AST - Flashcard | StudyHippo.com

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The term in Arabic for the person at a mosque responsible for determining the direction to Mecca and the times of prayer is Mecca is

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muwaqqit

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Which of the following statements about astrology during the Islamic period is true

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it was acceptable as a part of medical practice

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Which of the following scholars was associated with the House of Wisdom in Baghdad?

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Thabit ibn Qrra (Tobit) & al-Khwarizmi

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The introduction of sines into trigonometry in place of chords and derivation of a rigorous formula for a spherical triangle were achievements of

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al-Battani (Albategnius)

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Which of the following zijes was noteworthy because it included a star catalogue with newly measured positions instead of a rehash of Ptolemy's old ones corrected for precession?

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Sultanic Tables from Samarkand

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The Book on Fixed Stars with its mixture of Greek and Arabian constellations and the fuzzy patch representing the Andromeda Galaxy was the work of

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Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi

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The major observatory of the Islamic period which was lavishly equipped with instruments and had a large staff but only lasted a few years because its astrology failed?

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Istanbul

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Ulugh Beg was the founder and patron of

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Samarkand Observatory

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The problem with Ptolemy's model for the Moon's orbit, namely that its distance would vary by a factor of two contrary to observations, was resolved by Ibn al-Shatir by means of

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secondary epicycles

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The zij based on the theories from Maragha was the

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Ilkhanic Tables

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The concept of IMPETUS was introduced by medieval professors Buridan and Oresme to explain

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violent or forced motion as opposed to natural motion in Aristotle's philosophy

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The first university textbook on the celestial sphere and motions in the Middle Ages was

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Treatise on the Sphere by Sacrobosco

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The first extensive (three decades) series of fairly accurate observations of the Sun, Moon, and planets carried out in Europe was by

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Bernhard Walther

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Which of the following instruments was used for measuring the equatorial coordinates of objects

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equatorial armillary sphere

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Which of the following instruments could be used either for demonstration purposes -- showing the sky to a limited extent -- or to measure the altitude of an object

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new hand-held quadrant (astrolabe quadrant)

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The approximate date of translation of the Almagest into Arabic was

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830

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Copernicus estimated the average distance of a superior planet from the Sun by using

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trigonometry with the angle calculated at its time of quadrature using orbital periods (Earth's and planet's)

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The real significance of Copernicus's book On the Revolutions was that it

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reintroduced the idea of a heliocentric universe and presented arguments for it

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Andreas Osiander changed the title of Copernicus's book On the Revolutions and added an unsigned preface because

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He was afraid the Protestants would consider it against Holy Scripture

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The planetary tables that were based on Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion were

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Rudolphine Tables

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Tycho Brahe used observations of which of the following to convince himself that there are no crystalline spheres in the space between planets

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the comet of 1577

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One of the innovations introduced into observational astronomy by Tycho Brahe was the use of TRANSVERSALS. They were

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dots laid out in a zigzag pattern on an angular scale, for example with a mural quadrant, to measure angles more precisely

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One of the reasons Tycho Brahe was able to obtain more accurate positions of planets and stars than the Greeks was

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his application of a correction for atmospheric refraction from tables he compiled

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Tycho Brahe didn't accept the Copernican system. Instead he proposed a system in which

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the Sun and Moon go around the Earth and everything else revolves around the Sun

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Kepler's book which first presented his idea about the distances of the planets from the Sun and the ideal solid figures was

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Cosmographic Mystery

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Kepler's Third Law of Planetary motion states that

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the square of the orbital period in years equals the cube of the semi major axis in astronomical units (P^2 = A^3)

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The eccentricity e of a planet's elliptical orbit gives the orbit's

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Shape

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Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's moons supported the Copernican theory because

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it showed that Earth's Moon wouldn't be left behind if the Earth revolved around the SUn

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Which of the following points was NOT used by Galileo to argue that sunspots really are on the Sun's surface and not simply passing in front of it?

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The sports appear to move across the Sun's disk at a constant rate

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The workt of which first caused Galileo to get in trouble with the Roman catholic Church about the Copernican theory was his

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Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina

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Which of the following books marked the beginning of modern observational astronomy?

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The Starry Messenger

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The approach to natural philosophy (science) that was based on experimentation and observation as well as the application of inductive method was that of

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Bacon

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Descartes's idea about comets was that they are

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collapsed stars that are one-time visitors

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As far as is known the first scientific society was the

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Accademia dei Lincei (Academy of the Lynx-Eyed)

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The Philosopical Transactions

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was (and is) the research journal of the Royal Society of London

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The first successful pendulum clock as a precision instrument for keeping time was invented by

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Christiaan Huygens

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The four medium-sized moons of Saturn were discovered by

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G. D. Cassini= Cassini I

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the first reasonably accurate estimate of the length of the astronomical unit was obtained by Cassini in Paris and richer in South American using

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the geocentric parallax of Mars at favorable opposition

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the Speed of light was first measured successfully by Roemer using

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the time delay of eclipses of Jupiter's moons across the Earth's orbit

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The instrument that was capable of measuring only altitude and not azimuth was the

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mural quadrant

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The term in Arabic for the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca is

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qiblah

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Which of the following zijes was noteworthy because it included a compilation of observational data on conjunctions and eclipses

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Hakemite Tables

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The great observatory of the Islamic period which was equipped with large instruments, a library, a sizable staff and also produced a definite school of thought about the planetary motions was

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Maragha

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The problem with Ptolemy's model for the Moon's orbit, namely that its distance would vary by a factor of two contrary to observations, was resolved by

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Ibn al-Shatir

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The instrument that was used either to measure the altitude of Polaris to get the observer's latitude or to measure the angular separation between two objects was the

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Cross-staff

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The approximate date of Copernicus is

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1540

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Tycho Brahe used observations of which of the following to disprove FOR THE FIRST TIME Aristotle's doctrine that nothing ever changes in the superlunary region

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the "new star" of 1572

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Kepler's book which presented his first and second laws of planetary motion was

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New Astronomy

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The semi major axis a of a planet's elliptical orbit gives the orbit's

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size

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The work which caused Galileo to be tried by the Roman Catholic church was his

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Dialogue on the Two Great World Systems

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Bacon's approach to natural philosophy (science) was based on experimentation and observation as well as the application of the

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Inductive method

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Descartes's idea about space was that it

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Is filled with swirling particles forming vortices (the PLENUM)

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The instrument that was capable of measuring both altitude and azimuth at the same time was the

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azimuthal quadrant

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The term in Arabic for the very thin crescent Moon right after new that marks the beginning of the month in the Islamic calendar is

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hilal

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Which of the following scholars was NOT associated with the House of Wisdom in Baghdad

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al-Battani (Albategnius)

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Which of the following motions was definitely first suggested by Thabit Ibn Qrra (Tobit)

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Trepidation

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Which of the following zijes was noteworthy because it included a compilation of observational data on conjunctions and eclipses?

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Hakemite Tables

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Whose zij was the first to include the advance of the Sun's apogee and tables of sines instead of chords for trigonometry?

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al-Battani (Albategnius)

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The Samarkand Observatory, one of the great observatories of the Islamic period, was founded by

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Ulugh Beg

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The approximate date of the Alphonsine Tables was

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1250

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The concept of IMPETUS was introduced by medieval professors Buridan and Oresme to explain

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violent or forced motion as opposed to natural motion in Aristotle's philosophy

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The best university textbook on the motions of the planets in the early European period was

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New Theory of the Planets by Peurbach and Regiomontanus (Mueller)

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The first extensive (three decades) series of fairly accurate observations of the Sun, Moon and planets carried out in Europe was by

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Bernhard Walther

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Which of the following instruments was used for measuring the ecliptic coordinates of objects

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Zodiacal armillary sphere

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The instrument that was used wither to correct the altitude of Polaris to get the observer's latitude or to tell the time of night was the

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nocturnal

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The approximate date of Kepler is

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1620

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Copernicus estimated the average distance of an inferior planet from the Sun by using

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trigonometry with its angle of greatest elongation

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The real significance of Copernicus's book On the Revolutions was that it

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reintroduced the idea of a heliocentric universe and presented arguments for it

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The planetary tables that were based on Copernicus's On the Revolutions were the

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Prutenic Tables

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One of the innovations introduced into observational astronomy by Tycho Brahe involved a change in the way a certain instrument was used that allowed two observes to observe simultaneously. This was the

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Sextant, by moving the backlight from the pivot to two points along the angular scale

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Tycho Brahe didn't accept the Copernican system. Instead he proposed a system in which

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the Sun and Moon go around the Earth and everything else revolves around the SUn

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Kepler's book which presented his third law of planetary motion was

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Harmony of the World

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Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion (actually the first to be discovered) states that

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an imaginary line from the Sun to a given planet sweeps out equal areas in equal time intervals

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The shape of a planet's elliptical orbit is given by its

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eccentricity e

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Galileo's discovery that Venus shows all the same phases as the Moon proved

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that the Ptolemaic system was incorrect but nothing about the Copernican system

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Which of the following books marked the beginning of modern planetary theory and theoretical astronomy

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New Astronomy

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The largest moon of Saturn, Titan, was discovered by

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Christiaan Huygens

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Aristarchus's estimate of the Sun's distance relative to the Moon's was

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considerably too low (about a factor of 20)

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Which of the following first proposed the heliocentric theory

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Aristarchus

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Magnitudes were introduced by Hipparchus to categorize which of the following for stars?

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apparent brightness

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Precession was discovered by which of the following

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Hipparchus

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Ptolemy's DETAILED planetary models were published in which of his works

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Matematike syntaxis= Mathematical Compilation

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In the simplified geocentric model we covered in lecture, the epicycle for an inferior planet is

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that planet's orbit around the Sun

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In the simplified geocentric model we covered in lecture, a superior planet's orbital period around its epicycle IN THE GREEK WAY OF RECKONING is

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that planet's synodic period

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Ptolemy's reason for introducing the equant into his models was to better represent the

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variable motion in longitude

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The Book of the Fixed Stars with new magnitudes for some stars in place of Ptolemy's was the work of

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Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi

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The so-called Maragha School of planetary theory was established at the observatory of that name by

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Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

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Which of the following zijs included observational data on eclipses, conjunctions, and the like?

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Hakemite Tables

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Ibn al-Shatir was able to get rid of the equant using what device instead

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the secondary epicycle

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The only star catalogue to be published during the ISlamic period with positions that were newly measured (instead of updated ones from Ptolemy) was produced at which observatory?

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Samarkand

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The solution proposed for the problem of violent or forced motion in Aristotle's physics at the University of Paris in the Middle Ages was the concept

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impetus

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The Theory of the Planets was a university text on astronomy written by

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an anonymous author

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Bernhard Walther of Nuremberg, who made the first extensive set of fairly accurate observations (spanning three decades) in Europe was 'recruited' as an observer by

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Johann Mueller= Regiomontanus

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The instrument that was used either to measure the angular separation between two objects in the sky or to measure an object's altitude (such as Polaris, to approximate the latitude) was the

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cross-staff

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Copernicus estimated the average distance of a superior planet from the Sun in astronomical units by using

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trigonometry with the angle calculated at its time of quadrature using orbital periods (earth's and planet's)

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The person responsible for getting Copernicus to write up his researches on planetary models was

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Rheticus

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Religious opposition to Copernicus's book On the Revolutions INITIALLY Came from

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Protestants who believed it contradicted the plain meaning of Scripture

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Tycho Brahe used observations of the 'new star' of 1572 to prove that contrary to Aristotle, things do change in superlunary region. What did he measure-- or try to measure-- to show this?

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its geocentric parallax

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At his second observatory, Stjerneborg, Tycho Brahe located his main instruments underground instead of on the upper floors as he had at Uraniborg. His reason for doing this was

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to place them on solid ground and shield them from wind, which reduced vibration

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Kepler's Cosmographic Mystery was the book which first presented

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his idea for 'explaining' the distances of the planets from the Sun using regular solid figures

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Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion, the so-called Law of Areas, states that

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an imaginary line from the sun to a given planet sweeps out equal areas in equal time intervals

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The size of a planet's elliptical orbit is given by its

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semimajor axis a

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Galileo's discovery that Venus goes through all the same phases as the Moon

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demonstrated that Ptolemaic model for Venus couldn't be correct, regardless of whether it was placed closer than the Sun or farther away

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Journal des Savants (or Scavans) was

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the research journal of the French Academy of Sciences

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The Approximate date of Hipparchus was

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150 BC

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Who first used observations of solar and lunar eclipses to determine the Moon's geocentric parallax

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Hipparchus

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Ptolemy's profession was that of

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astrologer

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In the simplified geocentric model we covered in lecture, the deferent for an inferior planet is

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the Earth's orbit around the Sun

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In the simplified geocentric model we covered in lecture, a superior planet's orbital period around its epicycle ( in THE GREEK WAY OF RECKONING) is

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that planets synodic period

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The Kaaba, the shrine at Mecca, has which of the following kinds of astronomical alignments?

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Stellar

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The advance of the Sun's apogee seems to have been first introduced into planetary tables by

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al-Battani (Albategnius)

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Who of the following introduced new magnitudes for stars in place of Ptolemy's

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Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi

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Nasir al-Din al-Tusi established which of the following observatories with the patronage of Hulagu il Khan

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Maragha

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Which of the following was considered in Europe to be the best planetary tables before the Alfonsine Tables came along

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Toledo Tables

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The New Theory of the Planets was a university text on astronomy written by

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Georg Peurbach (or Purbach) along with Regiomontanus

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The instrument that was used either to correct the (already-measured) altitude of Polaris to get the observer's latitude or to measure the time of night was the

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nocturnal

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One of the innovations introduced into observational astronomy by Tycho Brahe involved a change in the way angular separations are measured with the sextant. In addition to using transversals on the angular scale, what change did he make with the sue of the instruments

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using two backlights on the angular scale and a foresight at the vertex, so the sightings were made by two observers simultaneously instead of one observer

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Tycho Brahe didn't accept the Copernican system because

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he believed it would mean that the stars are ridiculously large

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Kepler's New Astronomy was the book which first presented

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his first two laws of planetary motion

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The university professors of the time opposed Galileo's claims that the Sun has spots and the Moon has a rough surface with craters and mountains because

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as Aristotelians they believed these superlunary bodies should be perfect -- smooth and unblemished

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The formula for centripetal force was first published by

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Christiaan Huygens

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Precession of the equinoxes was discovered by

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Hipparchus

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In the simplified geocentric model we covered in lecture, a superior planet's period around its epicycle IN THE MODERN WAY OF RECKONING is

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the sidereal year

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Which of the following terms refers to the proper direction for the faithful to pray in Islam (the direction of Mecca)

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qiblah

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Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was the person responsible for the establishment of which observatory

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Maragha

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Who of the following eliminated the equant by adding a secondary epicycle and fixed the distance problem with Ptolemy's model of the Moon's motion

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Ibn al-Shatir

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The reason for building larger and larger instruments during the Islamic period was

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to measure angles more precisely, essentially by increasing the baseline

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The concept of IMPETUS, introduced in the Middle Ages as a solution to the problem of violent or forced motion in Aristotle's physics, presented a way around which of Aristotle's objections to a motion of the Earth?

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Argument of fall (Earth's rotation)

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The person who made the first extensive set of fairly accurate observations (spanning three decades) in Europe was

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Bernhard Walther

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Which of the following statements is correct

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Copernicus wrote On the Revolutions because he was persuaded to by Rheticus

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One of the innovations introduced into observational astronomy by Tycho Brahe involved a change in the way the sextant is used. This was

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turning the instrument around so that two observers could use it simultaneously sighting from the arc with the angular scale as bak sight instead of the vertex

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Tycho Brahe's table of corrections for atmospheric refraction was based on observations of

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the Sun's altitude as it travels across the sky during the day

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Kepler's book which originally presented his third law of planetary motion was

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Harmony of the World

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Kepler's First Law of Planetary Motion states that

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the planets' orbits are ellipses with the Sun at the focus

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According to Kepler's Law of Areas, a planet goes fastest at

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perihelion

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Which of the following was NOT one of Galileo's arguments for sunspots really being on the Sun's surface contrary to the claims that Aristotelians

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they sometimes can be seen to reverse direction

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Descartes's approach to natural philosophy (science) modeled on geometry made use of which of the following?

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deductive method

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The largest moon of Saturn was discovered by

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Christiaan Huygens

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The so-called 'aerial' telescope was the one which

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had nothing but a robe between the objective lens and the eyepiece lens to eliminate bending and vibration

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the speed of light was first successfully measured by

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Ole Roemer

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Which of the following was not accomplished by Aristarchus

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measured Moon's geocentric parallax Measured distance to Mars

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Hipparchus used which of the following to determine the Moon's geocentric parallax

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both solar and lunar eclipses

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In the simplified geocentric model we covered in lecture, the deferent for a superior planet is

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that planet's orbit around the Sun

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Which of the following produced a zij at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad

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al-Khwarizmi

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Which of the following was not incorporated in Ptolemy's Almagest but was introduced by al-Battani (Albategnius)

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advance of the Sun's apogee

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The Treatise on the Sphere was a university text on astronomy written by

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Sacrobosco (John of Holywood)

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One of the innovations introduced into observational astronomy by Tycho Brahe involved a change in the way antes are divided on an angular scale, allowing higher precision. this was

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the use of transversals, a zigzag pattern of dots

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Galileo was proud to be a member of which of the follwoing

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Accademia dei Lincei (Academy of the Lynx-Eyed)

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Which of the following was NOT the work of Christiaan Huygens

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discovery of four medium-sized moons of Saturn

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The largest gap in the rings of Saturn was discovered by (and bears the name of)

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G. D. Cassini= Cassini I

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One of the earliest zijes, the earliest still extant, was produced by which of the following scholars at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad

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al-Khwarizmi

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A moveable ecliptic, a fixed ecliptic, and a point that connects the two to make the vernal equinox oscillate back and forth over a period of several thousand years (and also change the obliquity) were the elembets of which of the following

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trepidation

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The Hakemite Tables was a zij that was especially noteworthy because of which of the following features

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a compilation of observational data on conjunctions and eclipses

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The planetary tables that were considered by Europeans to be the best available until Copernicus came along were the

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Alfonsine Tables

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The date of Easter is fixed by rule on

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a combination of the solar cycle (tropical year), lunar cycle (synodic month) and day of the week

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Nicole Oresme of the University of Paris pointed out in the Middle Ages that Aristotle's argument against the Earth's rotation could be refuted using the newly-introduced concept of

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impetus

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Georg Peurbach's lectures on the Ptolemaic system of planetary motions (with some improvements of his own) were turning into the most widely used university text on the subject by Regiomontanus. its title was

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New Theory of the Planets

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Which of the folioing instruments was used for measuring the angular separation between objects

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Sextant (old and new)

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The Tychonic system of planets had an apparent conflict because the orbits of the Sun and Mars seemed to cross at two points. However, Tycho didn't worry about this; he was sure that crystalline spheres for the two didn't exist because

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the comet of 1577 had moved freely among the planets without bumping into anything

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The MOST CONTROVERSIAL aspect of Ptolemy's models was

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the equant, which violated uniform circular motion

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TREPIDATION, an erroneous feature introduced by Thabit ibn Qrra (Tobit) because of mistakes in Ptolemy's data, was

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a motion of the equinox around its average position following precession

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The Smarkand Observatory, one of the great observatories of the Islamic period, produced a zij that was noteworthy because it

answer

contained a star catalogue with newly measured position rather than a rehash of Ptolemy's corrected for precession

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Which of the following instruments was used for measuring the equatorial coordinates of objects

answer

equatorial armillary sphere

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The Approximate date of Ptolemy was

answer

150 AD

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