And you are....?
The Polish priest who broke the news that our solar system is heliocentric
Who was Copernicus?
These ancient people of North Africa build a pyramid at Giza to line up with Thuban, the "North Star" at the time
Who were the Egyptians?
This term describes the path of planet orbits; they are NOT perfect circles.
What is an ellipse?
This describes how Mars seems to change directions in the sky (for a few months) every few years.
What is retrograde motion?
The Italian scientist who used a telescope to support the heliocentric theory
Who was Galileo?
These Central American people built huge pyramids to mark the equinoxes; they had an accurate calendar and did lots of math
Who were the Mayans?
This is the term for a planet's position when the Sun is on one side of Earth, and the planet is on the OPPOSITE side.
What is opposition?
This technique can be used to measure distances in space from two different vantage points within an orbit
What is parallax?
The Danish astronomer who was Kepler's boss; he did NOT want to let go of geocentrism
Who was Tycho (or "Brahe")?
These VERY ancient people might have been the first astronomers; we have their rock paintings that show observations of Venus and they called the Milky Way the "Great Emu"
Who were the Australian Aboriginal astronomers?
This term applies to Mercury and Venus since they ALWAYS lie within the Earth's orbit around the Sun. (They are NEVER in opposition.)
What is an inferior planet?
Galileo observed this volcanic moon of Jupiter
What is Io?
The influential Ancient Greek philosopher who said the Earth is in the middle, and everyone believed him for over 1500 years
Who was Aristotle?
These ancient South Asian people invented zero, and they knew about heliocentrism and gravity!
Who were the Ancient Indians?
This term describes the location of a planet that is off to the side compared to the Sun, rather than in conjunction or opposition.
What is elongation?
Now we know that some of the moons that Galileo saw have these below their icy surfaces.
What are salt water oceans?
The Ancient Greek / Egyptian mathematician who developed epicycles to explain retrograde motion
Who was Ptolemy?
This ancient Native American group built giant earthworks that they used to predict the Moon's 18 year cycles.
Who were the Hopewell people?
This term describes the orbit point where planets go fastest, which is also the orbit location closest to the Sun.
What is perihelion?
These people memorized the star positions in the sky and used those mental maps to navigate the Pacific
Who were the Polynesians?