The road from astronomy to

gravity in a clockwork Universe

The big mistake from Ancient
Greek Astronomy
Last lecture we learnt that we’ve know
how the sky moves for probably all of
human existence

But models of how the solar system

“worked” were generally wrong because
they were based on wrong “first
principles”, believed to be “obvious” and
not questioned.
 What was known...
Observation
1. Curved lunar terminator
2. Round shadow during lunar
eclipse
3. Different stars at zenith at
different locations at same time
4. No paralax of stars
5. Theory of eclipses
6. Geometry for navigation
7. Study of complex planetary
motion
Inference
1. Moon spherical (Pythagoras)
2. Earth Spherical (Pythagoras)
3. Earth Spherical (Aristotle)
4. Stars very far away (Aristotle)
5. Moon<Earth<Sun (Aristarcus)
6. Calculated diameter of the
Earth (Eratostherese)
7. Epicycle theory (Ptolomy)
Prediciton of planetary motion
including eclipses.
 But why was the Earth thought
to be stationary?
1. The Earth is not part of the heavens (today we know it is
one of 8 planets and our Sun is quite ordinary).
2. The celestial objects are bright points of light while Earth
is an immense non-luminous sphere of mud and rock.
3. The Greeks saw little change in the heavens while Earth
was the home of birth, change and decay.
4. Finally, our senses show that the Earth appears to be
stationary. There isn’t a strong wind for example!
But there was a problem...
The stars were fixed
but some “stars”
or “wanderers”
Did this....

From astronomynotes.com
 Ptolemy – 85-165
• Published – The
mathemtical collection,
“Al Magiste” (The
Greatest). Used for 1000
years
• Hypatia, 375-415 first
known female
astronomers wrote
commentary on
Almagest.
• Alexandria fell 640.

From astronomynotes.com
 Copernicus – 1473-1543

From astronomynotes.com His student Rheticus wrote a commentary on his theory.

Huntingdon Library
Pasadena, USA
Huntingdon Library
Pasadena, USA
 Evidence
Against Copernicus

From astronomynotes.com
 The Scientific Method
• Hypothesis to explain an observation
• Make a predication
• New Observations
• Match?
• YES > Accepted Theory
• NO > New hypothesis required…

• How did Copernicus use this? Earth orbits Sun implies

stars should move – stars do not move – thus false
theory.
• But really means stars are very far away….
 The Scientific Method
• A good theory will solve problems using the same
pattern of reasoning or problem-solving strategy and
opens up new areas of research.
• The problem is that no matter how much evidence we
have for a conclusion, the conclusion could still
conceivably be false.
• Key point: our ideas/theories change, physical laws do
not, in other words: “the Universe knows what it's doing
we don't”.
Galileo Galilei – 1594–1642
• Reinvented the modern view of science:
Transition from a faith-based “science” to
an observation-based scientific method.

• Greatly improved on the newly invented

telescope technology. (But Galileo did
NOT invent the telescope!)

• Was the first to meticulously report

telescope observations of the sky to
support the Copernican Model of the
Universe.
From astronomynotes.com
Major Discoveries of Galileo (1) & (2)
• Moons of Jupiter
(4 Galilean moons)

(What he really saw)

• Rings of Saturn

(What he really saw)

Major Discoveries of Galileo (3)
• Surface structures on the moon; first estimates
of the height of mountains on the moon

From celestronimages.com
Major Discoveries of Galileo (4)

• Sun spots (proving that the

sun is not perfect!)
Major Discoveries of Galileo (5)
• Phases of Venus (including “full Venus”),
proving that Venus orbits the sun, not the Earth!
 Galileo’s observations provided
extra evidence for Copernicus.
1. The Earth is not part of the heavens (today we know it is one of 8 planets
and our Sun is quite ordinary).
2. The celestial objects are bright points of light while Earth is an immense
non-luminous sphere of mud and rock.
→ Galileo saw the Moon and planets where like
Earth.
3. The Greeks saw little change in the heavens while Earth was the home of
birth, change and decay.
→ Galileo saw the moons of Jupiter he saw change
and he saw sunspots on the Sun.
4. Finally, our senses show that the Earth appears to be stationary. There isn’t
a strong wind for example!
→ Apparent retrograde motion can be explained if
the Earth orbits the Sun and not otherwise.
 Post Galileo Chronology
1633 – Galileo put under house arrest.


1642 – Galileo dies, Issac Newton born



1742 – “Dialogues” published in Padua but with commetary



1820 – Catholic Church allows Joseph Settele to treat motion of the Earth as an


established fact.
1835 – Index of Prohibited books omits “Dialogues” for the first time.


1979 – Pope John Paul II admits “Galileo suffered unjustly at the hands of the


Church”.

From astronomynotes.com
© Prof Chuck Dyer
 Tycho Brahe – 1546-1601

'Astronomie Populaire' by Camille

Flammarion (Paris, 1884).
From astronomynotes.com
 Tycho Brahe – 1546-1601
• Best observations pre-telescope, location
of planets to a few arc minutes. 10 times
better than anything previous.
• World model mathematically equivalent to
Copernicus’ but Sun goes around Earth,
all other planets go around the Sun.
• Measured that stars are >700 times farther
away from Saturn than Saturn is from the
Sun (It is actually 28500 times!)
 Johaness Kepler 1571-1630
• Hired by Tycho to work out mathematical
detail of his model. Instead used
Copernicus’ model!
• He could only model the solar system to
fit Tycho’s observations if:
1. Planetary orbits are ellipses with the
Sun at one focus.
2. A line between the planet and the
Sun sweeps out equal areas in
equal times.
3. (T1 / T2)2=(R1/R2)3
or comparing planets to Earth
(Orbital Period / year)2=(Distance
from Sun / A.U.)3
From astronomynotes.com
 Johaness Kepler 1571-1630

From astronomynotes.com
 Issac Newton – 1641- 1727
●
We now understood how the
solar system moved but not
why.
●
Issac Newton with his formal
laws of motion and invention
of calculus was able to dervive
his “Law of Gravity” that
explained why gravity holds us
on the ground as well as the
motion of the planets and
stars.

From astronomynotes.com
 Newton’s First Law of Motion

A body at rest remains at rest. A body moving in a straight line

maintains a constant speed and the same direction unless it is
deflected by a force. (Qualitative!)

From astronomynotes.com
 Newton’s First Law of Motion

A body at rest remains at reast. A body moving in a straight line

maintains a constant speed and the same direction unless it is
deflected by a force. (Qualitative!)

From astronomynotes.com
 Newton’s Second Law of Motion

Or the acceleration of an object to which a force is applied is equal

to the magnitude of the force divided by the mass of the object. Big
force big acceleration. Massive car more difficult to push than a
bicycle. (Quantitative!)
From astronomynotes.com
 Newton’s Third Law of Motion

Forces exist in pairs. Every force has an equal an opposite reaction.

Your weight pushes down on your chair which pushes back up with
exactly the same force to you don’t fly up to the ceiling or fall to the
floor.
From astronomynotes.com
 Circular Motion, needs a Force

So to make the
planets orbit the Sun
and the Moon to orbit
the Earth a force was
needed!

From astronomynotes.com
 Newton’s Law of Gravity

From astronomynotes.com
From astronomynotes.com
From
From astronomynotes.com
astronomynotes.com
 Summary
●
The Earth goes around the Sun and there is lots of
evidence that this is the case but it required us to use the
scientific method to prove it is the case, thanks to
Copernicus and Galileo.
●
Orbits of planets are elliptical rather than circular and it
required the observations of Tycho and the theoretical
insight of Kepler.
●
The motion of the planets allowed Netwon with
mathematics and laws of motion to derive a force of
gravity which also explained tides.