7/10/2016

Ptolemy's Geocentric (Earth-centered)

Cosmos
1. The celestial realm is spherical, and moves as a
sphere.
2. The Earth is a sphere.
3. The Earth is at the center of the cosmos.
4. The Earth, in relation to the distance of the fixed
stars, has no appreciable size and must be treated as
Scientists who Studied the Earth 5.
a mathematical point.
The Earth does not move. Ptolemy
Ptolemy assigned the following order to the
planetary spheres beginning with the
innermost:
1. Moon
2. Mercury
3. Venus
4. Sun
5. Mars
6. Jupiter
7. Saturn
8. Sphere of fixed stars

What does the difference in Earth’s

Eratosthenes polar circumference and equatorial
• "Father of Geography“ circumference imply?
• He is best known for being
the first person to calculate
the circumference of the
Earth.
• He was also the first to
calculate the tilt of the
Earth's axis.

1

Aristarchus
• He presented the first known model
that placed the Sun at the center of
the known universe with the Earth
revolving around it (Heliocentric).
Tycho Brahe
• Danish nobleman who
systematically studied stellar
and planetary locations with
accuracy even without the aid
of a telescope.
• However, he was a believer of
the Earth-centered theory
7/10/2016
Nicolas Copernicus
• He formulated a model
(known as COPERNICAN
SYSTEM) that placed
the Sun rather than the
Earth at the center of
the universe
(Heliocentric Theory).
Galileo Galilei
• “Father of observational
astronomy“
• “Father of modern
physics“
• “Father of science“
• He constructed an
improved version of the
telescope.
2
 7/10/2016

Galileo was Correct Ferdinand Magellan

• Portuguese explorer
who is known to
circumnavigate the
Earth but was killed by
Lapu-Lapu in 1521.
• He proved that the
world is round.

At the end of the last Apollo 15 moon walk (1971), Commander David Scott held out a
geologic hammer and a feather and dropped them at the same time. Because they were
essentially in a vacuum, there was no air resistance and the feather fell at the same rate as
the hammer, as Galileo had concluded hundreds of years before.

Ancient people believed that the Earth was… Johannes Kepler

1. Flat with four corners • German mathematician,
2. Looked like a cross astronomer, and
(Aztecs and Mayans) astrologer who is best
3. Flat coin (Hindus) known for his laws of
planetary motion.

3
 7/10/2016

Heliocentric Model based on

Copernican Theory Isaac Newton
1. The planetary orbit is a circle • He formulated the laws
2. The Sun at the center of the orbit of motion and law of
3. The speed of the planet in the orbit is constant universal gravitation.
Kepler’s Law of Planetary Motion
1. The planetary orbit is not a circle, but an ellipse.
2. The Sun is not at the center but at a focal point of the
elliptical orbit.
3. Neither the linear speed nor the angular speed of the
planet in the orbit is constant, but the area speed is
constant.

Think of this…
• Milky Way galaxy is
spinning around its
center at the speed of
568,000 mph.
• Milky Way galaxy is
hurtling through space
at 1.3 million mph.

4
 7/10/2016

• Milky Way is more

massive than
Andromeda galaxy.
• Earth's surface rotates • Solar system (Sun and 8
• Possible collision
at about 1,000 mph planets) whirls around
between the
• Earth is orbiting around the center of Milky Way
neighboring galaxies
the Sun at about 67,000 galaxy at 43,000 mph
is likely to happen 2-4
billion years away. mph once every 200 million
years