Chapter 3: Historical perspective,

Kepler’s laws
“Math, science, history,
unraveling the mysteries”
--The Barenaked Ladies

Credit: Cosmic Perspective, Fig 3.3

 What Did Ancient Civilizations
Achieve in Astronomy?
• Daily timekeeping
• Tracking the seasons
• Calendar
• Monitoring lunar cycles
• Monitoring planets and stars
• Predicting eclipses
• And more …
 Daily Timekeeping:
Egyptian Obelisks and Sundials

Credit: Cosmic Perspective Fig. 3.2 Credit: Cosmic Perspective Fig. S1.6
Days of Week Were Named for the
Sun, Moon, and Visible Planets.

Credit: Cosmic Perspective Tab. 3.1

 Seasonal Timekeeping:
SW United States (500-1300 AD)
Summer Solstice Winter Solstice

Credit: Grahame & Sisk (2002)

Chaco Canyon, Credit: Cosmic Perspective Fig. 3.6
Record of Lunar and Solar eclipses
China, lunar eclipse Babylon, solar eclipse of April 15 136 BC
Sept 4/5 434 AD

Image from Stephenson,

Astron. Geophys., 2003
The reason for seasons:
Misalignment of Ecliptic and Spin axis
As Earth orbits the Sun, the tilt of the spin axis continues to
point in the same direction.

Credit: Cosmic Perspective Pg. 49

 Sun's Path in the Sky changes
at different time of the year
Equinoxes: Sun rises precisely due
Summer solstice: highest path
east and sets precisely due west.
Winter solstice: lowest path
 Seasonal Timekeeping:
Templo Mayor (1325 AD)
Sun rose through
notches on equinoxes

Credit: Cosmic Perspective 3.4

 Seasonal Timekeeping:
Stonehenge (8000 - 1550 BCE)

• Stonehenge is
essentially a giant
solar calendar.

Credit: Cosmic Perspective Fig. 3.3

 Edmontonhenge! (Sep 18, 2016)
At the Equinox, Sun sets due West down
Jasper Ave, downtown Edmonton

Credit: Luca Vanzella

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160922.html
Q1:i>clicker Think,
What will happen to thePair, Share (AA)
Edmontonhenge
alignment in 13,000 years as a result of Earth
precession (period = 26,000 yr)

At the equinox, the Sun will set

a) due West
b) slightly North of West
c) Slightly South of West
d) due East
e) the Sun will not set
Q1:i>clicker Think,
What will happen to thePair, Share (AA)
Edmontonhenge
alignment in 13,000 years as a result of Earth
precession (period = 26,000 yr)

At the equinox, the Sun will set

a) due West
b) slightly North of West
c) Slightly South of West
d) due East
e) the Sun will not set
 First Cosmological Model:
Greek geocentric model (~400 BC)
Developed by Pythagoras,
Plato, Eudoxus, and others

– Universe = series of
concentric spheres
centered on fixed Earth

– Each sphere = motion

of one of the planets,
Moon, or Sun

Credit: Cosmic Perspectives Fig 3.13

– Outermost sphere
carried the stars
 Spherical Earth (also the Greeks…)
Evidences:
– As you travel north, the stars near the north celestial pole
are higher in the sky (closer to zenith).
– As you travel south, stars that never rise above the
horizon at more northern latitudes become visible.
Observer at North pole Observer at Equator

but visible
at Equator!

Star not visible

from North Pole…

Credit: Cosmic Perspectives Fig S1.13b/S1.14b

 Spherical Earth (also the Greeks…)
Evidences:
– As you travel north, the stars near the north celestial pole
are higher in the sky (closer to zenith).
– As you travel south, stars that never rise above the
horizon at more northern latitudes become visible.
– Bottom of ships disappear below the horizon
Credit: Book of Knowledge (Undated)
 Spherical Earth (also the Greeks…)
Evidences:
– As you travel north, the stars near the north celestial pole
are higher in the sky (closer to zenith).
– As you travel south, stars that never rise above the
horizon at more northern latitudes become visible.
– Bottom of ships disappear below the horizon
– Mountain peaks are lit by the Sun after sunset
 Spherical Earth (also the Greeks…)
Evidences:
– As you travel north, the stars near the north celestial pole
are higher in the sky (closer to zenith).
– As you travel south, stars that never rise above the
horizon at more northern latitudes become visible.
– Bottom of ships disappear below the horizon
– Mountain peaks are lit by the Sun after sunset
– Shadow of Earth on Moon is round during lunar eclipses
A more modern evidence for a spherical Earth
Composite image during Lunar eclipse
A more modern evidence for a spherical Earth
Earth as seen from space!
Alternative perspective:
Check it out: https://www.tfes.org/
Eratosthenes (276-196 BC) Measures
Earth's Circumference

Credit: Cosmic Perspectives Fig pg 62

 Aristarchus (310 - 230 BC)
determined the Size of the Moon.

• During a lunar eclipse, the Moon travels through the Earth's shadow.

• We can see that the Moon is smaller than the Earth's shadow so it must be
smaller than the Earth.

• Aristarchus judged that the Moon is about 1/3 the size of the shadow, so the
Moon must be 1/3 the size of the Earth.

• (Actual ratio is REarth = 3.7 RMoon.)

 Angular Size

• An object's angular size

appears smaller if it is
farther away.

Credit: Cosmic Perspective Pg. 28

Aristarchus determined the
distance to the Moon.

• The Moon subtends an angle of 0.5o (Half of the

width of your little finger held out a arm's length.)
• D = Diameter of Moon (Aristarchus knows this!)
• q = angle subtended by the Moon

• To find the distance to the Moon:

• q = angle in radians
= p x (angle in degrees)/(180)
= p x 0.5/180 = 8.7 x 10-3 rad.

• distance = d = D/(angle in radians)

= D/(8.7 x 10-3)
= 3.5 x 103 km / (8.7 x 10-3)
= 4.0 x 105 km.

• (Actual distance is 3.8 x 105 km.)

Modern method for finding distance to Moon
Reflectors placed on Moon

Shoot a laser from Earth. Measure • Semi-major axis = 384 399 km

how long it takes for laser to bounce
back to the Earth. • (with a precision of 0.08 mm !!! )

2 x distance = speed of light x time • Increases by 3.83 cm/yr

 Why do we have two eyes?
Parallax
Only Left Eye Open Only Right Eye Open

Photos by Greg Sivakoff

 Parallax
Only Left Eye Open Only Right Eye Open
More Distant Object More Distant Object

Photos by Greg Sivakoff

 Parallax

Credit: Cosmic Perspectives Fig 2.34

Parallax
 Parallax and the geocentric model
• Greek astronomers believed that the Earth could not be
revolving around the Sun because they could not detect the
parallax of the stars.

• They had no idea how truly far the stars are and how small the
parallax shift is
– Parallax angle is smaller if the star is further away from us.
– Actual parallax angles are tiny and difficult to observe

• Even the great observer Tyco Brahe could not detect parallax

• First measurement of stellar parallax: Friedrich Bessel in 1835.

 Position of Sun & planets on Celestial
sphere vary as Earth Orbits the Sun
The Sun appears to move eastward along the ecliptic.
Planets generally also move eastward… but sometimes
westward too!

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

Apparent Retrograde Motion of planets

Credit: Cosmic Perspectives Fig 2.32

Apparent Retrograde Motion of planets

Credit: Cosmic Perspectives Fig 2.32

 Ptolemaic Model
The most sophisticated
geocentric model was that
of Ptolemy (A.D. 100-170)
— the Ptolemaic model:
• Sufficiently accurate to
remain in use for 1,500
years.
• Arabic translation of
Ptolemy’s work named
Almagest (“the greatest
compilation”)

Credit: © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.

How the Ptolemaic Model Explains
Apparent Retrograde Motion

Credit: Cosmic Perspectives Fig 3.14

Apparent Retrograde Motion
Properly Explained

Credit: Cosmic Perspectives Fig 2.33b

 Renaissance Astronomy
• Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-
1543): motion of the Sun and
planets could be equally
described by a Sun centered
(heliocentric) system

• Advantages:
– Simpler in concept
– Natural explanation for the
annual motion of Sun
against background stars
– Natural explanation of
retrograde motion of planets
45
Credit: Cosmic Perspective
 Renaissance Astronomy
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
Greatest of the pre-telescope
observers in Europe.
– Noticed that tables based on
Ptolemaic and Copernican
system could not accurately
reproduce the motions of the
planets.
– Measured the positions of the
Sun, Moon and planets with
unprecedented accuracy (1
arcminute) for more than 20
years.
Credit: Cosmic Perspectives pg. 64
 Renaissance Astronomy

Johannes Kepler
(1571-1630)
First tried to match Tycho’s
observations with circular
orbits
But discrepancies as high as
8-arcminutes persisted. This
led him eventually to adopt
elliptical orbits.

Credit: Cosmic Perspective

 Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
Johannes Kepler discovered three laws of planetary motion

1. Each planet moves about the Sun in an orbit that is an

ellipse, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.

2. The straight line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out
equal areas in space in equal intervals of time.

3. The squares of the planets’ periods of orbit around the

Sun are in direct proportion to the cubes of the
semimajor axes of their orbits.
 Kepler’s First Law
Kepler’s First Law: The orbit of each planet around
the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus.

semimajor axis
= average distance to the Sun
 Kepler’s First Law:
Circle versus Ellipse
 Kepler’s First Law:
Circle versus Ellipse

e=0

e increasing
Eccentricity of Planets
 Kepler’s First Law
Kepler’s First Law: The orbit of each planet around
the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus.
Q2: If a planet has semimajor axis of 1 AU
and orbital eccentricity of 0.25, what is the
distance between aphelion and
perihelion?
11
1 AU = 1.496 x 10 m
A) 1.5 AU = 1.496 x 108 km
B) 1.75 AU
C) 2 AU
D) 2.25 AU
E) 2.5 AU
Q2: If a planet has semimajor axis of 1 AU
and orbital eccentricity of 0.25, what is the
distance between aphelion and
perihelion?
11
1 AU = 1.496 x 10 m
A) 1.5 AU = 1.496 x 108 km
B) 1.75 AU
C) 2 AU
D) 2.25 AU
E) 2.5 AU
 Kepler’s Second Law
Kepler’s Second Law: As a planet moves around its
orbit, it sweeps out equal areas in equal times.
 Kepler’s Second Law
Kepler’s Second Law: As a planet moves around its
orbit, it sweeps out equal areas in equal times.

Planet moves fast

Planet moves slow
 Kepler’s Third Law
The squares of the planets’ periods of orbit around the Sun are
in direct proportion to the cubes of the semimajor axes of their
orbits. The relation is:
2 3
p =a
p = orbital period = time to complete one orbit (in years)
a = semi-major axis = avgerage distance from Sun (in A.U.)

2 1/2 3 1/2
(p ) = (a )
3/2
p=a
Kepler’s Third Law
• valid for any
object orbiting
the Sun

• If you know p,
you can find a
• If you know a,
you can find p

2 3
p =a
 Kepler’s Third Law
More distant planets orbit the Sun at slower average
speeds, obeying the relationship:
circumference 2π a
v = =
period p

2π a 2π 2π
= 3/2
= 1/2 =
a a a
v = averaged orbital speed
p = orbital period
a = semi-major axis
Kepler’s Third Law
Suppose a comet had a very eccentric orbit that
brought it quite close to the Sun at closest
approach (perihelion) and beyond Mars when
furthest from the Sun (aphelion), but with an
average distance of 1 AU.

Q3: How long would it take to complete an orbit

and where would it spend most of its time?

a. one year, mostly beyond Earth’s orbit

b. one year, mostly within Earth’s orbit
c. more than one year, mostly beyond Earth’s orbit
d. less than one year, mostly within Earth’s orbit
e. It depends on the exact value of the eccentricity.
Suppose a comet had a very eccentric orbit that
brought it quite close to the Sun at closest
approach (perihelion) and beyond Mars when
furthest from the Sun (aphelion), but with an
average distance of 1 AU.

Q3: How long would it take to complete an orbit

and where would it spend most of its time?

a. one year, mostly beyond Earth’s orbit

b. one year, mostly within Earth’s orbit
c. more than one year, mostly beyond Earth’s orbit
d. less than one year, mostly within Earth’s orbit
e. It depends on the exact value of the eccentricity.
Q4: What is the semi-major axis of a
hypothetical planet with an orbital period of 8
years?

(Recall, p2=a3)

a) 2 A.U.
b) 4 A.U.
c) 8 A.U.
d) 16 A.U.
e) 32 A.U.
Q4: What is the semi-major axis of a
hypothetical planet with an orbital period of 8
years?

(Recall, p2=a3)

a) 2 A.U.
b) 4 A.U.
c) 8 A.U.
d) 16 A.U.
e) 32 A.U.
 Renaissance Astronomy
Galileo Galilei
(1564-1642)
• Galileo did not invent the
telescope.
– invented by a Dutch lens maker around
1608, possibly Hans Lipperhey

• Galileo was the first to use the

telescope to study the sky and to
record and explain what he saw.

• The collection of his observations

overcame the major objections to
Copernican model of the Solar
system
Credit: Cosmic Perspective
 Galileo’s observations
• Sunspots on the surface
of the Sun.
– the Sun is imperfect!

• Galileo’s drawing from

June 23, 1613

Credit: Galileo, The Galileo Project, http://galileo.rice.edu

Sunspots, Ming Dynasty
Observations

From: Hayakawa et al, https://arxiv.org/pdf/1705.02238.pdf

 Galileo’s observations
• Mountains and valleys
on the Moon
– it is not a perfect
sphere!

Credit: Galileo, Sidereus Nuncus

 Galileo’s observations
• Milky Way consists of
thousands of stars

• This showed that the

stars are incredibly far
away!

• Explains lack of
detectable parallax

Credit: Galileo, Sidereus Nuncus

 Galileo’s observations
• Observed four moons
orbiting Jupiter, proving
that not all objects orbit
Earth.
Q5: Venus is the 2nd planet out from the Sun.
Earth is the 3rd. At which of the following times
would it be impossible to observe Venus?

a) 6 a.m.
b) Noon
c) 6 p.m.
d) Midnight
e) All times are possible!
Q5: Venus is the 2nd planet out from the Sun.
Earth is the 3rd. At which of the following times
would it be impossible to observe Venus?

a) 6 a.m.
b) Noon
c) 6 p.m.
d) Midnight
e) All times are possible!
Q6: Galileo was able to observe a complete set
of phases for Venus much like those of the
moon (new, crescent etc.). During which of
these phases does Venus appear largest to us
on Earth?

a) Crescent (waning or waxing)

b) Quarter (first or third)
c) Gibbous (waning or waxing)
d) Full Venus
e) Same size for all phases
Q6: Galileo was able to observe a complete set
of phases for Venus much like those of the
moon (new, crescent etc.). During which of
these phases does Venus appear largest to us
on Earth?

a) Crescent (waning or waxing)

b) Quarter (first or third)
c) Gibbous (waning or waxing)
d) Full Venus
e) Same size for all phases
 Galileo’s observations
• Galileo noted that Venus
goes through crescent
and gibbous phases!

• He saw that Venus Saturn Mars

Jupiter
looks larger when in the
crescent phase!

Venus

Credit: Galileo/NASA
Phases of Venus
Phases of Venus

View of Venus from Earth

Credit: Chris Proctor
Venus in the Crescent Phase

Photo taken with one of the U of A’s Telescopes