Johannes Kepler

1571-1630
 Who is he?
● Poor and sickly child
● His intelligence earned him a scholarship to the University of
Tübingen
> He studied for Lutheran ministry
> Delighted the ideas of Copernicus
● As a teacher in Graz
> He wrote the Mysterium Cosmographicum
● As a student
> studied the Polish astronomer Nicolaus
Copernicus’ theories of planetary ordering.
 1600
• He went to Prague to work for Tycho Brahe
• To investigate the orbit of Mars was his main project.

Early 1600s
• Proposed the three laws of planetary motion
• Tycho Brahe was his mentor
 Kepler’s three laws of
planetary motion:
 Laws describing the motions of the planets in the solar system.

1 2 3
Law of Ellipses Law of Equal Areas Law of Harmonies

- Rotation of the Earth

- Revolution of the Earth
 1. Law of Ellipses
• Kepler’s first law

01. • Ellipse - special curve in which the sum of the

distances from every point on the curve to two
other points is a constant.

• “All planets move around the

sun in elliptical orbits, having
the sun as one of the foci.”
2. The Law of Equal Areas
● Kepler’s second law
● Describes the speed at which any given
planet will move while orbiting the sun.
● A planet moves fastest when it is closest to
the sun and slowest when it is furthest
from the sun.
● Kepler failed to explain why planets
maintain their position in their
respective orbit. That issue was address
by Newton.
 Rotation of
the Earth
● Spinning of the earth
around its axis.

● Axis – 23.5° angle

- Perpendicular to the
plane of Earth’s orbit.
● Earth is tilted of its axis
- the northern and southern
hemispheres lean in a direction
away from the Sun.
2 divisions of the rotation of the Earth:

Dark half Lit-up half

Day
Night
 Revolution of the Earth
• The movement of the Earth around the
Sun in a fixed path.
• The Earth revolves from east to west.
• Completes the revolution around the Sun in one year
or 365.242 days to be exact.

• Revolution speed of the Earth is

30 km/s-1
 Aphelion
> orbital velocity
decreases.

Perihelion
> orbital velocity
increases.
 Moon’s Path around the earth is Apogee
also elliptical.

Perigee
 3. The Law of Harmonies
● Kepler’s third law

● Compares the orbital period and radius of orbit of a planet

to those of other planets.

● Makes a comparison between the

motion characteristics of different
planets.
> The ratio of the squares of the
periods to the cubes of their average
distances from the sun is the same for
every one of the planets.
T = Period
R = Distance
Kepler's efforts to explain the underlying reasons for
such motions are no longer accepted; nonetheless, the
actual laws themselves are still considered an
accurate description of the motion of any planet and
any satellite.
• Kepler died in Regensburg, after a short illness.

• He was buried in the local church, but this was

destroyed in the course of the Thirty Years’ War
and nothing remains of the tomb.
Thank you for
Listening!

Submitted by:
Regine R. Cudanin
CREDITS: This presentation template was created by
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CREDITS: This presentation template was created by
Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, and infographics &
images by Freepik.