Scribd
Upload
1K views17 pages

The Birth of Modern Astronomy

Galileo Galilei made several important astronomical discoveries in the early 1600s using his telescope that supported Copernicus' heliocentric model of the solar system. He discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter, observed mountains and craters on the Moon, and spotted sunspots on the Sun. Johannes Kepler later used Tycho Brahe's astronomical observations to develop his three laws of planetary motion, establishing that planets move in ellipses with the Sun at one focus.

Uploaded by

MarArizala
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
1K views17 pages

The Birth of Modern Astronomy

Galileo Galilei made several important astronomical discoveries in the early 1600s using his telescope that supported Copernicus' heliocentric model of the solar system. He discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter, observed mountains and craters on the Moon, and spotted sunspots on the Sun. Johannes Kepler later used Tycho Brahe's astronomical observations to develop his three laws of planetary motion, establishing that planets move in ellipses with the Sun at one focus.

Uploaded by

MarArizala
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

THE BIRTH OF

MODERN
ASTRONOMY
• The development of modern
astronomy began with a break from
the philosophical views of the
Greek astronomers and the
religious views of the medieval
Catholic Church.
GALILEO GALILEI(1564-1642)

• Galileo was the greatest Italian


scientist of the Renaissance.
• His the most important contributions
were his description of the behavior of
moving objects.
GALILEO AND HIS TELESCOPE

• Galileo created his own telescope without ever


seeing one. Using it, he was able to view the
universe in a new way.
• He made many important discoveries that
supported Copernicu’s view of the universe.
1. THE DISCOVERY OF FOUR
SATELLITES OF JUPITER

• This proved that the old idea of the


Earth being the only center of motion
was wrong.
• Jupiter was another center of motion
too.
2. THE DISCOVERY THAT PLANETS ARE
CIRCULAR DISKS

• Not just points of lights. This


showed that the planets must be
Earth-like, so Earth wasn’t that
special.
3. THE DISCOVERY THAT THE MOON’S
SURFACE WAS NOT SMOOTH

• Galileo saw mountains, craters,


and very plains, very much like
the ones on Earth.
4. THE DISCOVERY THAT THE SUN HAD
SUNSPOTS, OR DARK REGIONS.

• Galileo tracked the movement of


these spots and estimated the
rotational period of the sun as
just under a month.
JOHANNES KEPLER(1571-1630)

• Johannes Kepler worked as Brahe’s


assistant during Brahe’s last years,
and was convinced of Brahe’s
accuracy.
• Kepler used Brahe’s work to discover
three important laws of planetary
motion.
KEPLER’S LAWS OF PLANETARY
MOTION
1. Law of Ellipses
- the planets move in ellipses having a
common focus situated at the sun
• Perihelion – closest point to the sun in a
planet’s orbit
• Aphelion – farthest point to the sun in a
planet’s orbit
KEPLER’S LAWS OF PLANETARY
MOTION
2. Law of Equal Areas
- the planets move around the sun in
such a way that a line drawn from the sun to
the planet sweeps out equal areas in equal
intervals of time
KEPLER’S LAWS OF PLANETARY
MOTION
3. Law of Harmonies
- the squares of the periods of the
planets are proportional to the cubes of their
mean distances from the sun
THE SOLAR SYSTEM TODAY

You might also like