Astronomy 1021 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Almagest, Semi-Major And Semi-Minor Axes, Paradigm Shift

• School: Western University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: Astronomy 1021
• Professor: Jan Cami

Document Summary

Science is a way of learning about nature through careful observation and trial-and-error experiments. Rather than thinking differently than other people, modern scientists simply are trained to organize everyday thinking in a way that makes it easier for them to share their discoveries and use their collective wisdom. Astronomy has been called the oldest of the sciences, because its roots stretch deepest into antiquity. Practical benefits of astronomy: making careful observations of the sky comes from our inherent curiosity as humans, but ancient cultures also discovered that astronomy had practical benefits for timekeeping, keeping track of seasonal changes, and navigation. People in some africa regions learned to predict rainfall patterns by making careful observations of the moon. The orientation of the horns of a waxing crescent moon varies over the course of the year, primarily because the angle at which the ecliptic intersects the horizon changes during the year.