History Of Astronomy Flashcards
What are the five eras of astronomy?
Ancient(Dawn of History to 5th century)
Medieval(5th to 15th century)
Renaissance(Copernican revolution to mid 17th)
Modern(Newtons Gravitation to 19th)
20th Century to Present(Einsteins Relativity to now)
What were common beliefs in primitive astronomy?
Flat Earth or Solid Earth with watery underworld
What two civilizations were the first to study the skies?
Babylonians and Chaldeans
What people were the first to record their observations?
The Chinese
The Greeks believed that-
Earth was flat with a rotating sphere above.
The Greeks were the first to suggest what about the Earths shape?
Suggest a round Earth.
What did the Greeks propose but was not accepted?
That the Earth was NOT the center of the universe.
Why was the idea that the Earth was not the center of the universe accepted?
It made the Earth seem inferior.
What is believing that the Earth is the center of the universe called?
Geocentric
What was a system that described how planets orbited the Earth?
Ptolemaic System which was accepted by the church.
What landmark was used to measure the circumference of the Earth?
Eratosthenes of Cyrene(Shahhat, Libya)
When was Copernicus born? What did he do?
1473, he determined that our system was heliocentric. He waited until his death(1543) to publish.
Who is Tycho Brahe
A Danish astronomer born in 1546.
What did Kepler do?
Created 3 laws of planetary motion, also collected data supporting heliocentric theory.
What did Galileo Galilei do?
Born in 1564 he proposed the heliocentric theory to the church but was forced to recant views.
Galileo’s finger is where?
In a Church(vase).
Sir Isaac Newton invented what?
Laws of Gravitation, Physics, Mathematics, Principa Mathematica.
Herschel discovers Uranus when?
1784
Halle found Neptune when?
1846
What new accomplishments did man do in the 20th century?
New Gravitational Theories Flight Space flight Man in space and moon Hubble Space Telescope 1986
Who proved there were more galaxies?
Edwin Hubble
What’s the newest telescope and what does it do?
James Web Space Telescope, picks up infrared wavelengths.
What are Latitude lines?
Horizontal lines
North Pole: 90 degrees/90N
South Pole: -90 degrees/90S
What are lines of longitude?
Vertical Lines
Prime Meridian: 0 degrees
North Pole: 180 degrees
South Pole: -180 degrees
What are the coordinates on the sky?
Lines of Declination similar to Latitude.
Lines of right ascension similar to longitude.
What are the lines of right ascension measured in?
Hours(0->24)
What are the celestial poles?
Equivalent to the poles but in the sky. (North/South Celestial Poles)
What is the celestial equator?
The equivalent to the equator but in the sky.
