The Birth of

Modern
Astronomy
 • Accurately measure and recorded the
positions of the sun, the moon and the
planets
• The sun orbited Earth, while other
planets orbited the sun

TYCHO BRAHE’S UNIVERSE

picture
 • Hans Lippershey- made the first
refracting telescope
• Galileo made his own and point it in
the sky

GALILEO’S ASTRONOMICAL
OBSERVATION
1. Moon has mountains, valleys and craters
2. Sun has blemishes (sunspot)- not perfect
celestial body
3. Jupiter has 4 moons- not all heavenly
bodies revolve around the Earth

GALILEO’S FINDINGS
4. Venus phases similar to moon-
illuminated by the light of the sun
5. Stars were extremely far away and
observing stellar parallax is extremely
difficult

GALILEO’S FINDINGS
 1. Law of Ellipses
2. Law of Equal Areas
3. Laws of Harmonies
KEPLER’S LAWS OF
PLANETARY MOTION
 • The planets move in ellipses having a
common focus situated at the sun and
other focus is empty
• APHELION- farthest point
• PERIHELION- closest point

1. Law of Ellipses
 • that if the planet is nearer the sun
(focus of the ellipse) it will have to
move faster
• Planet sweeps out equal areas in equal
interval of time

2. Law of Equal Areas

 • The square of the periods of the
planets are proportional to the cubes
of their mean distances from the sun
• PERIOD- time; one complete revolution
around the sun

3. Law of Harmonies
 • AU- astronomical units
• 1 AU = mean distance of Earth
and Sun = 150,000,000

3. Law of Harmonies
• Sun does not occupy the same position in
the sky at the same time every day in a
year
• The plot position of the sun as viewed
from a fixed position on Earth at the same
time everyday in a year

The ANALEMMA
 1. Earth Axis is tilted 23.5º from the plane
of its orbit around the sun
2. Earth rotates about its axis once a day as
it revolves around the sun once every
365.25 days
3. Earth’s orbit is elliptical

REASONS:
SOLAR SYSTEM
TODAY