PHYS 1055 Final: Astronomy Final
Document Summary
Read the big picture and summary of key concepts of each chapter. Distance scale: mercury 19 feet, venus 36 feet, earth 49 feet, mars 75 feet. Cosmic calendar: big bang january 1st, earth formed in september, 26th of december dinosaurs extinct on 30th, agriculture last 25 seconds of the year. Chapter 2 seasons depend on earth"s axis affects the directness of sunlight. Annual motion: the sun appears to move eastward along the ecliptic, at midnight the stars on our meridian . Phases of the moon: half of it is always lit, same rotation and revolution period of earth caused by tidal friction, phases of the earth are opposite from the moon. Greeks were the first people known to make models of nature: eratosthenes measured the earth circumference of earth, ptolemaic model planets go backward (retrograde motion) in this model (geocentric model)
