Astronomy Chapter 3 Answers – Flashcards
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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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Galileo's observations of a complete set of phases of Venus proved
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that Venus orbited the sun
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Why did Galileo's observations of moons orbiting Jupiter disagree with geocentric model of the universe of his time?
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The moons did not appear to orbit Earth
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Tycho failed to detect ______ for the nova of 1572 indicating it was ______.
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parallax; beyond the orbit of Earth's moon.
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The Copernican system was no more accurate than the Ptolemaic system in predicting the positions of the planets because ___________just as in the Ptolemaic system.
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the Copernican system used uniform circular motion
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In Ptolemy's view of the universe, a planet moves on an epicycle whose center moves around the Earth on the deferent circle.
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correct
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The greatest inaccuracy in Copernicus's model of the solar system was that the planets
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traveled in circular orbits with uniform motion.
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One of the "nails in the coffin" for the Earth-centered universe was
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Galileo's observations of the moons of Jupiter
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The phases of Venus observed by Galileo support the model of the universe presented by
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Copernicus
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Which of the following was not observed by Galileo?
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stellar parallax
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Galileo used a telescope to discover all of following except
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rotational motion of the Earth
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When Copernicus first created his Sun-centered model of the universe, it did not lead to substantially better predictions of planetary positions than the Ptolemaic model. Why not?
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Copernicus used perfect circles for the orbits of the planets
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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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Match the accomplishment to the person:
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Tycho collected data, Kepler found elliptical orbits, Newton explained in terms of physics.
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When observing planetary motions from Earth, the phrase "direct motion" refers to
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A slow eastward motion of the planet from night to night against the background stars.
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Nicolaus Copernicus was the first person to
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Develop a mathematical model for a Sun-centered solar system
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The ancient goal of astrology was to
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predict human events
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Retrograde motion (east to west among the stars) is observed
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for some planets as Earth passes between that planet and the sun
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Kepler used Tycho's observations to show that the planets
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followed elliptical orbits
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Why did Ptolemy have the planets orbiting Earth on "circles upon circles" in his model of the universe?
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to explain the fact that planets sometimes appear to move westward, rather than eastward, relative to the stars in our sky
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Which of the following is NOT a fundamental difference between the geocentric and Sun-centered models of the solar system?
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The geocentric model is useless for predicting planetary positions in the sky, whereas even the earliest Sun-centered models worked almost perfectly.
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A(n) ____ is well supported (observational and/or experimental) system of rules and principles that can be applied to a wide variety of circumstances
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theory
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A(n) ____ is a small circle whose center is located on the circumference of another larger circle.
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epicycle
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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 purpose of using epicycles and deferents to explain the motion of the planets in the night sky was to account for
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retrograde motion
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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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What phases of Venus were observed by Galileo?
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New, Crescent, Quarter, Gibbous, and Full phases.
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In pre-Copernican astronomy, it was almost universally believed that
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Earth was at the center of the universe
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Tycho Brahe's greatest contribution to astronomy was
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his 20 years of careful observations of the planets
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Galileo challenged the idea that objects in the heavens were perfect by ___
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observing sunspots on the Sun and mountains on the Moon
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Which of the following statements expresses what we mean by a scientific theory?
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A simple model that explains a wide variety of phenomena and that has survived repeated tests
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Galileo's telescopic discovery of moons orbiting Jupiter was important because it showed that
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the universe could contain centers of motion other than Earth
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Which of the following people did NOT accept a heliocentric model for the universe?
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Tycho
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Ptolemy's model of the universe
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contained epicycles
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Parallax is
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the apparent motion of an object due to the motion of the observer.
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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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An apparent westward motion of a planet in the sky compared to the background stars (as viewed from Earth) when observed on successive nights is referred to as
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retrograde motion
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Galileo's telescopic discoveries of mountains on the moon and spots on the sun were controversial because they suggested that the sun and moon
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were not perfect spheres
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How did the Ptolemaic model explain the apparent retrograde motion of the planets?
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The planets moved along small circles that moved on larger circles around the Earth.
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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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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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theory
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When observing planetary motions from Earth, the phrase "retrograde motion" refers to
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A slow westward motion of the planet from night to night against the background stars
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The Kepler model of the solar system is
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Sun-centered, with elliptical planetary orbits
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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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Only one of the statements is correct. Which one?
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Scientific theories can never be proved true beyond all doubt
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Which of the following statements about scientific theories is not true?
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A theory cannot be taken seriously by scientists if it contradicts other theories developed by scientists over the past several hundred years
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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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Galileo observed all of the following. Which observation offered direct proof of a planet orbiting the Sun?
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phases of Venus
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The path that led to modern science emerged from ancient civilizations in which part of the world
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the Mediterranean
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Direct motion of a planet is its normal motion ____________ among the stars.
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west to east along the ecliptic
