Chapter 10 pp. 302-322 Flashcards
Which includes the sun and all natural objects that orbit it
solar system
The study of God’s creation beyond our atmosphere
astronomy
Circle around due to gravity
orbit
Popularized the idea that the universe is geocentric
Aristotle
“earth-centered”
geocentric
Small circles
epicycles
Proposed a heliocentric system
Nicolaus Copernicus
“sun-centered”
heliocentric
One astronomer who agreed with Copernicus’s idea was _; built one of the first telescopes and used it in his astronomical investigation
Galileo Galilei
A godly Lutheran whose goal was to find the “mathematical harmonies in the mind of the Creator”
Johannes Kepler
Who was an excellent observer of the heavens and kept very accurate records of his observations; Kepler used his observations and accurate charts of the heavenly bodies to help prove Copernicus’s heliocentric ideas
Tycho Brahe
Symmetrical ovals
ellipses
Helped explain astronomers’ observations of the planets’ paths
Kepler’s laws of planetary motion
The amount of time a planet takes to complete its orbit
period
One of Newton’s greatest scientific achievements; the force of attraction that exists between any two objects
gravity
Which helped astronomers answer their questions about the solar systems, states that the strength of the gravitational force between two objects depends on their masses and the distance between them
Newton’s law of universal gravitation
The space between the planets
interplanetary space
A space that does not contain any matter
vacuum
“wanderers”
planets
The closest planet to the sun; speediest planet
Mercury
Often the brightest object in the night sky except for the moon; morning and evening star; the only planet that takes longer to rotate on its axis than it does to orbit the sun; Earth’s twin; hottest planet
Venus
Moving backward, from east to west
retrograde
An object that revolves around another object
satellite
Earth’s only natural satellite
moon
