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In General

• Around what time was the currently accepted model for the solar system proposed?
• What celestial objects were known from antiquity until the 16th century?

Copernicus

• What contribution to astronomy was made by Copernicus?
• What kind of telescope did Copernicus use?
• What is the main assumption in a heliocentric model of the Universe?
• What is a major difference between Copernicus' model and our present ideas?

Tycho Brahe

• What kind of telescope did Tycho Brahe use?
• What contribution to astronomy was made by Tycho Brahe?
• Why were Tycho's observations of a supernova and a comet important?
• How was Tycho able to establish that comets were more distant than the Moon?
• In what way was stellar parallax relevant to Tycho's ideas about the solar system?

Kepler

• Why is Kepler important in the history of astronomy?
• What was Kepler's relationship with Tycho Brahe?
• What does it mean to say that Kepler's laws are "empirical"?
• How did Kepler arrive at the formulation of his laws?
• According to Kepler's laws, what is the shape of the orbit of a planet?
• Who discovered that the orbits of planets are ellipses?
• Does the speed of a planet along its orbit vary?
• How did Kepler explain the retrograde motion of Mars?
• How do the speeds of two planets at different distances from the Sun compare?
• Why do planets that are further from the Sun take longer to complete their orbit?
• Jupiter is about 5 times as far from the Sun as we are; how long is a Jupiter year?
• Does it follow from Kepler's laws that the orbits of the planets are in the same plane?
• Do we consider Kepler's laws for the solar system to be correct?
• Do Kepler's laws explain the reason for the shape of the planets' orbits?

Galileo

• What contribution to astronomy was made by Galileo?
• Around what time were telescopes first used in astronomy?
• What kind of telescope did Galileo use?
• What important fact did Galileo observe about Jupiter with his telescope?
• Why was Galileo's observation of Jupiter important?
• What did Galileo discover about the Sun/the Moon?
• Why was Galileo's observation of Venus important?
• What important fact did Galileo's observation of the Milky Way show?