ScienceAstronomy 051 Review – Lesson 2
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Astronomy 051 Review - Lesson 2

Tori Watson avatar Tori Watson
25 July 2022
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question
What was Tycho Brahe's greatest contribution to astronomy? He first used the telescope to make extensive astronomical observations. He determined that the planets orbit the Sun in elliptical orbits. He proposed some simple laws that govern the motion of the planets and other objects. He developed a model of the solar system in which the Sun was at the center. He amassed a large number of precise measurements of stellar and planetary positions in the sky.
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Tycho Brahe amassed a large number of precise measurements of stellar and planetary positions in the sky.
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Who calculated the circumference of Earth? Eratosthenes Aristotle Ptolemy Aristarchus
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Eratosthenes
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Who theorized that the universe with two types of motion: towards away from and around? Eratosthenes Aristotle Ptolemy Aristarchus
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Aristotle
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Who invented epicycles to explain retrograde motion? Eratosthenes Aristotle Ptolemy Aristarchus
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Ptolemy
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Who believed that the Sun was at the center of the universe? Eratosthenes Aristotle Ptolemy Aristarchus
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Aristarchus
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Who proposed the idea that gravity could actually bend light? Johannes Kepler Tycho Brahe Isaac Newton Albert Einstein
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Albert Einstein Einstein called this phenomenon "gravitational lensing."
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Who was the first modern astronomer to believe in a heliocentric universe? Nicholas Copernicus Johannes Kepler Galileo Galilei Tycho Brahe
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Nicholas Copernicus
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Who theorized that planets do not move at uniform speeds throughout their orbits? Nicholas Copernicus Johannes Kepler Galileo Galilei Tycho Brahe
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Johannes Kepler
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Who was the first astronomer to use a telescope? Nicholas Copernicus Johannes Kepler Galileo Galilei Tycho Brahe
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Galileo Galilei
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Who tried to prove heliocentric universe was wrong? Nicholas Copernicus Johannes Kepler Galileo Galilei Tycho Brahe
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Tycho Brahe
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T/F: People of ancient Greece believed the world was shaped like a sphere
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TRUE Aristotle concluded that Earth must be a sphere. Eratosthenes measured the circumference of Earth.
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T/F: When Saturn is at opposition we cannot see it because it is hiding behind the Sun.
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FALSE Opposition means the planet and the Sun are on OPPOSITE sides of Earth. Thus, we could see Saturn high in the sky at midnight, when it is at opposition.
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T/F: The synodic period is the amount of time for a planet to move from one configuration to the next identical configuration.
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TRUE (the synodic period is based on Earth-bound observation, and the sidereal period is based on an outside perspective.)
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T/F: Planets in orbits closer to the Sun move faster than planets in orbits further away.
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TRUE Remember Kepler's Second Law: the area swept out by a planet will be equal for equal times. One result of this is that the closer planets are to the Sun, the faster they move in their orbits.
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Aphelion is the point in a planetary orbit at which the planet is: closest to the Sun at vernal or autumnal equinox the average distance from the Sun farthest from the Sun
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farthest from the Sun
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Which of the following is NOT one of Galileo's major astronomical discoveries? a. Venus goes through phases. b. The Sun has spots and rotates. c. The Moon has mountains, valleys, and craters. d. Jupiter is orbited by moons. e. The shape of a planet's orbit is an ellipse.
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e. The shape of a planet's orbit is an ellipse
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T/F: Most of the names of the brightest stars are of Arabic origin.
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TRUE Most of the names of the brightest stars are of Arabic origin. (remember the section on the Dark Ages.)
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T/F: All early astronomers before Copernicus believed that the world was flat.
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FALSE (ancient Greek astronomers, such as Aristotle and Eratosthenes, believed the earth was a sphere.)
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T/F: Planets do not orbit the Sun in perfectly circular orbits.
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TRUE As Kepler pointed out, planetary orbits are actually ellipses, not circles.
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T/F: Epicycles are smaller spheres attached to the larger deferents.
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TRUE Ptolemy invented epicycles to explain retrograde motion.