Chapter 2
Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy
The Sky Above
Geocentric: Earth is at the center of the universe
Pythagoras of Samos (500 BC)
• Greek philosopher
• Believed that circles and spheres are perfect shape.
Thus, Earth must be a sphere
Claudius Ptolemy (140 AD)
• Egyptian Astronomer
• Believed the universe was a set of nested spheres
surrounding the Earth
Ancient Astronomy
Zenith: Point directly above
your head
Horizon: where the dome meets
the Earth
Stars rise on the eastern horizon
and set on the western horizon.
Ancient Astronomers believed there is an
imaginary celestial sphere around the earth
• The sphere rotates around Earth.
Celestial Sphere
The way the stars appear to move in the
sky depends on where you are on Earth.
Standing at the North Pole of the Earth:
• Celestial pole will be located directly
overhead
• Stars will circle around the celestial
pole
Standing at the Earth’s equator:
• See celestial equator
• Celestial poles will be at north
and south points on the horizon
Celestial Sphere
The Sun
During daylight, sunlight is scattered by the molecules in our
atmosphere, which hides the stars above the horizon.
Sun changes its position
gradually on the celestial sphere
• moves each day 1⁰ to the
East
• A full circle is called a
year
Ecliptic: Path the sun appears to
take around the celestial sphere
each year
Stars
• The Moon and each of the planets change their positions slowly daily.
• The moon and planets rise and set as Earth turns.
• Greeks of 2000 years ago, distinguished between fixed and wandering stars:
• Fixed stars maintain a fixed pattern
• Wandering stars or planets are “wanderers”
Constellations
Many years ago, people connected the
brightest stars into configurations called
constellations.
In the northern hemisphere, most
constellations were named after
mythological heroes and animals.
• One example of a constellation
prominent in the northern night
sky from October through March
is Orion.
constellations
Constellations
The stars making up a
particular constellation are
generally not close together
in space.
They are merely bright
enough to observe with the
naked eye and lie in the
same direction in the sky as
seen from the Earth.
Constellations
• Modern constellations
consist of segments.
• There are 88 constellations
in total, most of which are
visible from North America
at some point
• Constellations provide a
convenient means for
astronomers to specify
large areas of the sky.
Aristotle
• Greek Philosopher (300 BC)
• Described evidence of spherical Earth:
• Lunar eclipse always shows a curved shadow of the Earth
• The altitude of North Star changes as we travel north
• As the ship sails over the horizon, we lose sight of the hull
before the sail.
• Studied the progression of the Moon’s Phases
• Sun must be further away from Earth because of
observation of solar eclipse
Measurement of the Earth by Eratosthenes
• Greeks were able to measure the size of the Earth by
observation of the Sun.
• Sun is so distant from us that all light rays strike our planet and
approach us along parallel lines
Measurement of the Earth by Eratosthenes
• Sunlight struck the bottom
of a vertical well at noon in
Syene, Egypt
• At the same time, the
shadow cast by the Column
at Alexandria was
observed.
• The rays made an angle of
7° or 1/50 of a circle.
Hipparchus
• He erected an observatory on the
Island of Rhodes around 150 BCE.
• He measured the positions of the
objects in the sky, compiling a star
catalog of 850 entries.
• He used celestial coordinates using
latitude and longitude.
• He used apparent magnitudes of
brightness to classify the stars
The Great Discovery of Hipparchus
The position in the sky of the north celestial pole has altered over
the previous century and a half.
Precession: Earth’s axis point changes over time, slowly but
continuously
The axis of Earth’s wobble
is 26,000-year cycle
Within the pyramid, archaeologists discovered a shaft leading from the central chamber
out of the pyramid, which was oriented for favorable viewing of the bright star Thuban at
that time. Thuban served as the North Star at the time the pyramids of Giza were being
built in Egypt. Architects used the star to help align the sides of the pyramids. And they
achieved a near-perfect alignment with the cardinal directions
Complications
with the
Wandering Stars
• Their motion observed in
the sky is a combination of
their motion and the earth’s
motion.
• The planets move eastward
but occasionally move
westward
• Retrograde motion:
temporary apparent westward
motion of a planet
Claudius Ptolemy
• Created the Geocentric Model of
the Earth.
• Everything moved around the Earth
in a circular motion
• Each planet moved by two or more
sphere
• one sphere is centered on the
earth (deferent)
• other is the epicycle
Nicolaus Copernicus
• Sought a simpler model
• Developed a heliocentric (Sun-centered)
model of the solar system, but the model
lacked evidence
• Publish ideas on his deathbed (1543)
Galileo Galilei
• Galileo found four moons revolving around Jupiter
• Showed that not everything has to revolve
around Earth
• Centers of motions that are themselves in motion
• Confirmed Copernican Theory that Venus goes
through phases just like the moon
• Proving that Venus also revolves around the Sun
• Observed the Moon and saw craters, mountain
ranges, and flat dark areas
Albert Einstein
• General Theory of Relativity: The “shape” of space is
influenced by matter and energy, and space is curved.
• Special Theory of Relativity: deals with how light
interacts in curved space