13 of the Greatest Discoveries in Astronomy (total 6 points)
SCI 105 Scientific Inquiry
Physics
Department --- Mercer University --- Fall 2007
Watch the video in
class (from The Science Channel, August 2006, with narrator Bill Nye “The
Science Guy.”). For each discovery after the first one, write down responses to
the following:
·
What was the discovery? (“The planets move.”)
·
What one question
do you have about that discovery? (“How many planets did they see?”)
1.
The planets move… How many planets are there?
2. The Earth moves. (Copernicus
1543)
Did the Earth circle the Sun, or
did the Sun circle the Earth?
Is the Earth a planet, what does it
revolve around? The Sun.
Which way does it move?
What rate does the Earth move?
In which direction does the Earth move?
How many planets did they know of then?
How
did they know the Sun was in the centre?
Did Copernicus use models to make predictions?
Did Copernicus think that the Sun moved at all in relation to other solar
systems?
What led him to believe that better sense was made with the Sun at the center?
How did Copernicus pinpoint the Sun as the center and not just another planet?
What caused him to consider this as a possibility?
Why did Copernicus wait until he was on his deathbed?
What did other people think about Copernicus' idea?
How was Copernicus' theory received?
How long did it take for other scientists to agree with Copernicus?
What does he mean "physics of the cosmos?"
3. Planetary orbits are elliptical. (Kepler 1571)
What
is an ellipse?
Does this mean that the planets will be at the same point from the Sun each time
it orbits?
Did the planets move faster the closer they were from the Sun?
Are some orbits more elliptical than others?
How far away is Earth from the Sun?
What drives the motion of the planets? The Sun.
Why don't they collide?
Is this related to seasons?
Why can't planets move in circles?
What exactly makes the path go further at one point and closer at others?
Why do planets move in ellipses and not circles?
How many previous theories did Kepler's refute?
What are some methods Copernicus (Kepler) used?
Was Kepler able to accurately predict planetary movements with regularity?
Why were the orbits of other planets still predictable while Mercury's...?
What planet passed in front of the Sun? Mars.
Why did people assume orbits were circular?
How did society come to take this as truth?
4. Jupiter has moons. (Galileo
1609)
How
many moons does it have?
How many moons does it have? 4
How many other planets have moons?
What other planets have satellites?
Was
Jupiter the first planet observed through a telescope?
How long did the toy telescope exist before Galileo perfected it?
How advanced was Galileo's telescope?
How many moons did Galileo see? 4
What did Galileo classify as a moon?
How did he know these were orbiting?
How
did Galileo know they were orbiting the planet?
How did Galileo conclude that they were moons?
What convinced Galileo that they were actually moons?
Who invented the idea that the moons orbit Jupiter? Galileo.
Did Galileo really invent the satellite?
How did Galileo come up with that notion?
Could there still be more moons we don't know about?
How many moons does Earth really have?
5. Halley’s Comet. (1695)
What
started the superstitions about comets?
Why were comets associated with evil?
How often does it come? Every 76 years.
Where did the comet come from?
Where is Halley's comet throughout the 75 years?
When is it due to circle next?
Are there any other revolving comets that circle the Sun?
Do any other comets have a pattern such as this one?
When will the next comet come around?
How large does the comet appear to those watching on Earth?
Where do comets come from?
How did the comets travel?
How
did he figure out the three comets were the same?
How did Halley know precisely the number of years of the orbit?
How do we know for sure that it's the same comet every time and what makes it
come back so methodically/timely?
How many times has his prediction remained accurate?
Was
Halley concerned that the recurring comet might be dangerous to the Earth?
6. Milky Way is a disk of stars. (Hershel 1700s)
Exactly how large is the Milky Way?
About
how many stars are in the Milky Way?
How did it become named "The Milky Way"?
Does the Milky Way move?
Why a disk?
How did those stars get into a disklike shape?
How many galaxies are there?
What are some other solar systems?
What did Hershel use to make such powerful telescopes? Were they much like
modern telescopes?
How was he able to divide the sky into sections?
How many stars did he count?
What planet did Hershel find? Uranus.
With so little seen, how is a model of the Milky way formed?
What did this discovery tell us? That Earth is just a part of a huge universe.
How did Hershel's discovery lead astronomers to believe that the universe was
much larger?
How did they know the universe was a huge expanse?
How did this affect society?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. General Relativity. (Einstein
1915)
How did Einstein realize that space was curved?
If space is curved, how do you factor this in when going to the Moon?
So can you measure the pull of space like the pull of gravity?
How did he come up with the idea of curved space?
What made him so interested in Mercury?
How did they see the changes?
How did he come up with the equation?
How long did it take to predict Mercury’s paths?
How does relativity equate to an atom bomb?
How did Einstein initially find the discrepancies in Mercury?
Does any other planet shift orbits?
How did Einstein’s study of Mercury’s orbit become the Theory of Relativity?
How did Einstein get his Theory of Relativity?
Why was it thought of as curved space?
How did he specifically refine Newton’s theory?
How did they know how to test his theory with pictures of stars?
Does this theory apply to smaller objects?
8. The universe is expanding. (Hubble 1924)
When did the Big Bang happen?
How do you measure the universe?
How do they know how to make a telescope see so far?
How did he calculate the distances?
How long did it take to build the telescope?
How far does the universe expand?
What made him want to do his job?
How powerful was the telescope?
How far will the universe expand?
Were there any that were moving in? Why were they?
Could he know if the universe is infinitely expanding?
What causes the expansion?
Where is the Milky Way located in relation to the expansion?
How powerful is the Hubble telescope?
How fast is the expansion?
How does the telescope measure difference?
How does he know blue = approaching and red = moving away?
How did they discover the color shift?
At what rate?
9. Milky Way emits radio waves. (Janske 1930)
When did everything get sucked in? (Black hole at the center of the galaxy)
What does a black hole do?
How can we see light years away?
Had anyone proposed the idea of a black hole before Janske’s discovery?
What tools did he use?
What good does it do to know this?
Why the Milky Way?
How was he able to pinpoint the location it came from?
What does a black hole look like? (Trick question)
What kind of waves if any does a black hole emit?
Do all galaxies emit radio waves?
Do black holes emit radio waves?
How did Janske discover the source of the radio waves?
How many things are detected with (different?)
wavelengths?
How did he pinpoint the black hole?
How can you measure a black hole?
How do they know that the hole could fit billions of our suns?
At what strength is this black hole expanding?
10. Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. (Penzias & Wilson 1964)
What existed before the Big Bang? (Origin of Big Bang)
Why would the Big Bang still leave heat that exists today?
What exactly is the Big Bang Theory?
Is there any other reason this radiation could exist besides the Big Bang?
How many years did it take to do the experiment?
Why did they decide to study this?
What made (them) want to do this?
Why did they want to measure radiation?
How big was the Big bang?
What were Penzias and Wilson’s ideas about the Big Bang Theory previous to
their discovery?
Why does radiation = Big Bang?
Are we really a result from the Big Bang?
Where does the radiation come from?
Why would pigeons change the measure of radiation? What makes the Big Bang
fact?
How do they know for sure where the radiation is coming from?
What did the telescope measure specifically?
It supports the theory of the Big Bang, 300,000 years ago? How can they know
that?
How can they be so sure about the Big Bang Theory?
Any plausible reason besides Big bang?
Could there be another event, other than a Big Bang, that causes such
background radiation?
What did measuring the radiation from the Earth to the Milky Way prove? What is
it needed for?
11. Gamma Ray Bursts. (1960s)
How much energy is released in a gamma ray burst?
How do gamma ray bursts occur so frequently?
What is the importance of these gamma ray bursts?
Why are gamma ray bursts considered a possible cause of extinction on Earth?
What evidence is there of this?
What do gamma ray bursts do to our galaxy?
Did this have an effect on the Cold War?
What causes them to burst?
How fast do supernovae burst?
Do gamma rays affect the earth?
Do they know what causes gamma ray bursts?
Will these bursts ever interfere with the Earth?
Can gamma ray bursts destroy the Earth?
What causes gamma ray bursts?
How did gamma ray bursts cause worldwide extinctions?
What was the closest burst?
What evidence do we have to support the gamma extinction theory?
What kind of events cause gamma ray bursts?
Could nuclear gamma rays affect human life?
12. Planets orbiting other stars. (Jeff Marcy, Alex Volchan 1990s)
Even if we identify a planet with Earth-like conditions, how can we get to it?
What degree do you need to have to use one of those telescopes?
Can people live on these other planets?
How long might it be until we can see if there are any other earths out there?
How many planets have they found so far?
Any planets that look like Earth now?
What significance does this have?
So are (people) going to live on
another planet?
How do you know where to look?
How many planets are in the “prime zone”?
Where are the triple/quadruple planet systems?
Will these telescopes find planets ever farther away?
Do other earth-like planets exist?
Could life exist on a pulsar-orbiting planet?
Are they trying to find extraterrestrial life with their work?
Are there any possibilities for earth-sized planets?
Couldn’t geothermal activity counteract a too-cold planet’s (in)ability to hold life?
How many planetary systems have been discovered?
Can this device take pictures of the new planets found?
13. The universe is accelerating. (Saul Perlmutter 1998)
What is dark energy?
What will happen if the universe keeps accelerating?
Why is the universe accelerating and how do they know?
How quickly is it accelerating?
When will satellite be released?
What effect does this have on the Earth and the people on the Earth?
How long does it take to build a telescope of that size?
How does dark energy work against gravitational force?
What is dark energy made from?
Does it go against the Big Bang Theory?
Will the universe ever decelerate? Stop?
How would you measure the acceleration?
What is dark energy? How does it relate to the accelerating universe?
Why is it important to know that the universe is expanding?
How fast is the acceleration of the universe?
How is the acceleration of the galaxy measured?
What is the “dark energy” that is causing the universe to expand?
What is dark energy? How is it compared to gravity?