AST 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Semi-Major And Semi-Minor Axes, Orbital Period

• School: Syracuse University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: AST 101
• Professor: Walter Freeman

Document Summary

Natural laws v consequences somethings are extremely complex. Laws of universe are simple and elegant. Forces cause objects to change their velocities. (cid:862)fo(cid:396)(cid:272)es (cid:272)ause o(cid:271)je(cid:272)ts to a(cid:272)(cid:272)ele(cid:396)ate(cid:863: f=ma, f/m=a. Showed what kepler suggested: all objects attract all other objects with a force that is. Proportional to the product of their masses. Inversely proportional to the distance between them squared. Observed supernova in constellation cassiopeia: proved old worldview (world behind moon is eternal) wrong observed no parallax in supernova, two options. Stars are very far away: correction for atmosphere bending light (accurate to a few min of an arc) Improve cope(cid:396)(cid:374)i(cid:272)us" (cid:373)odel (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h used (cid:272)i(cid:396)(cid:272)ula(cid:396) o(cid:396)(cid:271)its: no matter how he rearranged circles, there was an error for mars. (cid:862)the(cid:396)e is a fo(cid:396)(cid:272)e i(cid:374) the ea(cid:396)th (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h (cid:272)auses the moo(cid:374) to (cid:373)o(cid:448)e(cid:863) (cid:894)g(cid:396)a(cid:448)ity(cid:895) Laws of planetary motion: planets move in ellipses with the sun at one focus.