1.

The Dark Ages:

a. Explain why the knowledge of the Ancient Greeks gradually became inaccessible to
scholars during the Dark Ages.
• After Constantine, Church-state merger led to decline in science
o Christian church became powerful, Ancient Greek theories rejected
(Greek are seen as pagans) as contrary to scripture and church
controlled education system.

b. What is the example provided in the lecture which demonstrates the lack of
knowledge about the sky during this time period?
• The sky is seen as a dome, night and day were created by god (light created by god
as sun to rule day and moon to rule night) and that’s all god wants us to know
about astronomy.
• Church maintained that knowledge of Ancient Greek were worthless (Latin is
official language of scholarship), fewer people know how to read Greek. Basic
knowledge of astronomy is lost during dark ages (lost of old knowledge and lack of
progress).

2. The Rise of Islamic Astronomy:

a. Describe how the knowledge of the Ancient Greeks was preserved during the Dark
Ages. Why were Islamic scholars interested in the astronomical knowledge of the
Ancient Greeks?
• Qu’an encourages knowledge of the sky for time-keeping (Islam founded in 7th
century)
o Knowledge of the sky was important of observing sky for religious
observances.
o Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar (12 lunations 354 days)
• Interactions between Islamic scholars & Greek refugees led to translation of
Greek texts into Arabic

b. Why is Ptolemy's astronomy textbook known as "The Almagest"?

• “Almagest” is called “mathematical principles” by Ptolemy. Renamed as “greatest
book” = Almagest by the Islamic scholars because it is used for predicting the sky.
• Greek star calalogues were translated using Arabic names and descriptions which
persisted into modern times.
•
c. What can we tell about the star “Alpha Centauri” based on its name, and who named
the stars in this format?
• Al Suphi, maintained form of Hunter (Orion constellation), conversion of Greek to
Arabic

d. Why are the names of bright stars typically Arabic in origin?

• Because they were translated using Arabic names used to predict time
 Describe one of the examples provided in the lecture.
• Al Suphi, Fomalaut = mouth of whale, the later Latin scholars adopted western
pronunciation of Arabic star names which we still use today.

3. Early Renaissance Astronomy: (Black plague killed many and science was encouraged, as
well Europe traded with Asia/Africa). 14-16 period, rise in intellectual pursuit.

a. What was the importance of Regiomontanus’ translation of The Almagest?

• Regiomontanus produced the most readable & comprehensive Latin translation of
the Almagest
o Translated directly from Greek, other versions came from Arabic
o Commentary added helped reader to understand

b. Whose cosmology did the medieval Church adopt, and why?

• Geocentric model of Aristotelian-Ptolemaic cosmology due to consistency with
Scriptures (God as the “prime mover”). Bible refers to earth as being
motionless and center of universe.

Was it geocentric or heliocentric?

• Geocentric

c. How did Buridan's thought experiments about moving objects on Earth pave the way
for heliocentrics like Copernicus?
• Theorized that thrown/projected objects have IMPETUS (in addition to their
natural motion towards earth) = there is an addition source of motion called
Impetus.
• Therefore, if earth moves, projected objects inherit Earth’s impetus
o Object’s impetus + earth’s impetus = constant curving path towards the
ground. (same as Newton’s first law of modern theory of motion).
• Thought experiment = this showed: a fixed earth and moving earth appear
equivalent from our perspective on earth.

4. The Copernican Model:

a. What 2 features of the Ptolemaic model led Copernicus to suspect that the model
was incorrect?
• Because Ptolemaic models are too complex = there must be more easier
explanation and more reasonable ones
o Ptolemy model had equant point which was not constant in motion
o Ptolemy enforced connections between sun and planets, but had no
scientific justification for doing it, sun had no rightful/special place
(why should it be so important and directs motions of planets)? The
sun should have more important location than stuck between Venus
and Mars.

b. According to Copernicus, what do the planets orbit around, what is the shape of their
orbits, and do they move at constant or non-constant speeds through space?
• Planets move around circular orbits and move at constant speed
c. In the Copernican model, what are the 3 components of Earth's motion?
1. Earth spins once a day around an axis that pokes through North and South Poles,
around that axis the earth spins around once a day. Sky changes because of the
earth’s motion.
2. All planets orbits around the sun including the earth. Earth has annual circular
orbit around the sun (explains sun’s annual cycles)
Sun is the center of the universe.
3. Axis of North / South poles wobbles, spins axis has a ~26,000 year circular wobble
(explains the precession of the equinoxes) = it’s call “precesses” (shifting of the sky
by 1/100 degree per year).

d. What was Copernicus' correct explanation for retrograde motion?

• Earth’s retrograde motion is due to Earth overtaking another planet, ie. mars
moving slower than earth while earth overtaking it because it is in smaller orbital
circle around the sun. When earth approaches mars, mars would be
brighter/closer to earth and while earth overtaking it (position 1-3). When earth
catches up to mars it appears to slow down and retrograde (position 3-5). Then
mars moves faster again after earth moving away from it (5-7)

e. In the Copernican model, when do planets appear to slow down and increase their
brightness, and why? Does this match what we observe in the sky?
• When they are in retrograde, because the planets are closer in proximity to
earth and therefore reflect more sun’s light on it to earth. This doesn’t match
what we observe in the sky because our position is relative to where we are on
earth not in reality of the path of earth’s and the planets’. This is because our
viewing angle of the object is changing as well.
• Brightness changes due to planets varying distance from earth

f. What was Copernicus' correct order of the planets?

• All motion through space is “Constant and circular” that matches non-constant
circular motion of planets we see as long as you allow the earth to move

g. In the Copernican model, what is the explanation for the different motion of Mercury
 and Venus compared to Mars, Jupiter and Saturn?
• In Copernican heliocentric model, Venus & Mercury are INNER planets (explains
their apparent proximity to Sun).

5. Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus:
a. When Copernicus compared the orbital periods of the planets with their orbital radii
in his heliocentric model, what did he find?
• Mercury and venus are inner planets, that’s why they are always seen near the sun
o R = Orbital radius (distance/size of orbit around sun)
o P = Orbital period (time to complete 1 orbit)
o Venus R = .7 R earth , P = 225 days
o Mercury = R= .4 R earth, P = 88 days
o Earth R = 1 R earth, P =1 year
o Mars R 1.5 R earth, P= 2 years
• The larger the planet’s orbit, the longer its orbital period (an appealing, orderly results)

b. What is the (shortened) name of Copernicus' famous book in which he presented his
heliocentric cosmology?
• De Revolutionibus (1543)

c. What did Copernicus' colleague add to the book in order to make it appear less
controversial?
• That Copernicus’ theories were hypothesis need not be true nor even probable
(added as preface) which made it appear that Copernicus wasn’t claiming that the
universe is not heliocentric.

What important purpose did this preface serve in the decades following the book’s
publication?
• The preface prevented the book from being rejected by the church for
hundreds of years after, but the church did eventually ended up burning it.

6. The Early Observations of Tycho Brahe:

a. What planetary event did Tycho Brahe witness in 1563?
• A planetary conjunction
Describe what causes this event and how it appeared in the sky. What did this even
motivate Tycho to do, and why?
• A planetary conjunction is when 1 planet overtake another in orbit, which makes
one planet appears beside another planet in the sky and temporary overlaps. That
night, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus all three planets were seen virtually on top of each
other.
• He measured the co-ordinates of the planets and co-ordinates predicted by
Copernicus and Ptolemy were wrong, their dates were off.
o He concluded both models were incorrect.

b. What discovery did Tycho make about the supernova of 1572 ("Tycho's Star"), and
how did it contradict Aristotelian beliefs about celestial bodies?
• Observed that supernovae remain fixed relative to the stars (therefore, star
realm is NOT eternally unchanging, challenging past beliefs that star isn’t born
 or dies but eternal).
• Naked eye supernova is relatively rare.

Is "Tycho's Star" still visible without a telescope?

• No, it is no longer visible today (we can only see it using telescope as high energy
cloud of gas/ remnants of supernova)

How can we tell today that a supernova really did occur in the Cassiopeia
constellation?
• Because we can see remnants of it with a telescope

c. What sort of observations did Tycho make from his observatories on the island of
Hven, and why were these observations so valuable?
• Tycho made the most accurate pre-telescopic records of planetary co-ordinates
because they were highly accurate.
• These measurements were used to unravel the prior theories/beliefs of planetary
systems.

7. Tycho’s Search for Stellar Parallax:

a. What is parallax?
• Perceived shift of an object relative to its background due to the observer’s
motion.

Describe how parallax would affect a photograph of a stop sign if you took the
photograph from two different locations.
• The stop sign would appear closer or further away (moved) at another location
relative to its background, but it was you that moved.

b. Describe how parallax affects our view of the stars. Can we see stellar parallax with the
naked eye? Why/why not?
• Stellar parallax is proof of Earth’s motion. Star seemed to shift back and forth
(but not with naked eye) but only if we recorded night to night to notice it is
shifting.
• The further the earth is from the star, the shifting is reduced. Therefore the
nearest star is so distant; we can’t see it with the naked eye.
• Even with his highest-precision instruments, Tycho couldn’t detect stellar
parallax.

c. Explain (very generally – no calculations necessary) why Tycho’s search for stellar
parallax led him to believe that the Earth is motionless.
• The detection of stellar parallax needed a telescope in order to detect it.
Tycho died before invention of telescope.
• Tycho reasoning that the earth can’t be moving,

d. What is the definition of an 'Astronomical Unit'?

d = distance
p = parallax angle
B = baseline (full distance across 2 vantage point) or Astronomical Unit (AU)
 or average distance between earth and sun (~150,000,000 km)

Parallax equation = (B/2) / tan(p)

Tycho’s best precision d > (1AU) / tan (1degree/120) > 6800 AU or minimum unit
to stars for its parallax to be detectable, that’s a huge distance. This is
inconceivable when everyone believed at that time that there isn’t that much empty space.
Tycho failure to detect parallax had him concluded: Earth is fixed. He was a firm believer of
Geocentrism.

8. The Tychonic System:

a. Describe the motion of the Sun, Moon, stars and planets in the Tychonic system.
• Earth is fixed at center (geocentric)
• Sun, Moon and stars orbit Earth
• Planets orbits Sun (heliocentric)
o Sun orbits earth, Sun drags other planets around while it orbits earth
(since all other planets orbits around sun).
o Tycho adopted epicycle model (therefore all features of apparent
planetary motion are explained)

b. Does the Tychonic system explain the 3 features of apparent planetary motion?
Why/why not?
• Mercury and venus have larger orbits which wraps around earth, that’s why
the appear to speed up/slow down, brighter/dimmer and changing directions
at times.

c. Explain how Tycho’s observations of the Great Comet of 1577 led him to conclude
that the crystal orbs do not exist.
• Because there are no orbs shattered if it intersect with planet’s orbit (in Tycho’s
system)
• Initial objections: “Crystal orbs” shouldn’t intersect
o Tycho resolved this by parallax distance of 1577 great comet. If comet
were atmospheric phenomenon, how could its tail be affected by the
sun?

Why did this conclusion make the Tychonic system more believable?
• Galileo couldn’t convince the church his model but was able to prove that Ptolemic
model was wrong, which made Tycho’s model to make more sense.

9. Kepler’s Cosmographic Mystery:

a. What astronomical connection did Kepler make during one of his lectures when he
drew a triangle with an inscribed and circumscribed triangle?
• The radius of the outer circle (around an equilateral triangle w/ another circle
inside it) will always be 2.13 of the radius of the inner circle.
o R2 = outer circle radius
o R1 = inner circle radius
o R2/R1 = 2.13 = Rsaturn / Rjupiter
 o Initially kepler believed that: spacing between planets is defined by a series
of geometric shapes around the sun.

Describe the model that Kepler published in Cosmographic Mystery as a result of

this realization.
 In cosmographic mystery, Kepler proposed: the 5 Perfect Solids
defined the 5 spaces between the 6th planets (earth being one of
the planets)

b. Was Kepler’s model in Cosmographic Mystery heliocentric or geocentric?

• Heliocentric

What were the shapes of the planetary orbits?

• 5 perfect solids – there are only 5 shapes with all equal faces: cube (6 equal squares),
tetrahedron (4 equal triangles), octahedron(8 equal triangles), icosahedron (20 equals
triangles), dodecahedron (12 equal pentagons)
• And 5 spaces in between the planets (6 planets with 5 spaces between them)
• Ratios associated with 5 shapes are consistent with Copernican distances of the
planets.

c. When Kepler compared his model to the Copernican model, why did Kepler become
convinced that his own model was correct
• Kepler’s heliocentric model was strengthened by the consistency between Perfect
Solids model & Copernican distances to planets (Kepler didn’t know we have 8
planets and this consistency of perfect solids matching distances of planets was by
pure coincidence).

10. Kepler’s Search for the Driving Force of Planetary Motion:

a. What did Tycho hire Kepler in order to prove?
• Tycho hired Kepler to prove accuracy of Tychonic System (but Kepler wants to prove
Heliocentric model) but both men trusted Tycho’s data.

Why did Kepler accept Tycho’s offer?

• He moved to Prague to avoid religious persecution by Catholic church (because he
was a protestant). Keplar inherited Tycho’s data and position with the King of
Bohemian.

b. In Gilbert's book On The Magnet, what was his correct explanation for why compass
needles always point to the Earth's North geographic pole?
• The earth has a magnetic field like a Bar Magnet: a compass needle changes relative to
location of where the needle is at on earth.
• He demonstrated the earth has a magnetic field, it must be a magnet. The poles with
earth magnetic field lined perfectly with geographic poles (north pole of magnet is
attracted to south pole of magnet, so North Pole has S magnetic force) Opposite poles
attract. Force is magnetism is what is driving the motion of the planets (sun is most
powerful magnet, and driving planets around it).
 c. After reading On the Magnet, what did Kepler conclude about the cause of planetary
motion?
• Tycho proved there is no orbs, so Kepler see magnetic attraction as reason why
planets move.
• Kepler proposed: if all celestial bodies are magnets, then the Sun’s magnetic
force may be the cause of planetary motion. (but the truth is not due to
magnetic force but gravitational force found by Newton).

11. Kepler’s 1st and 2nd Laws:

a. Explain why Kepler’s theory about the driving force of planetary motion led him to
conclude that the speeds of planets cannot be constant.
• Keplar arrives at correct model: If planetary motion is driven by the Sun’s magnetism
“sun must be off-center, to explain its changing speed across the sky”.
o Between june/july sun’s speed slows to 28degree 10’39” per month
o Between dec/jan sun’s speed increases to 30 degree 1’59” per month
 Noon sun shifts more day-to-day than in summer time. So when Earth is
closest to the sun, the sun appears to move fastest. (the further away
the object, the slower its appears to move ie. the plane in the sky
moving slow but its moving fast)
• Sun must therefore induce Non-Constant planetary speeds. (Copernicus rejected this in
favour of constant motion)
• In order for this model to make accurate predictions planetary orbits must be eliptical

b. What is it about the planet Mars that led Kepler to the true shape of planetary
orbits?
• Mars orbit is noticeably elongated (Kepler concluded that planetary orbit is not in a
perfect circle).
o Kepler rejected the notion of CCM (constant speed and circular)

c. What is Kepler's 1st Law?

1st Law: Planetary orbits are

ellipses with the Sun at one focus.
• The more elongated the
ellipse, the greater its eccentricity
• A circle is an ellipse with Zero
Eccentricity
• So the second focus point is
an empty point in space???
o The further the focus
points are apart, the more
elongated the ellipse will be, if the
two points are on top of each other
it therefore is a perfect circle.

What is location at each of the

focus points in a planetary orbit?
• The sun is at one focus point in the planetary orbit.
 d. What is the 'semimajor axis' of an ellipse?
• The distance between center of ellipse and outermost point of the ellipse.
Used to describe the size of the elliptical orbit

What does the 'eccentricity' of an ellipse refer to?

• elongation of an ellipse (how stretched is the ellipse)

What is the eccentricity of a perfect circle?

• Zero

e. What does 'perihelion' and 'aphelion'

mean?
Perihelion = When the planets is making its
closest approach to the sun
Aphelion = when planets is at its furthest
distance from the sun

f. Describe the speed of a planet

according to Kepler's 2nd Law.
2nd Law: A planet’s speed varies as it moves around its orbit; it moves fastest at perihelion
and slowest at aphelion.
• Planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times (so it speeds up near the sun and slows
down when they are far from the sun). Non-constant speed of planets.

g. Why does Mars experience a large change in speeds compared to Earth?

• Because it’s Aphelion distance is significant longer than its Perihelion distance
(Mars orbit is more elongated elliptical compared to Earth)

12. Kepler’s 3rd Law:

a. Kepler represented the orbit of each planetary in our solar system as an ascending
and descending series of music notes. Why is this?

b. Describe the connection that Kepler made between the spacing of the planetary
orbits and musical intervals.

c. What does Kepler's 3rd Law tell us about the relationship between the orbital
periods of planets and their distance to the Sun?

d. What are the Rudolphine Tables, who wrote them, and whose planetary model are
they based on? How does their accuracy compare to the tables made using the other
available models?