Astronomy Review - Renaissance Astronomy

Review Checklist - Sample Questions

Renaissance Astronomy

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

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

Up to astronomy resources; Page by Luca Bombelli <bombelli"at"olemiss.edu>, Modified 30 dec 2005