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Astronomy Exam 2
Astronomy Exam 2
11
Astronomy
Undergraduate 2
03/01/2011

Additional Astronomy Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Geocentric Model
Definition

Any of the Ancient Greek models that were used to predict planetary positions under the assumption that Earth lay in the center of the Universe.

(Chp 3, Slide 5)

Term
Geocentric Universe
Definition

An ancient belief that the Earth is the center of the entire Universe

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Chp 3, Slide 5)

Term
Heliocentric Model
Definition

 

 

The model where the Sun is at center of the Universe and the Earth orbits like any other planet.  Inferior planet orbits are smaller.

(Chp. 3, Slide 13)

Term
Apparent Retrograde Motion
Definition

 Refers to the apparent motion of a planet, as viewed from Earth during the period of a few weeks or months when it moves westward relative to the stars in our sky.

 

 

 we appear to "lap" Mars & the other superior planets.

 

 

(Chp 3, Slide 13 &22)

Term
Kepler's First Law
Definition

States that the orbit of each planet about the sun is an ellipse with the sun at one focus.

 

(Chp. 3, Slide 16)

Term
Kepler's Law of Planetary Motion
Definition
Three laws discovered by Kepler that describe the motion of the planets around the sun.
Term
Kepler's Second Law
Definition

States that, as a planet moves around its orbit, it sweeps out equal areas in equal areas in equal times. This tells us that a planet moves faster when it's closer to the Sun (near perihelion) than when it is farther from the sun (near aphelion) in its orbit.

 

(Chp. 3, Slide 18)

Term
Kepler's Third Law
Definition

States that the square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of its average distance from the sun (semimajor axis) which tells us that more distant planets move more slowly in their orbits. In its written original form, written p^2=a^3.

 

(Chp.3, Slide 19)

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