Mastering Astronomy 101- Chapter 3

In Ptolemy's Earth-centered model for the solar system (not shown), Venus's phase is never full as viewed from Earth because it always lies between Earth and the Sun. In reality, as Galileo first recognized, Venus is __________.

Imagine that Venus is in its full phase today. If we could see it, at what time would the full Venus be highest in the sky?

When would a new Venus be highest in the sky?

When would you expect to see Venus high in the sky at midnight?

In Ptolemy's Earth-centered model for the solar system (not shown), Venus always stays close to the Sun in the sky and, because it always stays between Earth and the Sun, its phases range only between new and crescent. The following statements are all true and were all observed by Galileo. Which one provides evidence that Venus orbits the Sun and not Earth?

In the Greek geocentric model, the retrograde motion of a planet occurs when:

Which of the following was not a major advantage of Copernicus's Sun-centered model over the Ptolemaic model?

What is Eris's (orbits the Sun every 557 years) average distance (semimajor axis) from the Sun?

How does Eris's (orbits the Sun every 557 years) average distance compare to that of Pluto?

When we say that a planet has a highly eccentric orbit, we mean that:

Earth is closer to the Sun in January than in July. Therefore, in accord with Kepler's second law:

According to Kepler's 3rd Law:

Tycho Brahe's contribution to astronomy included:

Galileo's contribution to astronomy included:

Which of the following is not true about scientific progress?

Which of the following is not true about a scientific theory?

When Einstein's theory of gravity (general relativity) gained acceptance, it demonstrated that Newton's theory had been