Q4 Week 1

DEVELOPMENT OF
ASTRONOMY
Physical Science
Engr. Mai Sasa
PRAYER
Father God, please guide me in the lesson today and help me grow in love
and kindness more like Jesus every day. AMEN
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
• Explain how the Greeks knew that the Earth is spherical
• Cite examples of astronomical phenomena known to astronomers before
the advent of telescopes
• Explain how Brahe’s innovations and extensive collection of data in
observational astronomy paved the way for Kepler’s discovery of his
laws of planetary motion
ANCIENT ASTRONOMY
• More than 5,000 years ago humans began to track the motions of
celestial objects for planting crops, hunting prey and other superstitious
belief on luck and bad omens.
• The ancient Chinese, Egyptians, and Babylonians are well known for their
record keeping on the locations of the Sun, Moon, and the five visible
planets.
GOLDEN AGE OF ASTRONOMY
• The “Golden Age” of early astronomy (600 B.C.-A.D. 150) was centered
in Greece.
• The basic principles of geometry and trigonometry, was used in the
measurement of the sizes and distances of the largest-appearing bodies
in the heavens- the Sun and the Moon.
• The early Greeks held the incorrect geocentric (earth-centered) view of
the universe – which professed that Earth was sphere that remained
motionless at the center of the universe.
GOLDEN AGE OF ASTRONOMY
• The seven wanderers included the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars,
Jupiter, and Saturn. Each was thought to have a circular orbit around
Earth.
• Models Of The Universe
• Eudoxus Of Cnidus  One of the best mathematicians and astronomers of the
Plato era, EUDOXUS OF CNIDUS around 400 B.C devised the system o
concentric spheres and gave the first systematic explanation of the movements
of the sun, the moon and the planets, emphasizing once again the ancient
Greek’s insistence in the spherical perfection .
• Aristotle somehow patterned his model to the model of Eudoxus. Aristotle’s
model of showed that the universe was spherical and finite. Just like Eudoxus,
he perceived Earth was at the center of the universe and was stationary. He
believed so because Earth is too big to move; thus, it could not rotate.
Aristotle believed that Earth was composed of four elements; Earth, Water,Air
and Fire.
Both models of Eudoxus and Aristotle were considered Geocentric. This means
that both astronomers believed that Earth was at the center of the universe.
• Aristarchus (BCE-230 BCE) was a Greek astronomer who made the first
attempt to create a Heliocentric Model, which places the sun at the center of
the Universe. He proposed that the sun and the fixed stars were at rest, while
Earth revolve around the sun in a circular path.
• The only work of Aristarchus that survived was entitled On The Sizes And
Distances Of The Sun And The Moon. In this book, Aristarchus calculated the
sizes of the sun and the moon and their distances from Earth by estimating
the relative angles of the moon and the sun from the Earth. He had three
assumptions a) Earth was Spherical b) It is far from the sun c) Moon passes
through Earth’s shadows when they align
• Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy) In this model, it is assumed that Earth was at
the center of the universe, while the other celestial bodies revolved around
Earth in perfect circles with constant velocity. Ptolemy’s model was
considered more refined than the previous Geocentric models because his
model could explain the motion of the celestial bodies accurately. Ptolemaic
Universe
• He assumed that the planets revolve on epicycles (small spheres) which moved
around the deferent (large sphere). He added that the stars belonged to the
celestial sphere which was located beyond the planetary spheres.
• The center of the deferent is called the eccentric. What Ptolemy did next was
to “move” Earth from its original position to a position below the center of
the system that is still inside the deferent.
MODERN ASTRONOMY
NIKOLAUS COPERNICUS (1473-1543)
• Copernicus' heliocentric system placed
the Sun immobile at the center of the
other planets - in the [correct] order
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn.
MODERN ASTRONOMY
TYCHO BRAHE
• He tried to reconcile the Ptolemaic and
Copernican systems and suggested that
the Sun and Moon revolve around the
Earth (the center of the universe), while
the other planets revolve around the Sun.
• In 1577 tracked a comet, and
showed that it was at least six times
as distant as the moon. This
discredited the existence of
heavenly "spheres".
MODERN ASTRONOMY
JOHANNES KEPLER
Three planetary laws:
1. The planets travel around the sun in
elliptical orbits, with the sun at one focus.
2. A planet's orbit is such that a line from the
planet to the sun covers equal areas in
equal times.
3. The ratio of the squares of the
revolutionary periods for two planets is
equal to the ratio of the cubes of their
mean distances from the sun (i.e. their
semi-major axes).
MODERN ASTRONOMY
GALILEO GALILEI
• 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 discoveries:
1. Jupiter’s four largest satellites or moons
2. The planets are circular disks rather than just points of light (Earth-like as
opposed to star-like)
3. 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.
4. That the Moon’s surface is not a smooth glass sphere
5. The Sun had sunspots – dark regions caused by slightly lower
temperatures.
MODERN ASTRONOMY
ISAAC NEWTON
• the law of gravitation also states that the greater the mass of an object, the
greater its gravitational force.
𝑮 ∗ 𝒎𝟏 ∗ 𝒎𝟐
𝑭=
𝒅𝟐

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