ASTRON 1F03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Inverse-Square Law, Systematic Chaos, Sidereus Nuncius
18 Dec 2015
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Early ideas (e. g. aristotle) proposed things fell down because earth at the centre was the natural state of things. Kepler"s ideas didn"t relate gravity as felt on earth to the motion of planets. Kepler"s laws need to be empirically adjusted for each system. Kepler"s laws fit the observed planetary motions in an empirical manner. = 1 a3 only works for planets around the sun. For example, p2 other systems, p2 = k a3 where k 0. There is no proceeding theory to explain why they are correct. Credited as the father of modern scientific inquiry and modern astronomy. He theorized the equal action of gravity on falling things. He did not invent the telescope but immediately built his own and was first to pursue. The church embraced aristotle"s perfect and unchanging heavenly spheres, but galileo saw: astronomy with it (1609).
