ASTRONOMY HISTORY

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ASTRONOMY HISTORY

• A SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

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IMPORTANT ASTRONOMERS

• Copernicus (1473-1543)
• Polish astronomer
• Found inconsistencies in Ptolemys theory
• Expanded on the ideas of Aristarchus
• Heliocentric model
• Earth and all planets revolved around the sun
• Moon revolves around the Earth
• The Earth spins
• Retrograde motion is due to the different sizes
  of the orbits
• Stars hung very, very far away and were fixed

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IMPORTANT ASTRONOMERS

• Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
• son of a Danish nobleman
• Believed that the Earth was in the center.
• Was given an island and an observatory by the
  king.
• Greatest observer before the invention of the
  telescope.
• Obtained the most accurate data (better than
  Ptolemy and Copernicus)
• Met J.Kepler in 1599.

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IMPORTANT ASTRONOMERS

• Johannes Kepler (1571 1630)
• German astronomer and mathematician
• First tried to fit Aristotles theory with
  Copernicus
• Used Tychos observations
• Stated the laws of planetary motion still
• Planets move in an elliptical path. The sun is
  not in the center, but at a focus.
• Planetary Speed A planet will travel equal
  areas at equal periods of time. The closer the
  sun the faster it travels, the farther away the
  slower it travels.
• Planets that are closer to the sun will orbit
  faster than planets that are farther away from
  the sun.

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IMPORTANT ASTRONOMERS

• Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
• Italian Astronomer and physicist
• First to use the telescope effectively
• Discovered important facts about astronomy
• Supported the ideas of Copernicus
• Tried to prove them by using the telescope
• Persecuted by the church