SED 3269: Astronomy

2nd Semester, Academic Year 2021 - 2022

Module 1: History of Astronomy

 What is Astronomy?

- one of the oldest natural sciences;

- from the Greek word “astron” (star) and “nomia” (law or culture)
- branch of science that deals with the study of the stars and other celestial
phenomena outside of the Earth’s atmosphere;
- not to be confused with astrology which is a pseudo-science;
- commonly linked with astrophysics which deals with understanding the physical
and chemical characteristics and processes of astronomical phenomena.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
 Branches of Astronomy

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Ancient Astronomy (Egypt)

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Ancient Astronomy (Greece)

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Eratosthenes and Aristarchus

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Retrograde Motion of Planets

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 The Ptolemaic Theory

- introduced by Claudius Ptolemy in 2nd century AD to explain the heavens;

- used a system of deferents and epicycles to explain the motion of planets
in a circular orbit

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Complexity of the Ptolemaic Theory

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Copernicus and the Heliocentric Model

- re-introduced the heliocentric model of the Universe initially put forth by

Aristarchus in 1543 through his book De Revolutionibus which was published after
his death;

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Tycho Brahe and His Observations

- introduced a geo-heliocentric model;

- made detailed observations of the position of stars and planets from his
observatory, the Uraniborg;
- one of the best naked eye astronomers in history;.

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Kepler and the Law of Planetary Motion

- Johannes Kepler served as the assistant of Tycho Brahe who inherited his
voluminous astronomical observations from which he based his laws of planetary
motion.

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Kepler’s 1st Law of Planetary Motion

The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one

of the two foci.

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Kepler’s 2nd Law of Planetary Motion

A line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps

out equal areas at equal intervals of time.

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Kepler’s 3rd Law of Planetary Motion

The square of a planet’s orbital period is proportional to

the cube of the length of the semi-major axis of its orbit.
SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy
 Isaac Newton and Universal Gravitation

- proposed the Universal Law of Gravitation which explains the reason for the
motion of the planets around the Sun.

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 The Birth of the Telescope

- the first telescope is attributed to Hans Lippershey, a Dutch eyeglass maker in

1608;

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Galileo and His Telescope

- Galileo Galilei was one of the first to use the telescope for astronomical observations;
- he made observations of the Moon, discovered the phases of Venus, and moons of
Jupiter (eventually called the Galilean Moons);
- was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church for heretical views on the heliocentric
model, but was eventually pardoned in the 20th century.

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Understanding the Stars with Spectroscopy

- spectroscopy allows us to understand the physical nature of stars despite their

distance from Earth.

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

Astronomy Across the EM Spectrum

- observing astronomical objects using

different parts of the EM spectrum allows us to
learn and understand other features.

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Modern Astronomy

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 The Birth of Space Telescopes

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Astronomy as a Citizen Science

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy

 Philippine Ethnoastronomy

SED 3269 - Astronomy Module 1: History of Astronomy