Introduction, Sky & Astrology

• Where does our modern culture fall on the Cosmic Calendar?
• What notion(s) does the Cosmic Calendar reinforce?
• What defines a constellation?
• Approximately how many stars can we see in the night sky (10? 100? 1000? etc.)
• What is the Celestial Sphere? Is it real? What is it useful for?
• How do stars appear to move throughout the night? Why?
• What is the Zodiac? What makes these constellations important?
• What is science? What sets it apart from, say, pseudo-science?
• What is astrology? What is it that makes astrology a pseudo-science?
• What forces do we know of? Why can none of these be the “astrological” force?
• Describe any other issues that make the validity of astrology questionable.

Early Astronomy

• Why was astronomy equivalent to astrology in ancient times?
• What importance did the sky have to ancient peoples? Why?
• Why must we take care when study ancient people & their astronomical constructs?
• Choose 3 ancient cultures and describe their use of and/or contributions to astronomy; you should be able to answer questions similar to those below.
• Some of the oldest constellation names originated with…?
• What connection to astronomy might the pyramids have had?
• Why might it be dangerous to be an ancient Chinese astronomer?
• Many star names actually originate from…?
• What (astronomical) things were the Mayans known for?
• What is so perplexing about the `sight lines’ drawn in the desert by the Nazca?

The Greeks

• Where did the Greek tradition of scientific enquiry originate? Why?
• How did what the Greeks did differ from other cultures?
• List 4 Greek scientists and their major accomplishment(s).
• How did we figure out the Earth had to be a sphere?
• How did we figure out the size of the Earth?
• What were some arguments against a `sun-centered’ solar system?
• What is (stellar) parallax? Why could the Greeks not detect any?
• If science is so great, why didn’t the Greek traditions `take off’?
• What was the `geocentric model’?
• What major objection(s) emerged regarding this model? How were they addressed?
• Why did this (incorrect) view of the universe persist for so long?

The Age of Reason: Copernicus, Brahe & Kepler

• How was some of the Ionian knowledge preserved?
• What events led to the `Dark Ages’ in Europe?
• How is `changing your mind’ perceived in general? In science? Why?
• What did Copernicus do? Why was his background important?
• Why was the idea of a heliocentric universe not instantly accepted?
• What happened to Giordano Bruno? Why?
• What was the pre-eminent astronomical tool for millenia?
• What is an `arcminute’?
• Who was Tycho Brahe? What was his major contribution to astronomy?
• How did Brahe’s observations challenge the geocentric model?
• Who was Johannes Kepler? How was he different from Brahe?
• Why was Mars a lucky choice for Kepler when assessing orbits?
• List and explain Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion.

The Age of Reason: Bruno, Galileo & Newton

• Who was Giordano Bruno?  What impact did he have on astronomy?
• What is a telescope’s fundamental purpose?
• Who was Galileo? What was he known for?
• Be able to discuss Galileo’s telescopic observations.
• Why did Galileo have trouble with the Inquisition?
• Who was Isaac Newton? What did he accomplish?
• Discuss Newton’s Laws of Motion.
• Discuss the Law of Gravitation.
• Why was Newton’s explanation of gravitation so important, philosophically?

The Modern Age

• Why was determination of the distance to the Sun so important? How was it done?
• Today we laser-range the distance to the Moon, but the Greeks did it 2000 years ago. How?
• Why were Uranus, Neptune & Pluto discovered later than the other planets?
• Why is the discovery of Neptune touted as a `triumph of science’?
• Why was it important to show that the Earth did in fact move?
• How was it shown that the Earth rotated and revolved?
• Why was stellar parallax so difficult to demonstrate? How does this limit its use?
• What did most people feel the size of the universe was in Newton’s time?
• What did Newton feel were the characteristics of our universe? His `proof’?
• What problems were there with Newton’s viewpoint?
• What is a `globular cluster’? How were they important?
• Why was the true nature of `spiral nebulae’ so difficult to determine?
• How did visible light telescopes advance during this time?
• Why are today’s largest ground based telescopes of the reflector type?
• What are CCD’s? How did they revolutionize astronomy?
• Despite its modest size, the Hubble Space Telescope was a leap forward – why?
• What is adaptive optics?  Discuss the overall idea and how it is accomplished.
• What makes spectroscopy so important?

The Space Age

• What event began the Space Age?
• Why did the `Space Race’ between American and the USSR begin?
• Where did the American expertise in rocketry originate?
• What were the main differences between Mercury, Gemini & Apollo?
• Describe the stages of an Apollo lunar mission, detailing the important steps.
• Why do some call the Lunar Module the first `true’ spacecraft?
• Who were the first men to walk on the Moon?
• What happened to Apollo 13?
• What did we learn from exploring the Moon?
• Why did the missions to the Moon end?
• Current plans to return to the Moon look very similar to Apollo. Why?
• Why is space exploration important?