Tools and Terms
Geocentric means
Earth-centered
In 387 B.C, Plato believed that the universe was: (geocentric/heliocentric)
geocentric
In the 1600s, _____________ used his telescope to provide even more evidence that the heliocentric model was correct. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church found this problematic at the time.
Galileo
When 2 planets appear close together in the sky and appear to glow like a very bright star.
Planetary conjunction
The first planet we are planning on settling humans on:
Mars
Heliocentric means
Sun-centered
Isaac Newton famously discovered 3 of these. However, his were general and not specifically about planetary motion.
Laws of Motion
In the late 1600s, ___________ published his Theory of Gravity. This explained that the same force that makes an apple fall keeps the Moon in orbit around the Earth.
Newton
These major bodies in our Solar System were discovered with telescopes.
Uranus, Neptune, Ceres, Pluto
A planet orbiting a star that is not the Sun is called a/an:
Exoplanet
_____________ are tables that predict the movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets.
Almanacs
Who confirmed there are galaxies other than the Milky Way?
Hubble
Modern, math-based astronomy using the heliocentric model was born when ______________ published On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.
Copernicus
How did Galileo prove the geocentric model was incorrect?
He discovered moons orbiting Jupiter.
The summer solstice is the _______ day of the year, and the winter solstice is the ___________.
longest, shortest
The _____________, developed by Islamic astronomers, was one of the first ever mechanical computers.
Astrolabe
Kepler's mentor, made very detailed observation of the sky in the 1500s.
Tycho Brahe
________________ discovered three laws of planetary motion that are still used in physics today.
Kepler
These events occur halfway between the summer and winter solstices.
Equinoxes
This recent mission sent humans around the Moon for the first time since 1972.
Artemis II
This technique lets us determine the chemical composition of celestial objects by very precisely measuring the wavelengths of light they emit.
spectroscopy
What were 3 flaws in Copernicus' otherwise revolutionary work?
He thought orbits were perfect circles.
He thought the stars were fixed in the background.
He thought the Sun wasn't moving.
What was the key improvement Kepler made to Copernicus' model?
Kepler theorized that objects orbit in ellipses instead of perfect circles.
Once these could be predicted, people no longer thought the world was ending whenever they happened.
Solar Eclipses
The International Space Station has been continuously inhabited since what year?
2000