COSMOLOGY

OBJECTIVES

• Explain the three types of terrestrial motion

• Differentiate the ancient Greeks models of universe
• Illustrate how Galileo’s observations weakened the
geocentric theory of the solar system.
• Apply Kepler’s law of planetary motion to objects in the solar
system
 Ancient Greek
View of the Cosmos
 Three types of terrestrial motion

1. Diurnal motion-  the daily

motion of stars and other
celestial bodies across the
sky. This motion is due to the
Earth's rotation from west to
east, which causes celestial
bodies to have an apparent
motion from east to west.
 Three types of terrestrial motion

2. Annual motion- the
apparent yearly
movement of the stars as
observed from Earth as a
direct effect of the Earth's
revolution around the sun.
 Three types of terrestrial motion

3. Precession of
equinoxes- Precession
of the equinoxes is the
apparent motion of the
equinoxes along the
ecliptic as the Earth
wobbles
HOW DO THE MODEL OF
THE UNIVERSE DIFFER
FROM EACH OTHER?
XEUSDOU
EUDOXUS
 EUDOXUS (408-355 BCE)

An astronomer named Eudoxus

created the first model of
a geocentric universe. Eudoxus
designed his model of the
universe as a series of cosmic
spheres containing the stars,
the sun, and the moon all built
around the Earth at its center.
 EUDOXUS (408-355 BCE)

The model used three

concentric spheres arranged
in such a way that a planet
attached to one of the
spheres, travels around a
common center making
periodic retrograde motions.
SAERITOLT
ARISTOTLE
 ARISTOTLE (384-322 BCE)

Aristotle believed the Earth

was round. The spherical earth
was at the center of the
universe where the sun,
moon, and planets all revolve
around it. Aristotle's ideas
were widely accepted by the
Greeks of his time.
 ARISTOTLE (384-322 BCE)

Aristotle believed that all

matter was composed of
combinations of four
elements-earth, fire, air, and
water-and that stars were
made of a fifth element: the
aether.
AASRISTRCUH
ARISTARCHUS
 ARISTARCHUS (240 BCE)

He gave a model of the universe

with a stationary Sun and
planets rotating in circular orbits
around the Sun. The stars,
which are actually stationary,
seemed to be rotating because
the Earth rotates on its own
axis.
 ARISTARCHUS (240 BCE)

Aristarchus model was not

widely accepted because of the
fact that his original writings
were lost when the Great
Library of Alexandria was
destroyed in A.D. 415.
 ARISTARCHUS (240 BCE)
Another reason why his
idea seemed absurd
until the time of
Copernicus was the
failure to observe any
stellar parallax.

Stellar parallax is the apparent shift of position

(parallax) of any nearby star (or other object) against
the background of distant stars.
PYTOMLE
PTOLEMY
 PTOLEMY (140 CE)
Ptolemy placed the Earth at the
centre of his geocentric model.
Using the data he had, Ptolemy
thought that the universe was a set
of nested spheres surrounding the
Earth. He believed that the Moon
was orbiting on a sphere closest to
the Earth, followed by Mercury, then
Venus and then the Sun.
 PTOLEMY (140 CE)

In order to explain the motion of the

planets, Ptolemy combined
eccentricity with an epicyclic model.
In the Ptolemaic system each planet
revolves uniformly along a circular
path (epicycle), the centre of which
revolves around Earth along a larger
circular path.
RCOIPENUCS
COPERNICUS
NICOLAUS COPERNICUS (1433-1542)
-Polish astronomer

Copernican heliocentrism is the

astronomical model developed by
Nicolaus Copernicus and published
in 1543. This model positioned the
Sun at the center of the Universe,
motionless, with Earth and the
other planets orbiting around it in
circular paths, modified by epicycles,
and at uniform speeds.
 Why was Copernicus
theory important?
Copernicus' work was ultimately most significant because it changed
the way people used physics and astronomy to understand the
universe.
HBERA
BRAHE
TYCHO BRAHE (1546-1601)
-Danish astronomer

In Brahe's model, all of the planets

orbited the sun, and the sun and the
moon orbited the Earth. Keeping
with his observations of the new
star and the comet, his model
allowed the path of the planet Mars
to cross through the path of the sun.
EGAOLIL
GIALILE
GALILEO
GALILEI
GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)
-Italian astronomer

• The first to use a telescope to

study the cosmos.
• He made several observations
that proved that the heliocentric
model was correct and the
Ptolemaic model was incorrect.
GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)
-Italian astronomer

In 1609, he built his first telescope and

began making observations.

• The sun had dark patches on it that

are now called sunspots.
The motion of the sunspots
indicated that the sun was rotating
on an axis which is unknown to
Aristotle and Ptolemy.
GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)
-Italian astronomer

In 1609, he built his first telescope and

began making observations.

• The surface of the moon was rough

which disproved Aristotle’s idea that
the heavens are perfect.
GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)
-Italian astronomer

In 1609, he built his first telescope

and began making observations.

• The brightest moons orbit

around Jupiter which Galileo
called Medicean Sidera, the
“Medicean Stars”, now
commonly called Galilean
moons.
GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)
-Italian astronomer

In 1609, he built his first telescope

and began making observations.

• Venus went to complete set of

phases, just like the moon which
is consistent with the Copernican
system but not with Ptolemaic
System.
GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)
-Italian astronomer

In 1609, he built his first telescope

and began making observations.

• Supernova of 1604 was

observed, and this disproves that
new stars could not appear in
heavens, contradicting the
Aristotelian view of unchanging
heavens.
 HOW DO PLANETS
MOVE ACCORDING
TO KEPLER’S LAWS
PLANETARY MOTION
EKPLRE
JOHANNES KEPLER
(1571-1630)
-German mathematician
THREE LAWS OF PLANETARY MOTION

1. Kepler's First Law: each

planet's orbit around the Sun
is an ellipse. The Sun's center
is always located at one focus
of the orbital ellipse. The
planet follows the ellipse in
its orbit, meaning that the
planet to Sun distance is
constantly changing as the
planet goes around its orbit.
THREE LAWS OF PLANETARY MOTION

2. Kepler's Second Law: the

imaginary line joining a
planet and the Sun sweeps
equal areas of space during
equal time intervals as the
planet orbits. Basically, that
planets do not move with
constant speed along their
orbits.
THREE LAWS OF PLANETARY MOTION

3. Kepler's Third Law: the

squares of the orbital periods
of the planets are directly
proportional to the cubes of
the semi-major axes of their
orbits. Kepler's Third Law
implies that the period for a
planet to orbit the Sun
increases rapidly with the
radius of its orbit.
Kepler’s Laws of Planetary motion shows
that:

• Orbits of the planets are elliptical

• Planets move faster when closer to the sun and
slower when further from the sun
• The period for a planet to orbit the sun increases
rapidly with the radius of the orbit.
 ACTIVITY
Compare and contrast the different models of the
universe by Eudoxus, Aristotle, Aristarchus, Ptolemy,
and Copernicus in terms of the center of the universe
and the orbits of the heavenly bodies.
 MODELS OF THE UNIVERSE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE ORBITS OF THE HEAVENLY
BODIES

EUDOXUS

ARISTOTLE

ARISTARCHUS

PTOLEMY

COPERNICUS
What is the equinox?
Image result for equinox
There are only two times of the year when the Earth's axis is tilted
neither toward nor away from the sun, resulting in a "nearly" equal
amount of daylight and darkness at all latitudes. These events are
referred to as Equinoxes. The word equinox is derived from two Latin
words - aequus (equal) and nox (night).

BCE- Before the common era