The Science of Astronomy

Our goals for learning:

In what ways do all humans employ scientific thinking? How did astronomical observations benefit ancient

societies? What did ancient civilizations achieve in astronomy?

Scientific thinking is based on everyday ideas of observation and trial-and-error experiments.

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 In keeping track of time and seasons for practical purposes, including agriculture for religious and ceremonial purposes In aiding navigation

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Days of the week were named for the Sun, Moon, and visible planets.

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 Daily timekeeping

Tracking the seasons and calendar Monitoring lunar cycles Monitoring planets and stars Predicting eclipses And more

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What did ancient civilizations achieve in astronomy?

Egyptian obelisk: Shadows tell time of day.

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England: Stonehenge (completed around 1550 B.C.)

England: Stonehenge (1550 B.C.)

New Mexico: Anasazi kiva aligned north-south

Scotland: 4,000-year-old stone circle; Moon rises as shown here every 18.6 years.

Peru: Lines and patterns, some aligned with stars.

Macchu Pichu, Peru: Structures aligned with solstices.

France: Cave paintings from 18,000 B.C. may suggest knowledge of lunar phases (29 dots)

"On the Jisi day, the 7th day of the month, a big new star appeared in the company of the Ho star."

"On the Xinwei day the new star dwindled."

China: Earliest known records of supernova explosions (1400 B.C.)

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In what ways do all humans employ scientific thinking? Scientific thinking involves the same type of trial-and-error thinking that we use in our everyday lives, but in a carefully organized way. How did astronomical observations benefit ancient societies? Keeping track of time and seasons; navigation

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What did ancient civilizations achieve in astronomy?

To tell the time of day and year, to track cycles

of the Moon, to observe planets and stars. (Many ancient structures aided in astronomical observations.)

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Our goals for learning:

Why does modern science trace its roots to the Greeks? How did the Greeks explain planetary motion? How did Islamic scientists preserve and extend Greek

science?

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 Greeks were the first people known to make models of nature. They tried to explain patterns in nature without resorting to myth or the Greek geocentric model (c. 400 B.C.) supernatural.
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Measurements: Syene to Alexandria distance 5000 stadia angle = 7

Calculate circumference of Earth: 7/360 (circum. Earth) = 5000 stadia circum. Earth = 5000 360/7 stadia 250,000 stadia

Compare to modern value ( 40,100 km): Greek stadium 1/6 km 250,000 stadia 42,000 km

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Underpinnings of the Greek geocentric model:

Earth at the center of the universe

Heavens must be perfect objects move on perfect spheres or in perfect circles.

Plato

Aristotle

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Review: Over a period of 10 weeks, Mars appears to stop, back up, then go forward again.
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The most sophisticated geocentric model was that of Ptolemy (A.D. 100170) the Ptolemaic model: Sufficiently accurate to remain in use for 1500 years Arabic translation of Ptolemys work named Almagest (the greatest compilation) Ptolemy
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So how does the Ptolemaic model explain retrograde motion? Planets really do go backward in this model.

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The Muslim world preserved and enhanced the knowledge they received from the Greeks. Al-Mamuns House of Wisdom in Baghdad was a great center of learning around A.D. 800. With the fall of Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, Eastern scholars headed west to Europe, carrying knowledge that helped ignite the European Renaissance. While Europe was in its Dark Ages, Islamic scientists preserved and extended Greek science, later helping to ignite the European Renaissance.
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Why does modern science trace its roots to the Greeks? They developed models of nature and emphasized that the predictions of models should agree with observations. How did the Greeks explain planetary motion? The Ptolemaic model had each planet move on a small circle whose center moves around Earth on a larger circle.

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How did Islamic scientists preserve and extend Greek science? Islamic scientists archived and improved upon Greek learning. Their knowledge was eventually carried back to Europe, helping to ignite the European Renaissance.

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Our Goals for Learning:

How did Copernicus, Tycho, and Kepler challenge the

Earth-centered idea? What are Keplers three laws of planetary motion? How did Galileo solidify the Copernican revolution?

Copernicus (14731543)

Copernicus proposed the Suncentered model (published 1543). He used the model to determine the layout of the solar system (planetary distances in AU). But . . . The model was no more accurate than the Ptolemaic model in predicting planetary positions, because it still used perfect circles.

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Tycho Brahe (15461601)

Brahe compiled the most accurate (1 arcminute) naked eye measurements ever made of planetary positions. He still could not detect stellar parallax, and thus still thought Earth must be at the center of the solar system (but recognized that other planets go around the Sun). He hired Kepler, who used Tychos observations to discover the truth about planetary motion.

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 Kepler first tried to match Tychos observations with circular orbits.

But an 8-arcminute discrepancy led him eventually to ellipses. If I had believed that we could ignore these eight minutes [of arc], I would have patched up my hypothesis accordingly. But, since it was not permissible to ignore, those eight minutes pointed the road to a complete reformation in astronomy.

Johannes Kepler (15711630)

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An ellipse looks like an elongated circle.

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Keplers First Law: The orbit of each planet around the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus.

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Keplers Second Law: As a planet moves around its orbit, it sweeps out equal areas in equal times.

This means that a planet travels faster when it is nearer to the Sun and slower when it is farther from the Sun.
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Keplers Third Law: More distant planets orbit the Sun at slower average speeds, obeying the relationship p2 = a3

where
p = orbital period in years a = average distance from Sun in AU

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Galileo (15641642) overcame major objections to the Copernican view. Three key objections rooted in the Aristotelian view were the following: 1. Earth could not be moving because objects in air would be left behind. 2. Noncircular orbits are not perfect as heavens should be. 3. If Earth were really orbiting Sun, wed detect stellar parallax.

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Overcoming the first objection (nature of motion): Galileos experiments showed that objects in air would stay with a moving Earth. Aristotle thought that all objects naturally come to rest. Galileo showed that objects will stay in motion unless a force acts to slow them down (Newtons first law of motion).

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Overcoming the second objection (heavenly perfection):

Tychos observations of comet and supernova already challenged this idea.

Using his telescope, Galileo saw:

Sunspots on the Sun (imperfections)

Mountains and valleys on the Moon (proving it is not a perfect sphere)

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Overcoming the third objection (parallax):

Tycho thought he had measured stellar distances, so lack of parallax seemed to rule out an orbiting Earth. Galileo showed stars must be much farther than Tycho thoughtin part by using his telescope to see that the Milky Way is countless individual stars. If stars were much farther away, then lack of detectable parallax was no longer so troubling.
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Galileo also saw four moons orbiting Jupiter, proving that not all objects orbit Earth.

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Galileos observations of phases of Venus proved that it orbits the Sun and not Earth.

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In 1633 the Catholic Church ordered Galileo to recant his claim that Earth orbits the Sun. His book on the subject was removed from the Churchs index of banned books in 1824. Galileo was formally vindicated by the Church in 1992.
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How did Copernicus, Tycho, and Kepler challenge the Earth-centered idea? Copernicus created a Sun-centered model; Tycho provided the data needed to improve this model; Kepler found a model that fit Tychos data. What are Keplers three laws of planetary motion? 1. The orbit of each planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus. 2. As a planet moves around its orbit it sweeps out equal areas in equal times. 3. More distant planets orbit the Sun at slower average speeds: p2 = a3.

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How did Galileo solidify the Copernican revolution?

His experiments and observations overcame the

remaining objections to the Sun-centered solar system.

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Born: Tyge Ottesen Brahe Danish nobleman, from region called Scania, which now forms part of Sweden. He was granted an estate on a small island called Hven.

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He built an observatory on the island, cost 1% of the state budget. After falling out with the Danish king he moved to Prague. Tycho made the most accurate measurements of the time (all naked eye). These have never been bettered ! One of the first astronomers who understood systematic observations.

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Owned 1% the wealth of Denmark. He had a silver implant on his nose, as he lost part of his nose in sward dual with a fellow student. He kept an elk as a pet. His death is something of a legend.

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Born: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in Hanover, Germany 15th November 1738. Died 25 August 1822. One of ten children.
William played the cello, oboe and later in his life the organ. He composed numerous works including 24 symphonies. Herschel moved to Sunderland in 1761 as first violin and soloist for his Newcastle orchestra, where he played for one season during which time he wrote his symphony no. 8 in C minor.

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After meeting the Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskeslyne in 1773, his interest in astronomy really grew. He started to build his own telescopes and in 1781 he discovered Uranus, using a small home made telescope in his back garden. It was originally known as the Georgian Star. Was later made the Kings Astronomer

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Interferometry He discovered an unfilled telescope could be used to obtain higher angular resolution. Binary stars He proved that true double stars existed and were not due to optical effects. Thus proving Newtons laws outside the solar system. He helped discover ice caps on Mars. From proper motions was able to discover that the solar system is moving through space. Coined the word asteroid meaning star like. Studied the Milky way and concluded that it was the shape of a disk. Tried to link solar activity with the Earths climate.

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Herschel pioneered the use of astronomical spectrophotometry as a diagnostic tool, using prisms and temperature measuring equipment to measure the wavelength distribution of stellar spectra. This work lead to his discovery infra-red radiation.

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Sister to William, Caroline assisted William with his observations and on be given her own telescope, she began to make her own discoveries. Caroline discovered several comets including comet 35P/HerschelRigollet. Was the first paid female astronomer in England.

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March 7, 1792 May 11, 1871 Son of William Herschel and the father of 12 children. He originated the use of the Julian day system in astronomy. He named seven moons of Saturn and four moons of Uranus. He coined the term photography and applied the terms negative and positive to photography

In 1831 he published: A preliminary discourse on the study of natural philosophy published early in 1831 . He described nature as being governed by laws which were difficult to discern or to state mathematically, and the highest aim of natural philosophy was understanding these laws through inductive reasoning, finding a single unifying explanation for a phenomenon. This is said to have inspired Darwin.
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The WHT (William Herschel Telescope) La Palma Observatory in the Canary Islands