ASTR 1101 : Astronomy Test 1 Notes
Document Summary
Lecture 2: observations of the night sky and ancient greek astronomy. Philosophical ideas of the ancient greeks: the heavens represent perfection, the heavens are immutable (unchanging, this circle is the perfect shape. The almagest, written by ptolemy, is the only surviving ancient comprehensive book on astronomy. Over the course of one day, the sun, moon, planets, and stars all move because: the earths rotation makes everything appear to move across the sky. In general, stars, planets, the sun and the moon rise in the east and set in the west. During the day the stars: continue moving just as they were at night. If you could see the stars during the say, this is what the sky might look like at noon on a day in may. Stars that appear to move in a circle around either the north or south pole without rising or setting are called circumpolar.
