NATS 1745 Study Guide - Hershel Greene, Messier Object, Christiaan Huygens
16 May 2012
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17th century: telescope + newton"s physics resulted in broader view of solar system. Galileo discovers the moons of jupiter, observes saturn"s rings (although unaware, believed. Christian huygens: explained saturn"s rings, discovered saturn"s largest moon (titan), involved in designing accurate clocks for measuring longitude. Cassini (1625 1712): director of paris observatory in 1671, discovered saturn"s moon, titan (and others), discovered gap in saturn"s rings (now called cassini gap), made accurate observations of movements and eclipses of jupiter"s moons. Mid 1700"s comet hunting becomes popular thanks to the telescope. Application of newton"s physics allows for discovery of comet orbits (ex. On average, 2 to 3 comets enter our solar system every month, shortest comet orbit is 3-5. Charles messier: comet hunter who compiled the first catalogue of non stellar objects (messier. Catalogue), found roughly 110 to 115 objects (not stars nor comets) Bode"s law: proposed in 1778, it is a mathematical relationship between the separations of the planets.
