Greek
Astronomy
to Kepler
Week 1 – Quarter 4
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"Man must rise above the Earth—to
the top of the atmosphere and beyond
—for only thus will he fully understand
the world in which he lives."
—Socrates
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When did mankind first
become interested in
astronomy?
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Do you know
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Early Astronomy (Greek)
Astronomy is the
science that studies
the universe. It
includes the
observation and
interpretation of
celestial bodies and
phenomena. Prepared by: JAN REY A.
Early Astronomy (Greek)
The Greeks used
philosophical
arguments to explain
natural phenomena.
The Greeks also used
some observational
data.
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What are the
practical
applications of
astronomy in our
daily lives?
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Do you know the
name of this
ancient structure?
Stonehen
ge
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Discovery
of the
SHAPE of
the EARTH
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Shape of the
EARTH
The idea of a spherical
Earth was floated around
by Pythagoras around 500
BC and validated by
Aristotle a couple
centuries later.
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Shape of the
EARTH (Aristotlean
Philisopy)
The sphere is a perfect
solid and the heavens are
a region of perfection.
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Shape of the
EARTH
In an eclipse of the Moon,
the Earth's shadow is
always circular: a flat disc
would cast an oval shadow
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Shape of the
EARTH
The pattern of stars
changes as you move
north and south.
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Calculating the
Earth’s
circumference
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Eratosthenes
How did
Eratosthenes
measured the
circumference of the
Earth?
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Astronomical
Events Known to
Human Before
the Advent of
Telescopes
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Ancient Astronomy
Ancient Babylonian, Assyrian, and Egyptian
knew the length of the year and Egyptians,
adopted a calendar based on 365 days a
year.
Early Astronomy (Ancient Greek)
Geocentric vs. Heliocentric
Model
o In the ancient Greeks’
geocentric model,
the moon, sun, and the
known planets—
Mercury, Venus, Mars,
and Jupiter—orbit
Earth.
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Early Astronomy (Ancient Greek)
Geocentric vs. Heliocentric
Model
o In the heliocentric
model, Earth and the
other planets orbit the
sun.
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The Heliocentric Model
●Aristarchus (312-
230 B.C.E.) was
the first Greek to
believe in a sun-
centered, or
heliocentric,
universe.
Aristarchus was condemned by his
own religious leaders for his theory.
Modern Greece, however, honors him, and
even puts his theories on stamps…
Ptolemy was wrong – the
planets do not orbit Earth.
Yet although he used the
geocentric model, he did try
explain the planets’ apparent
motions.
Early Astronomy
Ptolemaic System
• Ptolemy created a model of the universe that
accounted for the movement of the planets.
• Retrograde motion is the apparent westward motion
of the planets with respect to the stars.
*It is an illusion caused by the Earth passing slower
moving planets. Just as when you pass a car moving
slower than you—it appears (for a moment) to be
moving backward.
Early Astronomy
Retrograde Motion
Early Astronomy
The Birth of Modern Astronomy
Nicolaus Copernicus
• Copernicus concluded that
Earth is a planet. He
proposed a model of the
solar system with the sun at
the center.
Copernicus
● Despite the improvement in the model of the universe, he
still believed in the idea of perfect circular orbits.
● This made his predictions no more accurate than Ptolemy’s
and led to doubts about his theory.
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Christopher
Christopher Clavius
Clavius
●1538 to 1612
●Astronomer for Pope Leo X.
●Clavius determined that the Julian
Calendar was adding 3 days too
many over a period of 385 years.
●This caused the date of Easter to
slip against the calendar.
●That’s a bad thing!!
Christopher Clavius
● Clavius made (2) proposals:
1. The day following Wednesday
October 4th 1582 should be called
Thursday October 15th 1582
2. Leap years occur in all years
divisible by 4 but in years ending in
“00” must be divisible by 400 to
called a leap year.
○ 1600, 2000 yes
○ 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100 No
Pope Gregory X is credited for instituting the new
Calendar and today it is known as the
Gregorian Calendar.
Giordano
Giordono
Bruno
● 1548 to 1600
Bruno
● He was an ordained priest by the
Catholic Church.
● He believed in many heretical ideas.
● Here are just a few:
○ He believed that there was no
center to our universe
○ the universe was infinite.
○ He believed other stars were suns
○ He believed in atoms
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Giordano
Giordono Bruno
Bruno
●He believed in atoms
●Because of his views, he was
persecuted by many different
churches and peoples.
●Ultimately he went back to
face trial in the Vatican.
●The trial lasted 7 years before
he was found guilty and
sentenced Prepared by: JAN REY A.
Early Astronomy
The Birth of Modern Astronomy
Tycho Brahe
He and built instruments to
measure the locations of the
heavenly bodies. Brahe’s
observations, especially of Mars,
were far more precise than any
made previously.
Early Astronomy
The Birth of Modern Astronomy
Tycho Brahe
He is the proponent
of Tychonic system.
Early Astronomy
The Birth of Modern Astronomy
Johannes Kepler
Kepler discovered three
laws of planetary motion:
1. Law of Ellipse: orbits
of all the planets are
elliptical with the Sun at
one focus of the ellipse.
How is an ellipse different from a
circle?
• A circle is a closed
curved shape that is flat.
In a circle, all points on
the circle are equally
distant from the center of
the circle.
• An ellipse is also a closed curved shape that is flat.
• Instead of having all points the same distance from the
center (like a circle), an ellipse has two focus points.
Early Astronomy
The Birth of Modern Astronomy
Johannes Kepler
Kepler discovered three
laws of planetary motion:
2. Law of Equal Areas: a
line joining a planet and
the Sun sweeps out
equal areas in space in
equal intervals of time.
Early Astronomy
The Birth of Modern Astronomy
Johannes Kepler
Kepler discovered three
laws of planetary motion:
3. Law of Harmony: the square of a
planet’s orbital period (years) is
proportional to the cube of the
semimajor axis of its orbit (in
astronomical units or AU)
Motions in the
Sky
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What is the celestial
sphere?
An imaginary sphere surrounding Earth that
contains all the objects we see when we
look at
the sky.
Imagine that there is a giant, spherical
projector screen around the earth and all
the
light from objects in space is shining onto it
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Star trails
Why do stars
appear to
move across
the sky?
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Not all stars in our sky rise and set, and different latitudes view the
movements of the stars differently.
The stars near the poles of the celestial sphere The view of the stars movement
(shown here) move in trails that circle the pole and depends on our latitude. (Note:
never set. They are called circumpolar. these views represent east or west
orientations)
NORTH
POLE
EQUATOR
MIDDLE
LATITUDES
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The "Road of the Sun" on the Celestial Sphere
1. The sun has a diurnal (daily) motion from east to west
due to the earth’s spinning around its axis, ~ 24 h
2. The sun also changes its position in the sky ~ 1 degree
per day, ~ 365.25 days
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What is the ecliptic?
The Earth and sun orbit each
other in the same plane, called
the ecliptic.
That means the path of the sun
across the sky will be on the
ecliptic.
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Constellations of the Zodiac
• Your zodiac “sign” is the constellation the sun
was in on the day you were born.
• Since the Earth orbits the sun, when standing on
Earth and looking up at the sun, there will be a
different constellation in the background
depending on the time of year.
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Ecliptic and Zodiac
Sun travels 360o/365.25 days ~ 1o/day
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The
Solstices
The solstices are the two spots
farthest away from the celestial
equator.
Summer solstice: longest day of
the year
Winter solstice: shortest day of the
year
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Longer day
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Shorter day Prepared by: JAN REY A.
The
Equinoxes
The ecliptic and the celestial
equator cross in two
places.
In these two spots, there is
an equal amount of day
and night (12 hours each).
These are the equinoxes.
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What causes the seasons?
The tilt of the Earth’s axis, NOT
distance from the sun!!! Prepared by: JAN REY A.
Rotation
• Rotation is the turning, or spinning, of a body on
its axis.
• Two measurements for rotation:
1. Mean solar day is the time interval from one
noon to the next, about 24 hours.
2. Sidereal day is the time it takes for Earth to
make one complete rotation (360º) with
respect to a star other than the sun—23 hours,
56 minutes, 4 seconds.
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Sidereal Day
https://youtu.be/WWw4JY2dNXM
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Revolution
• Revolution is the motion of a body, such as a
planet or moon, along a path around some point
in space.
• Perihelion is the time in January when Earth is
closest to the sun.
• Aphelion is the time in July when Earth is
farthest from the sun.
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Motions of the Earth–Moon System
Perigee is the point at which the moon is
closest to Earth.
Apogee is the point at which the moon is
farthest from Earth.
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Phases of the Moon
• The phases of the moon are the progression of
changes in the moon’s appearance during the
month.
• Lunar phases are a result of the motion of the
moon and the sunlight that is reflected from its
surface.
https://youtu.be/LHD4Pk0D8_g
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Solar eclipses occur when the moon moves
in a line directly between Earth and the sun,
casting a shadow on Earth.
Lunar eclipses occur when the moon
passes through Earth’s shadow.
During a new-moon or full-moon phase,
the moon’s orbit must cross the plane of
the ecliptic for an eclipse to take place.
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Solar Eclipse
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Lunar Eclipse
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Review Question
What is thought to be one of the main purposes
of building Stonehenge?
A. to predict the future
B. to predict celestial events and seasons
C. to create a lasting memorial to the gods
D. to confound and confuse future historians
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Review Question
The ability to predict seasons & celestial events
were very important to the ancients because
A. otherwise they would not know the time of day
B. there was no other way to figure out planetary
movements
C. it allowed for crops to be planted and to keep track
of time
D. the phases of the Moon was very important to know
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Review Question
Why did the Ancient Greeks consider the stars
to be "fixed" and non-moving?
A. stars did not change positions over time like planets
B. the stars were represented by the gods
C. stars were considered to be so old they couldn't
move
D. they knew that the stars were always there
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Review Question
The "backward loops" that most planets would
appear to do once a year is called
A. planetary motion.
B. retrograde motion.
C. prograde motion.
D. elliptical motion
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Review Question
Retrograde motion was adequately explained
by the geocentric theory and by Ptolemy's
model.
TRUE or FALSE
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Review Question
The geocentric model of the universe was
basically accepted for over one thousand
years.
TRUE or FALSE
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Review Question
The Ancient Greeks considered the _____ a
perfect shape and had to represent the
heavens.
A. parabola
B. the Earth
C. circle
D. Moon to be
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Review Question
Why was the Ptolemaic model of the universe
accepted for so long?
A. no one had ever thought of a better explanation
B. people were prone to superstition
C. it basically explained most of the movements of the
planets
D. religious & cultural reasons liked to put Earth at the
center
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Review Question
Aristarchus (of ancient Greece) correctly
predicted the _______ theory of the Universe.
A. geocentric
B. heliocentric
C. earth-centered
D. Tychonic system
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Review Question
Heliocentric theory has the ____ revolving
around the Sun, with only the ____ orbiting
Earth.
A. Moon, planets
B. Moon, Sun
C. stars, Moon
D. planets, Moon
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Review Question
Why did Copernicus wait to publish his book on
heliocentricity?
A. there wasn't enough scientific data
B. he wasn't sure if his theory was correct
C. he was fearful of the repercussions
D. the theory was originally Aristarchus' idea
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Review Question
Planets orbit the Sun in a shape called a(n)
A. Circle
B. Ellipse
C. Focus
D. Perihelion
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Review Question
The place where a planet is closest to the Sun
as it orbits the Sun is called the
A. perihelion
B. aphelion
C. perigee
D. apogee
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Review Question
The place where a planet is farthest away from
the Sun in its orbit around the Sun is called
theperihelion
A.
B. aphelion
C. perigee
D. apogee
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Review Question
Where is the planet moving faster?
A. A to B
B. B to C
C. H to I
D. I to J
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Review Question
What is true about the area between points A,
B and the Sun, and the area between points
H, I and the Sun?
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Review Question
Kepler's 2nd Law deals with
A. the shape of the planets' orbits
B. the speed/area the planet travels
C. the length of time it takes the planet to orbit the
sun
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Review Question
Kepler's third law of planetary motion describes
a relationship between the
A. shape of orbit and location of Sun.
B. orbital velocity and position in orbit
C. distance from the Sun and length of year
D. path of epicycle and position
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