Lesson 2: Historical Highlights In Astronomy

Question 1

Who created the theory of epicycles, thus explaining retrograde motion?

Answer 1

Ptolemy

Question 2

Aristotle proposed that motion in three dimensions could be described using what two types of motion?

Answer 2

“Towards/away” and “around”

Question 3

Fill in the blank. The ______ are the group of people credited with preserving most of the Greek astronomy we know today.

Answer 3

Arabs

Question 4

Which Renaissance astronomer first detailed advantages of a sun-centered universe?

Answer 4

Nicolaus Copernicus

Question 5

Which of the following best describes the difference between a sidereal and synodic period?

Answer 5

A sidereal period is the time it takes for a planet to complete one orbit around the Sun; a synodic period is the time between two successive identical configurations, as seen from the earth.

Question 6

Fill in the blank. When a planet is at the point in it’s orbit nearest the Sub, it is called ______.

Answer 6

Perihelion

Question 7

Fill in the blank. Meaning “Earth-centered” __________ refers to the idea that planets rotate around the earth.

Answer 7

Geocentric

Question 8

Fill in the blank. _____ is the brightest star visible from Earth (excluding our sun).

Answer 8

Sirius

Question 9

Which bright star is found in Auriga?

Answer 9

Capella

Question 10

Eratosthenes?

Answer 10

Calculated the circumference of Earth.

Question 11

Aristotle?

Answer 11

Theory of the universe with two types of motion: towards/away from and around.

Question 12

Ptolemy?

Answer 12

Invented epicycles to explain retrograde motion.

Question 13

Aristarchus?

Answer 13

Believed that the Sun was at the center of the universe.

Question 14

True or False: people of Ancient Greece believed the world was shaped like a sphere.

Answer 14

True

Question 15

True or False: all early astronomers before Copernicus believed that the world was flat.

Answer 15

False

Question 16

What was the greatest contribution of Tycho Brahe to astronomy?

Answer 16

He amassed a large number of precise measurements of stellar and planetary positions in the sky.

Question 17

TRUE OR FALSE: PLANETS IN ORBITS CLOSER TO THE SUN MOVE FASTER THAN PLANETS IN ORBITS FURTHER AWAY.

Answer 17

True: Remember Kepler’s Second Law: the area swept out by a planet will be equal for equal times. One result of this is that the closer planets are to the Sun, the faster they move in their orbits.

Question 18

Which of the following is not one of the major astronomical discoveries made by Galileo?

1) Jupiter is orbited by moons.
2) Venus goes through phases.
3) The Moon has mountains, valleys, and craters.
4) The shape of a planet’s orbit is an ellipse.
5) The Sun has spots and rotates.

Answer 18

4) The shape of a planet’s orbit in an ellipse.

Question 19

Who proposed the idea that gravity could actually bend light?

Answer 19

Albert Einstein.

Question 20

True or False: Epicycles are smaller spheres attached to the larger deferents.

Answer 20

True

Question 21

Aphelion is the point in a planetary orbit at which the planet is….?

Answer 21

Farthest from the Sun.

Question 22

True or False: The synodic period is the amount of time for a planet to move from one configuration to the next identical configuration.

Answer 22

True

Question 23

Nicolaus Copernicus?

Answer 23

First modern astronomer to believe in a heliocentric universe.

Question 24

Johannes Kepler?

Answer 24

Theorized that planets do not move at uniform speeds throughout their orbits.

Question 25

Galileo Galilei?

Answer 25

First astronomer to use a telescope.

Question 26

Tycho Brahe?

Answer 26

Tried to prove heliocentric universe was wrong.

Question 27

True or False: when Saturn is at opposition, we cannot see it because it is hiding behind the Sun.

Answer 27

False

Question 28

True or False: Most of the names of the brightest stars are if Arabic origin.

Answer 28

True

Question 29

True or False: Planets do not orbit the Sun in perfectly circular orbits.

Answer 29

True