Origins of Modern Astronomy

22.1: Early Astronomy

 Tycho Brahe
• 1546 to 1601
• A Danish astronomer and
nobleman who made
accurate observations of the
movement of celestial bodies
in an observatory built for
him by King Frederick II of
Denmark in 1576.
• He was able to invent
different astronomical
instruments, with the help of
his assistants, and made an
• extensive study of the solar
system. He was able to
determine the position of 777
fixed stars accurately.
Tycho Brahe
• Tycho was a great maker
of astronomical
instruments.
• He was able to measure
the positions of hundreds
of stars to within 4’.
• Because he found great
errors in the Alphonsine
tables he decided to create
his own Rudolphine Tables
• He measured the positions
of the planets to within 2’.
Tycho Brahe
• Tycho had devised
his own unique model
of the universe where
the moon and the sun
revolved around the
Earth but all of the
planets went around
the Sun.
• He hoped to use his
data tables to prove
his hypothesis
Tycho Brahe
• Kepler applied to work at
Tycho’s observatory.
• Tycho recognized his
talents quickly and set him
to work on the Rudolphine
tables with the purpose of
finding the laws of
planetary motion.
• Unfortunately Tycho died
less than two years later,
before Kepler worked out
his first two laws. (1601)
 Johannes Kepler
When King
Frederick II died,
and the successor
did not fully support
Brahe’s work, he
moved to Prague in
1599 where he was
supported by
Emperor Rudolf II
and worked as an
imperial
mathematician.
 Johannes Kepler
Emperor Rudolf II
recommended
Johannes Kepler to
work for him as an
assistant. Kepler
was born to a poor
German family and
studied as a scholar
at the University of
Tübingen in 1589.
Johannes Kepler
(1571-1630) was
Brahe’s assistant,
and later the first
important modern
astronomer.
Kepler applied
mathematics to
Brahe’s findings
and discovered
Three Laws of
Planetary Motion.
Tycho Brahe Johannes Kepler
• Brahe and Kepler
had an unsteady
working relationship.
Kepler was Brahe's
assistant. However,
Brahe mistrusted
Kepler with his
astronomical data in
fear of being
shadowed by his
assistant.
Tycho Brahe Johannes Kepler
• Brahe assigned to Kepler the
interpretation of his
observations of Mars, whose
movement did not match
Brahe’s calculations. Kepler
was tasked to figure out what
path Mars followed as it
revolved around the Sun. It
was believed by many
scientists that Brahe gave this
task to Kepler to keep him
occupied and left Brahe to
develop his laws of planetary
motion.
 Kepler's Discoveries
from Brahe's Data
• Kepler postulated that there must be a
force from the Sun that moves the planets.
He was able to conclude that this force
would explain the orbit of Mars and the
Earth, including all the other planets,
moved fastest when it is nearest from the
Sun and moved slowest when it is farthest
from the Sun.
• Eventually, Brahe decided to give all his
data to Kepler hoping that he would be
able to prove his Tychonic system and put
together new tables of astronomical data.
This table was known as Rudolphine
Tables, named after the Roman emperor
and was useful in determining the positions
of the planets for the past 1000 years and
the future 1000 years. This table was the
most accurate table that is known to the
astronomical world
 Kepler's Discoveries
from Brahe's Data
• After Brahe died in 1601,
Emperor Rudolf II assigned
Kepler as the new imperial
mathematician, and all of
Brahe’s writings,
instruments, and the
Rudolphine tables were
passed on to him. From
Brahe’s data, Kepler was
able to formulate his laws of
planetary motion: the law of
ellipses, the law of equal
areas, and the law of
harmonies.
• First Law: The Law of Ellipses
• The path of each planet around the sun
is an ellipse, with the sun at one focus.
How is an ellipse different from a circle?

• A circle is a
closed curved
shape that is flat.
In a circle, all
points on the
circle are equally
distant from the
center of the
circle.
•An ellipse is also a closed curved shape
that is flat.
•Instead of having all points the same
distance from the center (like a circle), an
ellipse has two focus points.
• Second Law: The Law of Equal Areas
Kepler determined that a planet travels most
rapidly when it comes closest to the Sun
and moves slowest when farthest away.
• Second Law: The Law of Equal Areas The
second law, which is the law of equal areas states that
when an imaginary line is drawn from the center of the
Sun to the center of a planet, the line will sweep out an
equal area of space in equal time intervals.
• Second Law: The Law of Equal Areas
• The law describes how fast a planet moves in its orbit. A
planet moves fastest when it is nearest the Sun and
slowest when it is farthest from the Sun, and still, the
same area is swept out by the line in equal amounts of
time.
Planet Revolution
Third Law: The Law of Harmonies
Keppler’s third law gives the precise
relation between the distance of a planet
from the Sun and how fast it completes
an orbit, using Astronomical Units (AU).

One AU equals
150 million km,
the average
distance of the
Earth from the
Sun.
Third Law: The Law of Harmonies
Third Law: The Law of Harmonies
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