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Astronomy 101 > Quiz 1 > Flashcards

Quiz 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What did Karl Popper say a statement had to be if it could be considered scientific?

A

Falsifiable

e.g. the sun rising because Apollo pulls it across the sky is not falsifiable so it is not scientific

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2
Q

Occam’s Razor

A

The simplest answer is generally correct

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3
Q

What did some ancient groups think that the stars were? (3)

A
  • distant campfires
  • we are inside a large animal
  • fire of heaven shining through the black velvet
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4
Q

How did the Greeks know that the world was round? (3)

A
  • Ships don’t shrink into the distance, they sink into the horizon
  • The shadow of the Earth on the Moon is round
  • Views of constellations change as you go north and south
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5
Q

Why did Greeks think that the Earth was stationary? (3)

A
  • We would feel it if we were travelling 1000mph
  • If you drop something, it just goes straight down
  • Birds do not fall backwards when they land
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6
Q

What did the Greeks think about theory v. observation?

A

Theory was more important than observation. You could not always trust human experience but you can always trust maths

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7
Q

What were the Earthly elements for Aristotle? (4)

A
  • Earth
  • Water
  • Fire
  • Air
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8
Q

What was the heavens made out of for Aristotle?

A

Quintessence

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9
Q

What shape did Aristotle think the planets moved in and why?

A

Assumed they moved in circles because this shape was considered the most perfect of them all (Plato) and the heavens were perfect and unchanging

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10
Q

What were the original 7 planets that Aristotle saw? (7)

A 
Earth
Moon
Sun
Mars
Venus
Jupiter 
Saturn
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11
Q

What is Retrograde Motion?

A

The planets move either in an ‘S’ shape or in a loop against a backdrop of unchanging stars

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12
Q

How did Ptolemy explain Retrograde Motion?

A

He had the idea of epicycles

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13
Q

What were Ptolemy’s Epicycles?

A

The planets would orbit the earth on a deferent whilst orbiting the deferent on their own epicycle

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14
Q

What was Ptolemy’s main contribution to astronomy?

A

He was able to give accurate predictions of the positions of the planets at different days

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15
Q

Why were epicycles problematic?

A

They were clunky. You need epicycle upon epicycle, of varying sizes and shapes to properly account for their position

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16
Q

What was Copernicus’ revolutionary idea?

A

That the sun was at the centre of the universe

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17
Q

What did Copernicus say about the speed of the orbits?

A

The planets closest to the Sun would move the fastest

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18
Q

What did the RCC think of Copernicus’ theory? (2)

A

They were very open to it because they wanted to learn more about the heavens to better understand God.

They also wanted to better predict Easter, which comes on the first full moon after the first day of spring

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19
Q

What was Copernicus’ book called

A

‘On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbit’

20
Q

What did Copernicus think about the Moon?

A

That it still orbited the Earth

21
Q

Copernicus’ Retrograde

A

Earth moves faster around the sun and its orbit is smaller. RM happens when Earth passes the orbit of a slower planet

22
Q

What is Parallax?

A

The apparent motion of an object caused by looking at it from 2 different points of view

23
Q

When will we see Parallax in Astronomy?

A

When Earth is at 2 different parts of its orbit around the Sun

24
Q

What is problematic about the Stars and parallax?

A

They do not move

25
Q

Why did Copernicus think stars didn’t move from parallax?

A

They were so far away that it is undetectable

26
Q

What was Tycho Brahe’s ‘new star’?

A

A supernova explosion

27
Q

What was Tycho Brahe’s observatory called?

A

Uraniborg

28
Q

What was Tycho’s aim?

A

To avoid the mathematical absurdity of Ptolemy and the physical absurdity of Copernicus

29
Q

What was Tych’s model of the universe?

A

The sun and the moon orbited the earth but the rest of the planets orbited the sun on its way around the earth

30
Q

What did Kepler discover about the ratios of Saturn and Jupiter using geometry?

A

That the ratios of their orbit were 2:1 because he saw them in the circle, surrounded by a triangle, surrounded by a circle shape

31
Q

What are the Platonic solids?

A 
dodecahedron
Tetrahedron
octahedron
icosahedron
cube
32
Q

What 2 key principles did Kepler have to abandon in order to explain Mars’ orbit?

A
  • The idea that planets moved in circles

- The idea that planets moved at a constant speed

33
Q

How close did Kepler get to explaining the orbit or Mars without abandoning these shapes?

A

8 arc minutes

34
Q

What is an arc minute?

A

1/160 of a degree

35
Q

What is eccentricity?

A

how squished the ellipses is

36
Q

What is the eccentricity of Mars’ orbit?

A

0.09

37
Q

When do planets move faster?

A

When they are closer to the sun

38
Q

Who invented the telescope (officially)?

A

Hans Lippershay

39
Q

What did Galileo discover about the Sun?

A

It had sunspots. This allowed him to show that the heavens were not perfect, and allowed him to calculate the orbit of the Sun

40
Q

How did Galileo discover that the moon was 3D?

A

It had mountains and craters and stuff

41
Q

what did Galileo discover about planets?

A

They were disks, not points of light like the stars

42
Q

What constellation did Galileo discover?

A

The Pleiades (7 sisters)

43
Q

What did Galileo discover about Jupiter?

A

It had moons that orbited it, which he called the ‘Medician Stars’

44
Q

What did Galileo discover about Venus?

A

It had phases, just like the moon

45
Q

What did Ptolemy think about Venus?

A

It was always close to the sun because of the nature of the epicycle around the Earth

Predicted that it would have phases

46
Q

What did Copernicus think about Venus

A

Predicted that it would have phases

It was always close to the sun because its orbit was between that of the Earth around the Sun and the Sun itself

47
Q

According to the inverse law of gravity, what happens when the distance between two objects is doubled?

A

The gravitational force between them gets 4x weaker

Astronomy 101 (15 decks)

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