stars.
Tycho was correct, but his measurements did not have great
enough precision to show any displacement.
Stellar parallax - the apparent shift of the stars and it is used to
measure distances to the nearest stars.
*The principle of parallax is easy to visualize:
Close one eye, and with your index finger vertical, use
your eye to line up your finger with some distant object.
Now, without moving your finger, view the object with
your other eye and notice that the object’s position
appears to change.
The farther away you hold your finger, the less the
object’s position seems to shift.
Flaw in Tycho’s argument:

The distance to even the nearest stars is enormous compared
to the width of Earth’s orbit.
*The shift that Tycho was looking for is too small to be
detected without the aid of a telescope— an
instrument that had not yet been invented.
With the death of his patron, the King of Denmark, Tycho was
forced to leave his observatory.
Known for his arrogance and extravagant nature, Tycho was
unable to continue his work under Denmark’s new ruler.
As a result, Tycho moved to Prague in the present-day Czech
Republic, where, in the last year of his life, he acquired an able
assistant, Johannes Kepler.
Kepler retained most of the observations made by Tycho and
put them to exceptional use.
Ironically, the data Tycho collected to refute the
Copernican view of the solar system would later be
used by Kepler to support it.
3. Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler - ushered in the new astronomy. Armed with
Tycho’s data, a good mathematical mind, and, of greater
importance, a strong belief in the accuracy of Tycho’s work, he
derived three basic laws of planetary motion.
*The first two laws resulted from his inability to fit
Tycho’s observations of Mars to a circular orbit.
Unwilling to concede that the discrepancies were a result of
observational error, he searched for another solution.
This endeavor led Kepler to discover that the orbit of Mars is
not a perfect circle but is slightly elliptical.
About the same
time, Kepler
realized
that the orbital speed of Mars varies in a predictable way.
*As it approaches the Sun, it speeds up, and as it
moves away, it slows down.
*The farther the pins (the foci) are moved apart, the
more flattened (more eccentric) is the resulting
ellipse.
In 1609, Kepler proposed his first two laws of planetary
motion:
1. The path of each planet around the Sun, while almost circular,
is actually an ellipse, with the Sun at one focus.
2. Each planet revolves so that an imaginary line connecting it to
the Sun sweeps over equal areas in equal intervals of time.
*Law of equal areas - geometrically expresses the
variations in orbital speeds of the planets.
In order for a planet to sweep equal areas in the same amount
of time, it must travel more rapidly when it is nearer the Sun
and more slowly when it is farther from the Sun.
*A line connecting a planet (Earth) to the Sun sweeps
out an area in such a manner that equal areas are
swept out in equal times.
Thus, Earth revolves slower when it is farther from the Sun
and faster when it is closest.
 Aphelion – region farther from the Sun
 Perihelion – region closest to the Sun
Kepler was devout and believed that the Creator made an
orderly universe and that this order would be reflected in the
positions and motions of the planets. The uniformity he tried
to find eluded him for nearly a decade.
*The Harmony of the Worlds – where Kepler
published his third law of planetary motion in 1619.
3. The orbital periods of the planets and their distances to the
Sun are proportional.
*Orbital period - measured in Earth years
*Planet’s distance to the Sun - expressed in terms of
Earth’s mean distance to the Sun
*Astronomical unit (AU) - “yardstick”; is equal to about
150 million km (93 million mi).
Using these units, Kepler’s third law states that the planet’s
orbital period squared is equal to its mean solar distance
cubed.
Consequently, the solar distances of the planets can be
calculated when their periods of revolution are known.
For example:
Mars has an orbital period of
1.88 years, which squared
equals 3.54.
The cube root of 3.54 is 1.52,
and that is the average
distance from Mars to the
Sun, in astronomical units.

Kepler’s laws - assert that the planets revolve around the Sun,
and therefore support the Copernican theory.
Kepler did not determine the forces that act to produce the
planetary motion he had so ably described.
*That task would remain for Galileo Galilei and Sir Isaac
Newton.
4. Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei - the greatest Italian scientist of the Renaissance.
He was a contemporary of Kepler and strongly supported the
Copernican theory of a Sun-centered solar system. His greatest
contributions to science were his descriptions of the behavior
of moving objects, which he derived from experimentation.
*The method of using experiments to determine
natural laws had essentially been lost since the time of
the early Greeks.
All astronomical discoveries before Galileo’s time were made
without the aid of a telescope.
In 1609, Galileo heard that a Dutch lens maker had devised a
system of lenses that magnified objects.
Galileo constructed his own telescope which magnified distant
objects three times the size seen by the unaided eye. He
immediately made others, the best having a magnification of
about 30.
With the telescope, Galileo was able to view the universe in a
new way. He made many important discoveries that supported
the Copernican view of the universe, including the following:
1. The discovery of Jupiter’s four largest satellites, or moons.
*This find dispelled the old idea that Earth was the
sole center of motion in the universe; for here, plainly
visible, was another center of motion— Jupiter.
*It also countered the frequently used argument that
the Moon would be left behind if Earth revolved
around the Sun.
2. The discovery that the planets are circular disks rather than
just points of light, as was previously thought.
*This indicated that the planets must be Earth-like as
opposed to star-like.
3. The discovery that Venus exhibits phases just as the Moon
does and that Venus appears smallest when it is in full phase
and thus is farthest from Earth.
*This observation demonstrates that Venus orbits its
source of light—the Sun.
*In the Ptolemaic system, the orbit of Venus lies
between Earth and the Sun, which means that only the
crescent phases of Venus should ever be seen from
Earth.
4. The discovery that the Moon’s surface is not a smooth glass
sphere, as the ancients had proclaimed.
*Galileo saw mountains, craters, and plains, indicating
that the Moon was Earth-like.
*He thought the plains might be bodies of water, and
this idea was strongly promoted by others, as we can
tell from the names given to these features (Sea of
Tranquility, Sea of Storms, etc.).
5. The discovery that the Sun had sunspots (the viewing of
which may have caused the eye damage that later blinded him).
*He tracked the movement of these spots and
estimated the rotational period of the Sun as just
under a month. Hence, another heavenly body was
found to have both “blemishes” and rotational motion.
Sunspots - dark regions caused by slightly lower temperatures.
Each of these observations eroded a bedrock principle held by
the prevailing view on the nature of the universe.
In 1616, the Church condemned the Copernican theory as
contrary to Scripture because it did not put humans at their
rightful place at the center of Creation, and Galileo was told to
abandon this theory.
Undeterred, Galileo began writing his most famous work,
Dialogue of the Great World Systems - a dialogue that
expounded both the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems;
publication was allowed.
*Despite poor health, he completed the project and in
1630 went to Rome, seeking permission from Pope
Urban VIII to publish.
*However, Galileo’s detractors were quick to realize
that he was promoting the Copernican view at the
expense of the Ptolemaic system.
 *Sale of the book was quickly halted, and Galileo was
called before the Inquisition. Tried and convicted of
proclaiming doctrines contrary to religious
teachings, Galileo was sentenced to permanent house
arrest, under which he remained for the last 10 years of
his life.
Although others had theorized the existence of such a force,
Newton was the first to formulate and test the law of
universal gravitation.
Law of Universal Gravitation – states that:

Despite this restriction, and his grief following the death of his
eldest daughter, Galileo continued to work.
In 1637 Galileo became totally blind, yet during the next few
years he completed his finest scientific work, a book on the
study of motion in which he stated that the natural tendency of
an object in motion is to remain in motion.
Later, as more scientific evidence in support of the
Copernican system was discovered, the Church allowed
Galileo’s works to be published.
Every body in the universe attracts every other body with a
force that is directly proportional to their masses and
inversely proportional to the square of the distance between
them.
Gravitational force decreases with distance.
*Two objects 3 kilometers apart have or 9, times less
gravitational attraction than if the same objects were 1
kilometer apart.
Law of gravitation also states that the greater the mass of an
object, the greater its gravitational force.

*For example, the large mass of the Moon has a

Did Galileo drop balls of iron and wood from the Leaning Tower
of Pisa?
Through experimentation, Galileo discovered that the
acceleration of falling objects does not depend on their weight.
*Galileo made this discovery by dropping balls of iron
and wood from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to show
that they would fall together and hit the ground at the
same time.
Despite the popularity of this legend, Galileo probably did not
attempt this experiment.
In fact, it would have been inconclusive because of the effect of
air resistance.
David Scott - an Apollo 15 astronaut, demonstrated that a
feather and a hammer do, indeed, fall at the same rate. The
experiment was dramatically performed on the airless Moon.
gravitational force strong enough to cause ocean tides
on Earth, whereas the tiny mass of a communications
satellite has very little effect on Earth.
With his laws of motion, Newton proved that the force of
gravity—combined with the tendency of a planet to remain in
straight-line motion—would result in a planet having an
elliptical orbit as established by Kepler.
*Earth moves forward in its orbit about 30 kilometers
(18.5 miles) each second, and during the same second,
the force of gravity pulls it toward the Sun about 0.5
centimeter (1/8 inch).
Orbit – concluded and defined by Newton as the combination of
Earth’s forward motion and its “falling” motion
*If gravity were somehow eliminated, Earth would
move in a straight line out into space.

*If Earth’s forward motion suddenly stopped, gravity

would pull it, crashing into the Sun.

5. Sir Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton - born in the year of Galileo’s death. His many
accomplishments in mathematics and physics led a successor to
say, “Newton was the greatest genius that ever existed.”.

Although Kepler and those who followed attempted to explain

the forces involved in planetary motion, their explanations were
less than satisfactory.

*Kepler: believed that some force pushed the planets

along in their orbits.

*Galileo: correctly reasoned that no force is required

to keep an object in motion. Instead, Galileo proposed
the concept of inertia.

Inertia – natural tendency for a moving object All bodies in the solar system have gravitational effects on
that is unaffected by an outside force is to Earth and on each other.
continue moving at a uniform speed and in a
*For this reason, the orbit of Earth is not the perfect
straight line. It is natural tendency of an object
ellipse determined by Kepler.
in motion is to remain in motion.
Perturbations (perturb = disturb) - slight variances in the
*Inertia was later formalized by
orbits of the planets from their predicted paths.
Newton as his first law of motion.
*For example, Jupiter’s gravitational pull on Saturn
The problem, then, was not to explain the force that keeps the
shortens Saturn’s orbital period by nearly one week
planets moving but rather to determine the force that keeps
from what it would be if Jupiter did not exist.
them from going in a straight line out into space.
*The application of this concept led to the
It was to this end that Newton conceptualized the force of
discovery of the planet Neptune.
gravity.
*When astronomers applied Newton’s laws to
*At the early age of 23, he envisioned a force that
the orbit of Uranus, it became clear that a
extends from Earth into space and holds the Moon in
large, unknown body (Neptune) was
orbit around Earth.
gravitationally affecting the motion of Uranus.
Newton used the law of universal gravitation to express ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kepler’s third law, which defines the relationship between the
orbital periods of the planets and their solar distances. Positions in the Sky

In its new form, Kepler’s third law takes into account the
masses of the bodies involved and thereby provides a method Two Mapping Systems that Use the Concept of Celestial
for determining the mass of a body when the orbit of one of its Sphere
satellites is known.
1. The division of the sky into areas (constellations)
*For example, the mass of the Sun is known from
2. The extension of Earth’s lines of longitude and latitude into
Earth’s orbit, and Earth’s mass has been determined
space (the equatorial system)
from the orbit of the Moon.

*In fact, the mass of any body with a satellite can be

Constellations
determined.
Constellations – patterns or configurations of stars in the sky,
*The masses of bodies that do not have satellites can
named in honor of mythological characters or great heroes. It is
be determined only if the bodies noticeably affect the
used by astronomers to roughly identify the area of the heavens
orbit of a neighboring body, or of a nearby artificial
they are observing.
satellite.
*Although we inherited many of the constellations from
the Greeks and their names from Greek mythology, it
is believed that Greeks acquired most of their
constellations from the:

 Babylonians
 Egyptians
 Mesopotamians.

Although the stars that make up constellations all appear to be

the same distance from Earth, this is not the case. Some are
many times farther away than others.

*The stars in a particular constellation are not

associated with each other in any important physical
way.

Various cultural groups, including Native Americans and the

Chinese, attached their own names, pictures, and stories to the
constellations.

*For example, the constellation Orion the hunter was

known as the White Tiger to ancient Chinese
observers.

Orion - a prominent constellation located on the celestial

equator, is visible around the world. It is one of the most
conspicuous constellations to decorate the winter skies in the
Northern Hemisphere. Named after a hunter in Greek
mythology, its brightest stars are:

 Rigel or Beta Orionis (β Orionis) - a luminous blue-

white star, is the brightest star in the constellation and
the sixth brightest star in the night sky.
 As seen from Earth, it is actually a triple star system. The Equatorial System

*Rigel A – primary star of the three-star Equatorial system - divides the celestial sphere into coordinates
system is a blue-white massive star that is that are similar to the latitude and longitude system used for
about 130,000 times more luminous than the establishing locations on Earth’s surface.
Sun.

Although Rigel has the designation “beta,” it is almost

always brighter than Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse).

Rigel is one of the “model stars” by which other stars

are compared and classified.

 Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) - a red supergiant that

makes up the shoulder of the winter constellation Orion
the hunter. It is so huge that if placed at the center of
our solar system, its outer atmosphere would extend
beyond the orbit of Jupiter.

Trapezium – a cluster of four dazzling, young stars occurring

together at the heart of the Orion Nebula is a cluster of four
dazzling, young stars. This quartet of stars is much hotter and
brighter than the Sun, and collectively provides enough
radiation to make the entire nebula glow.
Orion Nebula - visible with the naked eye as the middle “star”
in the sword of Orion, which consists of the three stars located
south of Orion’s Belt. The star appears fuzzy to sharp-eyed
observers, and its cloud-like nature is obvious through binoculars
or a small telescope. It is one of the brightest nebulae in the night
sky and the closest region to Earth where massive stars are born.
Celestial sphere - appears to rotate around an imaginary line
extending from Earth’s axis. With this, the north and south
celestial poles are aligned with the terrestrial North Pole and
South Pole.
North celestial pole - happens to be very near the bright star
whose various names reflect its location: “pole star,” Polaris, and
North Star.

Within this nebula, astronomers have observed disk-shaped
structures composed of dust and gases that orbit protostars.
These structures provide insight into the processes of how stars
and planetary systems develop from collapsing clouds of gas and
dust.
*To an observer in the Northern Hemisphere, the stars
appear to circle Polaris, because it, like the North Pole,
is in the center of motion.

There are 88 constellations recognized of today, and they are

used to divide the sky into units.

*Every star in the sky is within the boundaries of one

of these constellations.

Some of the brightest stars in the heavens were given proper

names, such as:

 Sirius Locating the North Star (Polaris) from the pointer stars in the Big
 Arcturus Dipper, which is part of the constellation Ursa Major. The Big
 Betelgeuse Dipper is shown soon after sunset in December (lower figure),
April (upper figure), and August (left).
Brightest stars in a constellation - named in order of their
brightness. It is named in a way:

Letters of the Greek alphabet + name of the parent constellation.
For example:
Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Larger
Dog), is also called Alpha Canis Majoris.
Celestial Equator – intersection of a plane that extends outward
from Earth with the celestial sphere.
Declination (declinare = to turn away) - angular distance north
or south of the celestial equator. It is analogous to latitude and is
expressed in degrees.
Right ascension (ascendere = to climb up) - angular distance
measured eastward along the celestial equator from the position
of the vernal equinox. It is analogous to longitude and is usually
expressed in hours where each hour is equivalent to 15 degrees
(Earth rotates 15 degrees each hour.)
When first established, the first day of spring (vernal equinox)
occurred when the Sun was viewed against the constellation
Aries. However, during each succeeding vernal equinox, the
position of the Sun shifts very slightly against the background
stars.

Vernal equinox - is at the point in the sky where the Sun crosses Over 2,000 years later, the first day of spring occurs when the
the celestial equator, at the onset of spring. Sun is in Pisces.

Apparent width of Moon and Sun – about 0.5 degree; helps in In about 600 years, it will occur when the Sun appears in the
visualizing distances on the celestial sphere. constellation Aquarius. (Hence, the “Age of Aquarius” is coming.)

Although astrology is not a science and has no basis in fact, it

Astrology – The Forerunner of Astronomy did contribute to the science of astronomy.

The positions of the Moon, Sun, and planets at the time of a

Astronomy - is a scientific probing of the universe aiming to
determine the properties of celestial objects and the laws under
which the universe operates.
Astrology - is based on ancient superstitions that hold that an
individual’s actions and personality are based on the positions of
the planets and stars now, and at the person’s birth. Scientists do
not accept astrology, regarding it as a pseudoscience (false
science). It had its origin more than 5,000 years ago when the
positions of the planets were plotted as they regularly
migrated against the background of the “fixed” stars. Because
the solar system is “flat,” the planets orbit the Sun along nearly
the same plane.
Zodiac – a band around the sky where the planets, Sun, and
Moon all appear to move along. It was divided into 12
constellations by the Babylonians because Earth’s Moon cycles
through its phases about 12 times each year.
*Thus, each successive full Moon can be seen against
the backdrop of the next constellation of the zodiac.
person’s birth (sign of the zodiac) were considered to have great
influence on that person’s life.
To make forward-looking horoscopes, astrologers attempted to
predict the future positions of the celestial bodies.
*Astronomical observatories were built in order to
obtain more accurate predictions of events such as
eclipses, which were considered highly significant in a
person’s life.
Stonehenge – found in England; served as observatories by
prehistoric people. It was undoubtedly an attempt at better solar
predictions. It may also have provided a method of determining
eclipses.
*At the time of midsummer in the Northern
Hemisphere (June 21–22, the summer solstice), the
rising Sun emerges directly above the heel stone of
Stonehenge.

The Dozen Constellations of the Zodiac (“Zone of Animals”)

 Aries
 Taurus
 Gemini
 Cancer
 Leo
 Virgo
 Libra
 Scorpio
 Sagittarius
 Capricorn
 Aquarius
 Pisces

Zone of Animals - so named because some constellations

represent animals. These names are also known as the
astrological signs of the zodiac.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Motions of the Earth
The two primary motions of Earth are rotation and revolution.
Rotation - the turning, or spinning, of a body on its axis.
Revolution - the motion of a body, such as a planet or moon,
along a path around some point in space.
Axial precession – lesser or very slow motion. It is the gradual
change in the orientation of Earth’s axis over a period of 26,000
years.
Rotation
Rotation – has become a standard method of measuring time
because it is so dependable and easy to use.
Earth’s rotation – main consequences are day and night. It is
measured in two ways, making two kinds of days:
 Mean solar day - the time interval from one noon to the
next, which averages about 24 hours.
*Noon - is when the Sun has reached its
highest point in the sky.
 Sidereal day (sider= star, at= pertaining to) - the time
it takes for Earth to make one complete rotation (360
degrees) with respect to a star other than our Sun. It is
measured by the time required for a star to reappear at
the identical position in the sky. It has a period of 23
hours, 56 minutes, and four seconds (measured in solar
time), which is almost 4 minutes shorter than the mean
solar day. This difference results because the direction
to distant stars changes only infinitesimally, whereas
the direction to the Sun changes by almost 1 degree
each day.
Why do we use the mean solar day to measure time rather than
the sidereal day?
*Consider the fact that in sidereal time, “noon” occurs 4
minutes earlier each day. Therefore, after a span of 6
months, “noon” would occur at “midnight.”
*However, observatories use clocks that keep sidereal
time because the stars appear to move through the sky
in sidereal time.
*Simply, if a star is sighted directly south of an
observatory at 9:00 P.M. (sidereal time), it will appear
in the same direction at that time every (sidereal) day.
Revolution
Earth revolves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit at an average
speed of 107,000 km (66,000 mi) per hour.
Its average distance from the Sun is 150 million km (93 million
mi), but because its orbit is an ellipse, Earth’s distance from the
Sun varies.
 At perihelion (peri = near, helios = sun) it is 147
million km (91.5 million mi) distant, which occurs about
January 3 each year.
 At aphelion (apo = away, helios = sun) Earth is 152
million km (94.5 million mi) distant, which occurs about
July 4.
Earth is farthest from the Sun in July and closest to the Sun in
January. What would the seasons be like if this situation were
reversed?
The situation, in fact, will occur in about 12,000 years
because of axial precession. (Variations in Earth–Sun
distance are not the primary cause of the seasons.
Nevertheless, they do affect average seasonal
temperatures.)
The position of Earth’s axis will change so that in
12,000 years the Northern Hemisphere will
experience winter when Earth is farthest from the Sun
(aphelion), and summer will occur when our planet is
closest to the Sun (perihelion).
This is just the opposite of the current situation. Thus,
12,000 years from now, average summer temperatures
in the Northern Hemisphere will be warmer than they
presently are.
However, northern latitudes will experience winter
temperatures that are, on average, colder than they
presently are.
Because of Earth’s orbital movement the Sun appears to be
displaced among the constellations at a distance equal to
about twice its width, or 1 degree each day.
Ecliptic - the apparent annual path of the Sun against the
backdrop of the celestial sphere.
*The planets and the Moon travel in nearly the same
plane as Earth. Hence, their paths on the celestial
sphere also lie near the ecliptic.
Plane of the Ecliptic - the imaginary plane that connects points
along the ecliptic.
*As measured from this imaginary plane, Earth’s axis is
tilted about 23 1/2 degrees.
*This angle is very important to Earth’s
inhabitants because the inclination of
Earth’s axis causes the yearly cycle of
seasons.
Precession
Although Earth’s axis maintains approximately the same angle
of tilt, the direction in which the axis points continually
changes.
 Present time: the axis points toward the bright star
Polaris.
 AD 14,000: axis will point toward the bright star Vega,
which will then be the North Star for about a thousand
years or so.
 By the year 28,000: Polaris will once again be the
North Star.
Precession - has only a minor effect on the seasons because
Earth’s angle of tilt changes only slightly. The period of
precession is 26,000 years.
Earth accompanies the Sun as it speeds in the direction of the
bright star Vega at 20 km (12 mi) per second.
Also, the Sun, like other nearby stars, revolves around the
galaxy, a trip that requires 230 million years to complete at
speeds approaching 250 km (150 mi) per second.
The galaxies themselves are in motion.
*We are presently approaching one of our nearest
galactic neighbors, the Great Galaxy in Andromeda.
The motions of Earth are many and complex. Fortunately, one
rarely has to consider all the motions at once.
*For example, since the solar system moves as a unit in
the galaxy, and the galaxy moves as a unit through the
universe, we do not have to consider these motions
when discussing the motions of the Earth and Moon
around the Sun.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Motions of the Earth-Moon System
Moon – Earth’s one natural satellite, the Moon. It orbits Earth
about once each month. It moves counterclockwise (eastward)
around Earth, when viewed from a Northern Hemisphere
perspective. Its orbit is elliptical, causing the Earth–Moon
distance to vary by about 6%, averaging 384,401 km (238,329
mi).
The motions of the Earth–Moon system constantly change the
relative positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon.
*The results are some of the most noticeable
astronomical phenomena, namely: the phases of the
Moon and the occasional eclipses of the Sun and Moon.
Lunar Motions
Synodic month – a time span for the cycle of the Moon through
its phases that requires 29 1/2 days. This cycle was the basis for
the first Roman calendar. However, this is the apparent period of
the Moon’s revolution around Earth and not the true period.
Sidereal month – true period of the Moon’s revolution which
takes only 27 1/3 days.
Notice that as the Moon orbits Earth, the Earth–Moon system
also moves in an orbit around the Sun.
Consequently, even after the Moon has made a complete
revolution around Earth, it has not yet reached its starting
position with respect to the Sun, which is directly between the
Sun and Earth (new-Moon phase). This motion takes an
additional 2 days.
Regarding motions of the Moon, its period of rotation around
its axis and its revolution around Earth are the same— days.
*Because of this, the same lunar hemisphere always
faces Earth.
*All of the landings of the manned Apollo missions
were confined to the Earth-facing side. Only orbiting
satellites and astronauts have seen the “back” side of
the Moon.
Because the Moon rotates on its axis only once every days, any
location on its surface experiences periods of daylight and
darkness lasting about 2 weeks.
 Day side of the moon: high surface temperature of
127° C (261° F)
 Night side of the moon: low surface temperature of –
173° C (–280° F) on its night side.
Phases of the Moon

Phases of the Moon - a systematic change in the amount of the

Moon that appears illuminated.

Why do we sometimes see the Moon in the daytime?

During the full-Moon phase, the Moon and the Sun are on
opposite sides of Earth, which causes the Moon to rise around
sunset and set at sunrise.

*Thus, the full moon tends to be visible only at night.

However, during the other phases of the lunar cycle, the Moon
and the Sun are not directly opposite each other, and the lit
portion of the Moon is visible in the daytime sky.

For example:

Waning-gibbous phase - can be seen in the early

morning hours

Waxing gibbous phase – can be seen in the afternoon

Although the crescent Moon is “out” shortly before sunset and

after sunrise, you probably won’t see it in the daytime.
“New-Moon” position in the cycle as a starting point.

About 2 days after the new Moon:

A thin sliver (crescent phase) can be seen with the

naked eye low in the western sky just after sunset.

During the following week:

The illuminated portion of the Moon that is visible

from Earth increases (waxing) to a half-circle (first-
quarter phase) that can be seen from about noon to
midnight.

 Waxing – the process where the

illuminated portion of the moon increases

In another week:

The complete disk (full-Moon phase) can be seen

rising in the east as the Sun sinks in the west.

During the next 2 weeks:

The percentage of the Moon that can be seen steadily

declines (waning), until the Moon disappears
altogether (new-Moon phase).

 Waning – situation when the percentage

of the Moon that is visible declines

The cycle soon begins anew with the reappearance of the

crescent Moon.

Lunar phases - a consequence of the motion of the Moon and the

sunlight that is reflected from its surface.

Half of the Moon is illuminated at all times.

*But to an earthbound observer, the percentage of the

bright side that is visible depends on the location of
the Moon with respect to the Sun and Earth.

When the Moon lies between the Sun and Earth:

None of its bright side faces Earth, so we see the new-

Moon (“no Moon”) phase.

When the Moon lies on the side of Earth opposite the Sun:

All of its lighted side faces Earth, so we see the full

Moon. At all positions between these extremes, an
intermediate amount of the Moon’s illuminated side
is visible from Earth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eclipses of the Sun and Moon
Eclipse – shadow effects of the Moon, Sun, and Earth.
Solar eclipse (eclipsis = failure to appear) – occurs when the
Moon moves in a line directly between Earth and the Sun, which
can occur only during the new-Moon phase and casts a dark
shadow on Earth.
Lunar eclipse - happens when it moves within Earth’s shadow, a
situation that is possible only during the full-Moon phase.
Why does a solar eclipse not occur with every new-Moon
phase and a lunar eclipse with every full Moon?
They would, if the orbit of the Moon lay exactly along
the plane of Earth’s orbit.
However, the Moon’s orbit is inclined about 5 degrees
to the plane of the ecliptic.
During most new-Moon phases: the shadow
of the Moon passes either above or below
Earth
During most full-Moon phases: the shadow
of Earth misses the Moon.
Eclipse - only take place when a new- or full-Moon phase
occurs while the Moon’s orbit crosses the plane of the ecliptic.
Because these conditions are normally met only twice a year, the
usual number of eclipses is four.
*These occur as a set of one solar and one lunar
eclipse, followed 6 months later with another set.
Occasionally the alignment is such that three eclipses can occur
in a one-month period—at the beginning, middle, and end.
*These occur as a solar eclipse flanked by two lunar
eclipses, or vice versa.
*It occasionally happens that the first set of eclipses
for the year occurs at the very beginning of a year, the
second set in the middle, and a third set occurs
before the calendar year ends, resulting in six
eclipses in that year.
*More rarely, if one of these sets consists of three
eclipses, the total number of eclipses in a year can
reach seven, which is the maximum.
Total lunar eclipse - Earth’s circular shadow moves slowly
across the disk of the full Moon. This can last up to 4 hours and is
visible to anyone on the side of Earth facing the Moon.
When totally eclipsed, the Moon is completely within
Earth’s shadow but is still visible as a coppery disk,
because Earth’s atmosphere bends some long-
wavelength light (red) into its shadow. Some of this
light reflects off the Moon and back to us.
Total solar eclipse - the Moon casts a circular shadow that is
never wider than 275 km (170 mi). This shadow traces a stripe
on Earth’s surface. It is a rare event at any given location.
*Anyone observing in this region will see the Moon
slowly block the Sun from view and the sky darken.
Near totality, a sharp drop in temperature of a few
degrees is experienced.
*The solar disk is completely blocked for a maximum of
only 7 minutes, because the Moon’s shadow is so small.
*At totality, the dark Moon is seen covering the
complete solar disk, and only the Sun’s brilliant white
outer atmosphere is visible.
Umbra - dark part of the Moon’s shadow. It is the
portion where total eclipses are visible
Penumbra – light portion of the Moon’s shadow. It is
the portion where partial eclipse can be seen.
Partial solar eclipses - most common in the
Polar regions, because it is these areas that the
penumbra blankets when the dark umbra of
the Moon’s shadow just misses Earth.