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    Astronomy Essentials
    Astronomy Essentials
    Astronomy Essentials
    Ebook202 pages1 hour

    Astronomy Essentials

    By Charles Brass

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    About this ebook

    REA’s Essentials provide quick and easy access to critical information in a variety of different fields, ranging from the most basic to the most advanced. As its name implies, these concise, comprehensive study guides summarize the essentials of the field covered. Essentials are helpful when preparing for exams, doing homework and will remain a lasting reference source for students, teachers, and professionals. Astronomy includes the historical perspective of astronomy, sky basics and the celestial coordinate systems, a model and the origin of the solar system, the sun, the planets, Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, planetary satellites, asteroids, eclipses, tides, stars, time, and binoculars and telescopes.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherResearch & Education Association
    Release dateJan 1, 2013
    ISBN9780738671567
    Astronomy Essentials
    Author

    Charles Brass

    Charles Brass works as a CT/MRI technologist at the local hospital and at a new 24-hour emergency clinic in a small town south of Minnesota’s Twin Cities. During his six years of active duty in the United States Navy, he served five months in Bahrain during the first Gulf War. Now, with a BS in Animation under his belt, he’s working on a patient education video business during the day and CT and MRI scans on sick and injured people at night. Still, he finds enough spare time to write. Charles first began writing twenty years ago, just to get some of his many story ideas on paper. Over the years he has honed his craft and developed a passion for telling tales about characters whose lives are turned upside-down, and how they struggle to overcome their sudden and sometimes overwhelming misfortunes. Now with three books published and a fourth on the way, Charles now looks forward to entertaining readers with his first short story publication titled ‘Nit.’

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      Book preview

      Astronomy Essentials - Charles Brass

      These Little Books have rescued lots of grades and more!

      (a sample of the hundreds of letters REA receives each year)

      "I can’t tell you how much that little book helped me. It saved my GPA and quite possibly my sanity."

      Student, Winchester, IN

      "Your book has really helped me sharpen my skills and improve my weak areas. Definitely will buy more. "

      Student, Buffalo, NY

      "I think it’s the greatest study guide I have ever used! "

      Student, Anchorage, AK

      "I wish to congratulate you on publishing such excellent books. "

      Instructor, Big Rapids, MI

      "I found your Essentials book very helpful. Now tattered and covered with notes, I take it to class daily. "

      Student, Huntington Beach, CA

      "I bought The Essentials of Electric Circuits and was very impressed. Congratulations on such a well thought out summary. "

      Engineer, Colorado Springs, CO

      THE ESSENTIALS®

      OF ASTRONOMY

      Year 2004 Printing

      Copyright © 1998, 1995 by Research & Education Association. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher.

      Printed in the United States of America

      Library of Congress Control Number 98-65424

      International Standard Book Number 0-87891-965-1

      ESSENTIALS is a registered trademark of

      9780738671567

      Research & Education Association, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854

      WHAT THE ESSENTIALS WILL DO FOR YOU

      This book is a review and study guide. It is comprehensive and it is concise.

      It helps in preparing for exams and in doing homework, and remains a handy reference source at all times.

      It condenses the vast amount of detail characteristic of the subject matter and summarizes the essentials of the field.

      It will thus save hours of study and preparation time.

      The book provides quick access to the important concepts, definitions, principles, and practices in the field.

      Materials needed for exams can be reviewed in summary form—eliminating the need to read and re-read many pages of textbook and class notes. The summaries will even tend to bring detail to mind that had been previously read or noted.

      This ESSENTIALS book has been prepared by an expert in the field, and has been carefully reviewed to ensure accuracy and maximum usefulness.

      Dr. Max Fogiel

      Program Director

      Table of Contents

      These Little Books have rescued lots of grades and more!

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      WHAT THE ESSENTIALS WILL DO FOR YOU

      CHAPTER 1 - Astronomy – A Historical Perspective

      CHAPTER 2 - Sky Basics and Celestial Coordinate Systems

      CHAPTER 3 - Time Reckoning

      CHAPTER 4 - Instruments for Observing

      CHAPTER 2 - Sky Basics and Celestial Coordinate Systems

      CHAPTER 3 - Time Reckoning

      CHAPTER 4 - Instruments for Observing

      CHAPTER 5 - The Solar System

      CHAPTER 6 - The Sun

      CHAPTER 7 - The Planets

      CHAPTER 8 - Planetary Satellites

      CHAPTER 9 - Asteroids, Meteoroids, and Comets

      CHAPTER 10 - Eclipses

      CHAPTER 11 - Stars

      CHAPTER 12 - The Observable Universe

      CHAPTER 13 - Extraterrestrial Intelligence

      The ESSENTIALS of Math & Science

      REA’s Problem Solvers

      REA’s Test Preps The Best in Test Preparation

      These Little Books have rescued lots of grades and more!

      CHAPTER 1

      Astronomy – A Historical Perspective

      1.1 Astronomy vs. Astrology

      Astronomy is the scientific study of the Universe and its contents beyond Earth’s atmosphere. It should not be confused with astrology, which is a belief that human personality traits are directly influenced by the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets in relation to the stars. Astrology’s contribution to the science of astronomy was the accurate records kept of the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets with respect to the stars.

      1.2 Early Sky Observers

      Many early sky observers believed the Universe to be finite in size and almost always placed a stationary Earth at its center. Thus, Earth was also seen as the center of the Solar System. The Sun, Moon, and the five known planets were seen as circling Earth in some fashion and moving against a background of fixed stars.

      1.2.1 Aristarchus of Samos (310-230 B.C.E.)

      Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer, was the first to propose a Sun-centered (heliocentric) model of the Solar System correctly. He stated that Earth rotated on its axis and revolved around the Sun. This correctly explained the apparent daily motion of the sky and the annual motion of the Sun with respect to the stars. This view was short-lived due to the lack of evidence of stellar parallax and a true understanding of natural physical laws.

      1.2.2 Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)

      Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher and most famous pupil of Plato, devised an Earth-centered (geocentric) model of the Universe based on uniform circular motion. His teachings described Earth as corrupt and changeable and the heavens as perfect and immutable. Although his system did not describe celestial motions very well, his teachings dominated thinking for nearly 1,800 years.

      1.2.3 Hipparchus (Work Contributions from 160-127 B.C.E.)

      Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer, believed in a geocentric model of the Solar System and adopted two systems to explain naked eye motions. One system involved movable eccentrics (intersecting circles that don’t share the same center) and the other involved epicycles (small circles) and deferents (large circles). He is best known for discovering Earth’s precessional motion and for laying the foundation for our stellar magnitude scale, which offers a quantitative measure of relative brightness among celestial bodies.

      1.2.4 Claudius Ptolemy (Lived Around 140 C.E.)

      Ptolemy, a Greek scientist, also believed in a geocentric model of the Solar System. His final model included movable eccentrics, epicycles, deferents, and the equant (devised by him), which is an imaginary point around which an epicycle moves at a uniform rate. This model, along with his table of planetary motions, endured for nearly 15 centuries. Ptolemy compiled a series of 13 volumes on astronomy known as the Almagest. The Almagest is our main source of Greek astronomy and includes Ptolemy’s personal contributions along with a collection of astronomical achievement before his time. The work of Hipparchus is a principal part of this collection.

      1.2.5 Nicolaus

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