Topic 7 - Early Models Of The Solar System Flashcards
How did we find records of the sun moon and stars from a long time ago
Cave paintings, calendar devices and stone monuments
What cultures preserved their records
Mayan and Babylonian
What astronomers left us names and constellations
Greek, Indian and Persian
Who reformed the calendar so that it spread throughout the Roman Empire
Julius Caesar
What was the calendar called
Julian calendar
Why was knowing the time of year important for farmers
So that they knew when the best time for planting crops was
What do some cultures have a history of worshiping
Sun or moon gods
What time of years where celebrated
Celestial events
What do religions use to set important dates
Lunar calendars
Myths and superstition would arise if they saw what and what did they think it would do
Abnormal things in the sky and way thought to herald change
What did some cultures do to assist their observations
Built permanent monuments
What is an astronomical unit
The mean distance between the earth and sun
What is 1 au
149,600,000km or 150 million km rounded
What is au used for
To determine the distances of planets
How fast is light
3 x10 8
What does a light year measure
How far light travels in 1 earth year
What is 1 parsec in ly
3.26 ly
How many km does light travel in one ly
9460 billion km
For centuries what did astronomers think about the solar system
That the sun orbited the earth
The geocentric model didn’t seem to work ,why?
The orbits of the inner planets seemed very elaborate and the outer planets sometimes appeared to move backwards
What was Ptolemy theory
That there were cycles that the planet orbited and attached to each was its own cycle
What was the name for the own planets cycle
Epicycles
What is an epicycle
Rotational circular path of planet whilst circling around earth
What is a deferent
Circular path around earth
What is the equant
Point at opposite side of the deferent centre to earth
What was the order of planets/satellites from closest to earth to furthest away in Ptolemy’s model
Moon, mercury, Venus, sun, mars
