AST-1002 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Semi-Major And Semi-Minor Axes
Document Summary
You will learn what makes a theory scientific, as well as the scientific discoveries that revealed that earth is not at the center of the universe, as previously believed. We will cover copernicus"s argument that the planets orbit the sun, and why the direction of motion of each planet on the celestial sphere sometimes appears to change. You will also find that kepler"s determination of the shapes and other properties of planetary orbits depended on the careful observations of his mentor tycho brahe, and how isaac. Newton formulated an equation to describe the force of gravity and how he thereby explained why the planets and moons remain in orbit. Hyperbolic and parabolic orbits are open, which means that objects traveling on these types of orbits only pass by the central object (the sun in our solar system) once. Since the gravitational force depends on mass, the blue star is more massive in the animation above.
