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Astronomy- Introduction, Chapter One- The History of Astronomy

Certain materials are included under the fair use exemption of the U.S. Copyright Law and havebeen prepared according to the multimedia fair use guidelines and are restricted from further

use.

(Homework posted on Syllabus- Due Monday)

Video- Powers of Ten

Video- Mars Rover landing

Video- Mars Phoenix landing

Video- Cassini

Video- Moon exploration

I. Scale and structure of the Universe

a. Earth and Moon- are they really a double Planet?

b. Solar System- a star with satellites (and satellites have satellites)

c. Galaxy- group of stars held together by gravity (hundreds of billions of stars)

d. Clusters of galaxies- local group of about 30 galaxies; localsupercluster of dozens of clusters; great attractor- group of

superclusters. Space is mostly empty, but lumpy.http://www.geocities.com/rjacquet.geo/TheBigBang.html

e. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/07/image/a/format/zoom/

f. Appropriate units of distance

i. Cm/inchii. Meter/yard

iii. Kilometer/Mileiv. Astronomical Unit (Earth to Sun distance)

v. Light Year- distance light travels in a yearII. History of Astronomy- before telescopes, pre-historic

a. Activity: Paradigm Shift - Observe Earths rotation directly at dawn orsunset. Note that it seems as if everything orbits the earth (geocentricsolar system)

http://www.geocities.com/rjacquet.geo/TheBigBang.htmlhttp://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/07/image/a/format/zoom/http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/07/image/a/format/zoom/http://www.geocities.com/rjacquet.geo/TheBigBang.htmlhttp://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/07/image/a/format/zoom/http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/07/image/a/format/zoom/

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b. Astronomy a practical science, related to food gathering, navigation,farming.

i. Early astronomical observatories

ii. Celestial Sphere

iii. Constellations

iv. Tilt of Earth

v. Planets (wanderers)http://www.lasalle.edu/~smithsc/Astronomy//retrograd.html

vi. Moon/eclipses

III. History of Astronomy- before telescopes, historic

a. Greeks

i. ~350 BC Aristarchus- suggested heliocentric solar system-based on measurements of moon and sun, and using geometry,which concluded that the sun was MUCH larger than Earth andMUCH farther away than the moon.

ii. ~300 BC Aristotle determined the shape of the Earth basedupon empirical evidence- the shadow of the earth during a lunareclipse.

iii. ~ 200 BC Eratosthenes determined the size of the earth basedon trigonometry.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JHEqBLG650

iv. ~ 150 AD Ptolemy- sophisticated geocentric model of solarsystemhttp://www.lasalle.edu/~smithsc/Astronomy//retrograd.html

v. Europe then moved on into the dark ages and astronomycontinued in the Islamic world. http://www.astronomy-for-kids-online.com/islamic-astronomy.html

b. Copernican Revolution

1. 1543- Copernicus proposes heliocentric solar system- notperfect, but not bad, for example the planetary orbitswere proposed to be round

a. Counter to Christian teachings

http://www.lasalle.edu/~smithsc/Astronomy//retrograd.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JHEqBLG650http://www.lasalle.edu/~smithsc/Astronomy//retrograd.htmlhttp://www.astronomy-for-kids-online.com/islamic-astronomy.htmlhttp://www.astronomy-for-kids-online.com/islamic-astronomy.htmlhttp://www.lasalle.edu/~smithsc/Astronomy//retrograd.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JHEqBLG650http://www.lasalle.edu/~smithsc/Astronomy//retrograd.htmlhttp://www.astronomy-for-kids-online.com/islamic-astronomy.htmlhttp://www.astronomy-for-kids-online.com/islamic-astronomy.html

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b. Counter to common sense

c. But, If two explanations equally explain the facts,the one with the fewer postulates shall be chosen".It was simpler than Ptolemys Wheels within

wheels2. Late 1500s- Tycho Brahe made detailed observations of

celestial objects

3. Early 1600s Johannes Kepler analyzed Tychos datamathematically to produce three laws of planetarymotion, and he coined the word satellitehttp://zebu.uoregon.edu/textbook/planets.html

IV. History of Astronomy- telescopes

a. Invented in Northern Europe in early 1600s, refined by Galileo, whowas among the first to point it toward the sky (he was rewarded forintroducing it as a military device for the Venetians)

i. Galileo saw-http://www.ngcsu.edu/academic/sciences/physics/jones/astr1010home/galileo_ obs.html

1. Mountains on the moon

2. Phases of Venus

3. Moons of Jupiter

4. Rings of Saturn

5. Sun Spots

6. Torture equipment

ii. Galileo produced unequivocal empirical evidence of a non-geocentric solar system. (This was heresy)

iii. Newton- Born the day Galileo died- Laws of motion, gravity,

classical physics, calculus.

iv. 1700s to 1900s new planets discovered, predicted, anddemoted (Ceres and Pluto)

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/textbook/planets.htmlhttp://www.ngcsu.edu/academic/sciences/physics/jones/astr1010home/galileo_obs.htmlhttp://www.ngcsu.edu/academic/sciences/physics/jones/astr1010home/galileo_obs.htmlhttp://www.ngcsu.edu/academic/sciences/physics/jones/astr1010home/galileo_obs.htmlhttp://zebu.uoregon.edu/textbook/planets.htmlhttp://www.ngcsu.edu/academic/sciences/physics/jones/astr1010home/galileo_obs.htmlhttp://www.ngcsu.edu/academic/sciences/physics/jones/astr1010home/galileo_obs.html

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Paradigm Shift

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/hans1995/pants/cat_imagination.html

Early Astronomical Observatories

http://atuleirus.weblog.com.pt/arquivo/2005/05/stonehenge.html

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/hans1995/pants/cat_imagination.htmlhttp://atuleirus.weblog.com.pt/arquivo/2005/05/stonehenge.htmlhttp://blog.lib.umn.edu/hans1995/pants/cat_imagination.htmlhttp://atuleirus.weblog.com.pt/arquivo/2005/05/stonehenge.html

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http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/england/avebury.html

Woodhenge, England

http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/england/avebury.htmlhttp://www.sacredsites.com/europe/england/avebury.html

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Karnak in Egypt

Machu Picchu in Peru

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Chichen Itza, Mexico

http://www.crystalinks.com/observa.html

Lunar eclipse shadow

http://www.crystalinks.com/observa.htmlhttp://www.crystalinks.com/observa.html

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http://www.sdyn.com/martina/pict/2004-10-27_Lunar-eclipse/

http://www.sdyn.com/martina/pict/2004-10-27_Lunar-eclipse/http://www.sdyn.com/martina/pict/2004-10-27_Lunar-eclipse/