Review Notes for exam 1

The first exam will cover the history of astronomy through the obsrevations and discoveries of Galileo. Make sure that you have read chapters 1 – 4 of Ferris' Coming of Age in the Milky Way, chapters 1 – 9 in Bartusiak's Archives of the Universe and chapters 1 and 2 of Comins' Discovering the Essential Universe.

Make sure that you have a thorough understanding of the concepts addressed in the homework questions (except for the concepts related to the electromagnetic spectrum and blackbody radiation covered in Homework Set 2.) Working some of the problems I did not assign is often good practice in preparation for exams as is going back through the chapters to reread the sections covering material discussed in class.

The topics covered on the exam will be:

  1. A general understanding of the scale of our solar system and the immense distances to stars (A Sense of Place presentation 2.1MB)
  2. Basic distance definitions (the astronomical unit, light-year and parsec)
  3. The celestial sphere
    1. Basic definitions (north celestial pole, Vernal equinox, ecliptic, zenith, circumpolar, etc.)
    2. The orientation of Earth’s axis and the cause of the seasons
    3. Important latitudes on Earth (Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the arctic and antarctic circles, etc.)
    4. Cause of the precession of Earth's axis
    5. Trigonometric parallax
  4. Phases of the Moon (33kB pdf)
  5. Eclipses
  6. The birth of science or (Ancient Astronomies Presentation 5.8MB pdf) and observations of the Greeks (notes in Word format 352kB )
  7. Ptolemy's geocentric model of the Universe
    1. Retrograde motion
    2. Equant
    3. "Saving the appearances"
  8. Copernicus' heliocentric model of the Universe
    1. Simplified explanation of retrograde motion
    2. Rationale for preferring a sun-centered universe
    3. Signficant planetary alignments and determination of planetary distances
  9. Understanding of synodic and sidereal periods
  10. Observations and historical significance of Tycho Brahe
  11. Johannes Kepler and the laws of planetary motion (practice problems 70kB pdf)
  12. Galileo's telescopic observations of 1609-10 and later experiments on motion and inertia

There will be some math on this test since we have discussed Kepler's laws of planetary mtion. You do not need to memorize equations or constants and numerical values since I’ll provide them. You should be generally familiar with the chronology of history and the order in which the people we've discussed lived and approximately when different discoveries were made. Memorized exact dates of births and deaths is unnecessary.

Sample Exam Questions

To help you prepare for the style of questions I often ask, here are a few sample questions to solve:

  1. Give a brief definition of the Vernal equinox.
  2. Why did Aristarchus' theory that the earth moves around the Sun fail to gain acceptance?
  3. What is the group of constellations the Sun moves through during the year?
    1. The zodiac
    2. The precession of the equinoces
    3. The ecliptic
    4. The autumnal equinox
  4. Why do seasonal variations in the amount of daylight occur?
  5. At what time of year is Earth closest to the Sun?
    1. Winter
    2. Spring
    3. Summer
    4. Fall

Solutions to Sample Questions