Chapter 9

Question 1

Name the Danish astronomer who made the most careful record of star locations after Ptolemy.

Answer 1

Tycho Brahe

Question 2

Isaac Newton combined the work of Kepler (on planetary motion) and the work of Galileo (motion of objects on earth) and developed what important law?

Answer 2

The Law of Universal Gravitation

Question 3

Name the astronomer who described the shape of a planet’s orbint with his first law.

Answer 3

Kepler

Question 4

What is the shape of a planet’s orbit?

Answer 4

elliptical

Question 5

Other than the sun, the star closes to the earth is Proxima ___.

Answer 5

Centauri

Question 6

During Edmund Halley’s time, the most mysterious objects in the solar system were ___.

Answer 6

comets

Question 7

What are astronomers able to determine when they measure stellar parallax?

Answer 7

The distance to the star

Question 8

Name the astronomer who traveled to St. Helena to plot the position of stars in the southern sky.

Answer 8

Edmund Halley