Astronomy
Unit 1 Development of Modern Astronomy
Notes
1. Name the two early astronomers who thought we lived in a geocentric
solar system.
2. Name the scientist who first developed a sun centered solar system.
3. Explain the heliocentric theory.
4. How was retrograde and varying brightness explained?
5. What is an epicycle?
6. How were the epicycles of the Copernican model different from the
Ptolemaic model?
7. List the three ideas that died with the Copernican revolution.
8. Which assumption(s) did Copernicus challenge?
9. Which assumption(s) did Copernicus not challenge?
10. How long did the ideas of Copernicus go unnoticed?
11. Why could Aristarchus say, “I told you so!”
12. Where did Brahe build his observatory?
13. How did Brahe observe the cosmos?
14. What were Brahe’s six major finds?
15. Because Brahe mistrusted Kepler, what task did he make Kepler do at
his observatory?
16. How did Kepler’s work actually help him to discover Brahe’s mistake?
17. Draw and label an ellipse.
18. What is eccentricity?
19. What happened after Brahe’s death?
20. Define Kepler’s first law.
21. Define Kepler’s second law.
22. Define Kepler’s third law.
23. How did the telescope help Galilleo smash the geocentric theory?
24. What problem did Galilleo have with the church?
25. What three discoveries rocked the astronomy world?
26. What three developments in astronomy did Newton introduce?
27. What did Newton discover about Kepler’s work?
28. Describe Newton’s Three Laws.
29. What was Newton’s most exellent idea?
30. What is the law of Universal gravitation?
31. What happens to mass in a binary system?
32. How did Newton modify Kepler’s third law?
33. Describe the two limiting cases.
34. Compare and contrast weight and mass.