Historical Astronomy
What observation showed Greeks that Earth was round during a lunar eclipse?
Earth casts a round shadow
What does heliocentric mean?
Sun-centered
What was NOT a goal of Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo?
To land a human on another planet.
What is a hypothesis?
An educated guess / expected outcome
What does the Big Bang Theory explain?
Origin of the universe
What shape did Aristotle believe planets moved in?
Circles
Who first proposed the heliocentric model?
Nicolaus Copernicus
Which program’s goal was to land humans on the Moon?
Apollo
What is a scientific law?
Describes what always happens
What is red shift evidence of?
Galaxies moving away / expansion
What phenomenon could Aristotle NOT explain?
Retrograde motion
What evidence did Galileo Galilei observe that supported heliocentrism?
Phases of Venus (accept: moons of Jupiter)
What year did humans first land on the Moon?
1969
Why is scientific notation useful in astronomy?
Deals with very large/small numbers
What key events occurred during the inflation period of the Big Bang?
This early period of the universe included rapid expansion, the separation of forces, and the formation of fundamental particles.
What did Claudius Ptolemy add to explain retrograde motion?
Epicycles
What shape are planetary orbits according to Johannes Kepler?
Ellipses
What is the difference between a rover and an orbiter?
Rover = surface, Orbiter = stays in orbit
Write 100,200 in scientific notation
1.002 × 10⁵
What is one piece of evidence for the Big Bang besides red shift?
Cosmic background radiation
What causes retrograde motion?
Their distance from Earth changes
Why was Copernicus’s model still flawed? (Give one)
Used circular orbits OR still needed epicycles
What was one major goal of the Gemini missions?
Test how humans endure long term space flights (upward of 2 weeks)
Why is the Big Bang Theory a scientific "Theory"
Explains how/why something happens
Why was there a delay between the formation of protons and neutrons and the formation of atoms during "The Big Gap" in the early universe?
The universe was too hot for electrons to combine with nuclei