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Objectives:

• How classical philosophers described Earth’s place

in the universe.
• What are the observed properties of the Solar
system as a whole?
• How the solar system was formed?
• How the planets are formed?
 Classical Astronomy
• The great philosophers of ancient Greece
wrote about many different subjects including
what they saw in the sky. This writings became
the “foundation” on which later astronomers
built modern astronomy.
• Astronomy
- Is the scientific study of the universe

Astronomer
- Is a “space scientist”.
• The Aristotelian
Universe
Plato (427 – 347
BC)
- wrote about
moral
responsibility,
ethics, the nature
of reality and the
ideals of civil
government.
Aristotle (384 – 322
BC)
- wrote about almost
every area of
knowledge and is
probably the most
famous philosopher
in history.
Established the first
widely accepted idea
about the structure
of the universe.
* Important Ideas that show how first principles
influenced early descriptions of the universe and
its motions.
First principle:
- The earth was located at the center of the
universe (geocentric universe) and that
everything in the heavens moved in “uniform
circular” motion.
- They thought that the Earth did not move
because they did not see the shifting of the
stars called parallax (an angle measuring star's
distance from Earth).
Second principle.
- The observed motion of the planets did not fit
the theory very well.

Claudius Ptolemy attempted to explain the

motion mathematically by devising a small circle
“epicycle” rotating at the edge of a larger circle
“deferent” that enclosed the Earth.
The “retrograde motion” of the planets was vey
difficult to explain using geocentrism and
uniform circular motion.
The speed of the planet vary slightly as they
circled a slightly off-center point called the
“equant”. Geocentrism and uniform circular
motion principle was weakened.
• The Copernican
Model
Nicolaus Copernicus
- Born 1473 (Poland)
- Studied law and
medicine at the
university of
Kracow.
- Had a passion in
astronomy.
- He proposed a model of “heliocentric
universe” which insinuate that the Sun and
not the Earth is the center of the universe.
The Earth rotates on its axis and revolves around
the Sun.
Copernican hypothesis solved the problem of
the place of the Earth but did not explain
planetary motion.
Tycho Brahe
- 1546 –
1601)Danish
- A nobleman,
educated at the
finest universities.
- His passion is in
mathematics and
astronomy.
- His model of the
universe is the
same as Aristotle
- Discovered a “new star” now called as Tycho’s
Supernova in 1572.
According to classical astronomy, the new star represented
change in the heavens and therefore had to lie below the sphere
of the moon.
- He understood that the “new star” should show
parallax, (it should appear slightly too far east as it
rose and slightly too far west as it set.
- But he saw no parallax in the position of the new
star and concluded that it must lie “above” the
sphere of the moon and was probably on the “starry
sphere” of the moon.
- This contradicted Aristotle’s conception of the starry
sphere as perfect and unchanging.
Johannes Kepler
- 1571 – 1630
- Born in southwest
Germany from a
poor family
- Brahe’s successor
- Concluded that
there are only 6
planets (Mercury,
Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, and Saturn.
Kepler’s Law of Planetary Motion
First law:
The orbits of the planets are ellipses with the
sun at one focus
Second law:
A line from a planet to the sun sweeps over
equal areas in equal intervals of time.
Third law:
A planet’s orbital period are related to their
distance.
Example:
Jupiter’s average distance from the Sun is
roughly 5.2 AU. The semi major axis cubed is
about 140, so the period must be the square
root of 140, which is equals to = 11.83 just under
12 years.
Kepler’s laws are “empirical”, that is he describe a
phenomenon without explaining it. Kepler derived the
laws from Brahe’s extensive observations, not from any
first principles, fundamental assumption, or theory. He
never knew what held the planets in their orbits or why
they continued to move around us.
- He continued his mathematical work on the
“Rudolphine Tables” his masterpiece in 1627.
- This was based on the heliocentric model of
Copernicus and his elliptical orbits.
- It could predict the positions of the planet 10-
100 times more accurately.
- His table were the “precise” model of planetary
movement.
- His laws have been used for almost 4 centuries as
a true description of orbital motion.
Galileo Galilei
- 1564 – 1642
- Born in Pizza Italy
- Studied medicine,
his true love is
mathematics
- The first person to
apply telescopic
observations to
the theoretical
problem of the
day.
• Three Major Discoveries
First discovery
The moon was not perfect. It had mountains
and valleys on its surface. It has feature similar
to the Earth
Second discovery:
The Milky Way was made up of myriad of stars
too faint to see with the unaided eye.
Third discovery: Intriguing
His telescope revealed four new planets circling
Jupiter; objects known today as Galilean moons
of Jupiter.
- His discovery on the moons of Jupiter were “strong
evidences” of the Copernican model.
- He discovered that Jupiter was able to keep his motions
that suggested that the Earth too could move and keep
its moons.
- His observations showed that Jupiter’s moons revolved
around Jupiter, suggesting that there could be other
centers of motions besides Earth.
- When he measured the orbital periods of the 4 moons,
he found that the innermost moon moved “fastest” and
that the moons further from Jupiter centered on a line
between Earth and the Sun.
- He saw Venus go through a complete set of phases
which proved that it did indeed revolve around the Sun.
• The Renaissance – is a period between 1300 –
1600.
• The problem of the place of the Earth was
resolved by the Copernican model.
• Problem about planetary motion was only partly
solved by Kepler’s laws.
Isaac Newton
- Born in Woolsthrope,
England (Dec. 25, 1942
or Jan 4, 1943).
- Raised from the farm
- Studied mathematics
and Physics at Trinity
College.
- Developed 3 laws of
motion, nature of
gravity and invented the
calculus.
Laws of Motion:
First law:
An object in motion must continue in motion in
a straight line unless it is acted on by a force
- He realized that some force must pull the moon
toward the Earth’s center.
- If there were no force altering the moon’s
motion, it would continue moving in a straight
line and leave Earth forever.
- The force that holds the moon in its orbit is
gravity.
Second law:
Third law:
Forces occur in pairs, so if one body attracts
another, the second body must also attract the
first. Gravitation must be mutual
• Newton showed that gravity was mutual and
universal. It depends on the mass of the
bodies and the distance between them
according to the “inverse square relation”.
• Hypothesis – is a statement that needs further
testing.
• Theory – is usually a description of nature that
had been tested. Some are well understood
and widely accepted.
• Natural law – is a fundamental principle in
which scientists have great confidence.
Quiz # 1
 The Solar Nebula Theory
• Two proposed hypothesis for the origin of the
planet.
1. Catastrophic hypothesis proposed that
planets formed from some improbable event
such as the collision of the sun and another
star.
2. Evolutionary hypothesis – proposed that
planets formed gradually and naturally as
the sun formed.
Solar Nebula Theory:
- The Earth and the other planets of the solar
system formed billions of years ago as the Sun
condensed from a cloud of interstellar gas
and dust.
- It implies that the planets formed along with
the Sun.
 A rotating cloud of gas
contracts and flattens.

To become a thin disk of gas

and dust around the
forming sun at the center

Planets grow from gas and

dust in the disk and are left
in orbit when the disk
clears.
• Revolution & Rotation
Revolution – is the motion of one body about
another (Earth about the Sun).
• Rotation – is the spinning of the Earth on its
axis
• The solar system is “disk shape”, with all the
planets orbiting nearly in the same plane.
• The “orbital revolution” of all planets, the
rotation of most of the planets on their axes,
and the revolution of most of their moons are
“all in the same direction” counterclockwise
as seen from the North.
Exemption:
Venus rotates backward.
Uranus rotates on its side
• Two Kinds of Planets
Three important points.
1. The two kinds of planets are distinguished by
their “location”
2. Craters are common. Almost every solid
surface, the solar system is covered with
craters (a bowl-shaped hole on the surface of
the Moon or a planet caused by the impact of
a meteorite).
3. They are distinguished by their “properties”
such as # of moons and presence or absence
of rings.
1. Terrestrial planets
- Small , rocky, dense, Earth-like worlds.
- No rings and have few moons.
- Mercury ,Venus, Earth, Mars.
2. Jovian planets
- Are large, low density, and Jupiter-like worlds.
- Have ring systems and large families of moons.
- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
• Cosmic/Space Debris
1. Asteroids – sometimes called “minor
planets”
- Are small rocky worlds, most of which orbit
the Sun in a belt between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter.
- It surface are made up of a variety of rocky
and metallic materials (iron).
- Irregular in shape and covered with craters.
Common Misconception:
Asteroids are the remains of a planet that broke
apart.
Fact: Planets are held together very tightly by
their gravity and do not “break apart”.

• Astronomers recognized the asteroids as

“debris left over” from the failure of a planet
to form at a distance of about 3AU from the
Sun
Debris (remains, fragments)
2. Kuiper belt objects
- Is composed of small icy bodies that orbit the
sun beyond the orbit of Neptune
Orbit means path
- Kuiper belt is the collection of this objects
named after Gerald Kuiper (KYEper) who
predicted their existence in 1950.
- There are probably 100 million objects larger
than 1km in the Kuiper belt, many more than
in the asteroid belt.
3. Comets
- Are icy bodies that pass through the inner
solar system along “long elliptical orbits”.
- Can be seen by the naked eye and are
impressively beautiful objects.
- As ice vaporize and released dust, effects of
the solar wind plus radiation pressure cause
the comet to develop a tail that points
approximately away from the Sun
4. Meteoroids
- Are specks of dust, grains of sand, or tiny
pebbles that weigh less than 1 gram.
- Those that fall into the Earth’s atmosphere are
vaporized by friction and are visible streaks of
light called “meteors”.
- Larger and stronger meteoroids that reached
the ground are called “meteorites”.
• Age of the Solar System
According to the solar nebula theory, the planets
should be about the same age as the Sun.
• The “most accurate” way to find the age of a
rock body is to bring a sample into the
laboratory and analyze the “radio active
elements” it contains.
When a rock solidifies, it incorporates known
percentages of the chemical elements. A few of
these elements have forms called “isotopes”
that are radioactive (they gradually decay into
other isotopes.

Isotope – an element
Example:
Potassium-40, called a parent isotope, decays into calcium-40
and Argon-40. called daughter isotopes.
• The “half-life” of a radioactive substance is
the time it takes for half of the parent isotope
atoms to decay into daughter isotope atoms.
The abundance of a radioactive substance
gradually decreases as it decays, and the
abundance of the daughter substances
gradually increase.

Example: If you study a rock and find that only 50% of the
Potassium-40 remains and the rest has become a mixture of
daughter isotopes, you could conclude that one half-life must
have passed and the rock is 1.3 billion years old.
Other Radioactive Elements Used in radioactive
dating.
a. Uranium-238 decays with half-life of 4.5
billion years to form lead-206 and other
isotopes
b. Rubidium-87 decays into Strontium-87 with a
half-life of 47 billion years.
Note: Any of these substances can be used as a radioactive clock
to find the age of mineral samples.

Radioactive clock of a rock - is the length of time since the

material in that rock was melted.
• The “oldest” Earth rock so far discovered and
dated are tiny zircon of crystals from Australia
that are 4.4 billion years old.