SED 3269: Astronomy
2nd Semester, Academic Year 2021 - 2022
Module 1: History of Astronomy
What is Astronomy?
- one of the oldest natural sciences;
- from the Greek word “astron” (star) and “nomia” (law or culture)
- branch of science that deals with the study of the stars and other celestial
phenomena outside of the Earth’s atmosphere;
- not to be confused with astrology which is a pseudo-science;
- commonly linked with astrophysics which deals with understanding the physical
and chemical characteristics and processes of astronomical phenomena.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Branches of Astronomy
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Ancient Astronomy (Egypt)
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Ancient Astronomy (Greece)
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Eratosthenes and Aristarchus
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Retrograde Motion of Planets
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
The Ptolemaic Theory
- introduced by Claudius Ptolemy in 2nd century AD to explain the heavens;
- used a system of deferents and epicycles to explain the motion of planets
in a circular orbit
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Complexity of the Ptolemaic Theory
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Copernicus and the Heliocentric Model
- re-introduced the heliocentric model of the Universe initially put forth by
Aristarchus in 1543 through his book De Revolutionibus which was published after
his death;
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Tycho Brahe and His Observations
- introduced a geo-heliocentric model;
- made detailed observations of the position of stars and planets from his
observatory, the Uraniborg;
- one of the best naked eye astronomers in history;.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Kepler and the Law of Planetary Motion
- Johannes Kepler served as the assistant of Tycho Brahe who inherited his
voluminous astronomical observations from which he based his laws of planetary
motion.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Kepler’s 1st Law of Planetary Motion
The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one
of the two foci.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Kepler’s 2nd Law of Planetary Motion
A line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps
out equal areas at equal intervals of time.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Kepler’s 3rd Law of Planetary Motion
The square of a planet’s orbital period is proportional to
the cube of the length of the semi-major axis of its orbit.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Isaac Newton and Universal Gravitation
- proposed the Universal Law of Gravitation which explains the reason for the
motion of the planets around the Sun.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
The Birth of the Telescope
- the first telescope is attributed to Hans Lippershey, a Dutch eyeglass maker in
1608;
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Galileo and His Telescope
- Galileo Galilei was one of the first to use the telescope for astronomical observations;
- he made observations of the Moon, discovered the phases of Venus, and moons of
Jupiter (eventually called the Galilean Moons);
- was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church for heretical views on the heliocentric
model, but was eventually pardoned in the 20th century.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Understanding the Stars with Spectroscopy
- spectroscopy allows us to understand the physical nature of stars despite their
distance from Earth.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Astronomy Across the EM Spectrum
- observing astronomical objects using
different parts of the EM spectrum allows us to
learn and understand other features.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Modern Astronomy
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
The Birth of Space Telescopes
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Astronomy as a Citizen Science
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
Philippine Ethnoastronomy
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
