ASTR 101 chp 3 reading quiz – Flashcards
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What practical value did astronomy offer to ancient civilizations?
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It helped them keep track of time and seasons, and it was used by some cultures for navigation.
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Scientific thinking is _________.
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based on everyday ideas of observation and trial-and-error experiments
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The names of the seven days of the week are based on _________.
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the seven naked-eye objects that appear to move among the constellations
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The Metonic cycle is
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used to keep lunar calendars approximately synchronized with solar calendars.
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Ptolemy was important in the history of astronomy because he _________.
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developed a model of the solar system that made sufficiently accurate predictions of planetary positions to remain in use for many centuries
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The ancient Greeks get a lot of attention for their contributions to science because _________.
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they were the first people known to try to explain nature with models based on reason and mathematics, without resort to the supernatural
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What do we mean by a geocentric model of the universe?
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A model designed to explain what we see in the sky while having the Earth located in the center of the universe.
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What was the Ptolemaic model?
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An Earth-centered model of planetary motion published by Ptolemy
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The great contribution of Nicholas Copernicus was to _________.
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create a detailed model of our solar system with the Sun rather than Earth at the center
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The great contribution of Tycho Brahe was to _________.
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observe planetary positions with sufficient accuracy so that Kepler could later use the data to discover the laws of planetary motion
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Which of the following was not observed by Galileo?
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Stellar parallax
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Which of the following statements about an ellipse is not true?
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The focus of an ellipse is always located precisely at the center of the ellipse.
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Which of the following is not one of, nor a direct consequence of, Kepler's Laws?
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The force of attraction between any two objects decreases with the square of the distance between their centers.
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Scientific models are used to _________.
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make specific predictions that can be tested through observations or experiments
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In science, a broad idea that has been repeatedly verified so as to give scientists great confidence that it represents reality is called _________.
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a theory
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Which of the following best describes how modern astronomers view astrology?
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Astrology played an important part in the development of astronomy in ancient times, but it is not a science by modern standards.
