Unit 4: Medieval & Renaissance Astronomy

What was the Dark Ages’ time period?

400 C.E. ↔ 700 C.E.

What was the Roman Empire & Christian world’s capital?

Constantinople

What time period was Constantine the Roman Empire & Christian world’s capital?

326 C.E. ↔ 1450 C.E.

What are the word origins of “Constantinople?”

Constantine the Great

• 1st Istanbul emperor

What did Constantine the Great do to the Roman Empire?

Christianizing east Roman Empire

What date did Christianity become the Roman Empire’s official religion?

380 C.E.

What is the name of Constantine the Great’s mother?

St. Helen

What is the Hagia Sophia?

Church of Holy Wisdom

• became mosque when it fell to Turkish Empire

• 8th Wonder of the World

What was the Hagia Sophia’s construction date?

537 C.E.

True or False: Constantine the Great’s son built the Hagia Sophia.

True.

What were some changes in scientific discovery’s pace?

• Church was involved in education

  • rejected Greek & Roman science / religion

  • interpreted Bible to be all God wanted one to know about astronomy

• Church language = Latin

What is 1 example showing the lack of interest in astronomy during the Dark Ages?

lunar eclipse in 755 B.C.E.

• Moon also passes in front of Jupiter

• Simeon of Durham quotes monk writing ‘Moon passed bright star’

• ‘bright star’ = Jupiter

What was Boethius’ identity, & what did he try to do with Greek & Roman texts?

6th century Roman philosopher

• translated to Latin

• charged with treason & executed

What was the time period of Islam’s early spread?

632 C.E. ↔ 750 C.E.

What are some regions affected by Islam’s early spread?

• Asia

• North Africa

• Spain

• Portugal

What is Islamic astronomy’s time period?

800 C.E. ↔ 1300 C.E.

What text encouraged knowledge of the sky in Islamic astronomy?

Qur’an

What is a lunar year’s time length?

354 days / 12 lunations

What starts a lunar month?

waxing crescent

What is the House of Wisdom’s location?

Baghdad

What did Islamic leaders do with their scholars in response to the fleeing Greek refugees?

encouraged to collaborate & translate into Arabic

What were Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi’s birth & death dates?

903 C.E. ↔ 986 C.E.

What did Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi do in 964 C.E?

published “The Book of Fixed Stars”

What was “The Book of Fixed Stars?”

star catalogue

What method did Ptolemy use to name stars?

• Greek alphabet

• ranked in constellation by brightness

What was Betelgeuse’s Ptolemaic name?

Alpha Orionus

What was Rigel’s Ptolemaic name?

Beta Orionus

What was the translation of Rigel’s Islamic name?

The Foot of the Great One

What was Rigel’s Islamic name?

Rijl Jauzah al Yusrā

What was the translation of Betelgeuse’s Islamic name?

The Giant’s Shoulder

What was Betelgeuse’s Islamic name?

Bat al-jawzā

What is The Southern Fish’s Latin translation?

Piscis Austrinus

What did Al-Sufi assign the Mouth of the Whale?

brightest Piscis Austrinus star

What is the Mouth of the Whale’s modern name?

Fomalhaut

What divisions happened in the 13th century?

• west Roman Empire dissolved

  • Spain

  • France

  • Germany

• east Roman empire became Byzantine Empire

What were some reasons encouraging scientific progress in the 13th century?

• Black Plague

• contact between Christian & Islamic scholars in Muslim Spain → Latin translations of Arabic versions of Greek texts

What are the word origins for “renaissance?”

rebirth

• French

True or False: The Dark Ages were not occurring by the 1200s.

False: The Dark Ages were still occurring frequently along west Europe.

What was the Latin translation date of The Almagest?

1150 C.E.

What was the time period of Latin scholars processing Greek knowledge?

1200 C.E. ↔ 1400 C.E.

What was the identity of the person that made the 1st notable astronomy achievement in between the 14th & 15th centuries?

Regiomontanus

What did Regiomontanus do in 1460?

published “Epitome of the Almagest”

• annotated

True or False: Regiomontanus was one of the 1st Latin scholars who could read Greek.

True.

What was the identity of the person that made the last notable astronomy achievement in the mid-1300s?

Buridan

• Parisian

What were some of the weaknesses in Aristotle’s theories?

• natural motion

  • projectile motion

What did Aristotle believe about projectile motion?

• can go in different direction if continually pushed by something else

• 2 motion sources

  • 1. gradual air

  • 2. fall

What did Buridan propose about projected objects?

impetus

• in addition to natural motion

What did Buridan believe about projectile motion?

• thrower gives impetus to projectile

  • weakened because it has to resist motion

What did Buridan do with Aristotle’s thought experiment?

• if Earth spun, Earth has impetus = everything in contact with Earth has impetus

so

• arrow shot upwards has 3 motion components

  • 1. upward motion from bow

  • 2. downward motion from natural motion

  • 3. impetus from Earth

• arrow has curved motion

so

• fixed Earth = moving Earth

What were Nicolaus Copernicus’ birth & death dates?

1473 C.E. & 1543 C.E.

What was Copernicus’ former life like?

devout Polish Christian

• clergyman

What did Copernicus believe about simplifying the universe?

simpler universe if heliocentric

What were the identities of the people whom Copernicus referred to in his writings?

• Aristarchus

• Herakleides

What were some weaknesses in the Ptolemaic model?

• equant point

• Sun governance

What did Copernicus do in 1514 C.E?

circulates “Commentariolus”

What is “Commentariolus’” translation?

Little Commentary

What was the Commentariolus?

6-leaf-long cosmos hypothesis list

True or False: Commentariolus was published work.

False: Commentariolus was not published, titled, or given authorship.

What beliefs comprised Commentariolus?

3 motion components

1. spin

2. orbit

3. wobble

What did Copernicus believe about Earth’s mobility?

daily spin about axis

What did Copernicus believe about planetary orbit?

planets orbit Sun; Earth annually orbits Sun

What did Copernicus believe about the precession of the equinoxes?

2600 year wobble

What did Copernicus believe about apparent planetary motion?

Earth moves & passes planet in orbit

What did Copernicus believe about changing brightness?

varying distance from Earth

What did Copernicus believe about changing speed?

angle that Planet traverses decreases as Earth passes

What was Copernicus’ response to common controversy?

Earth’s mobility is because of appearance

What was Jupiter’s deferent-epicycle ratio, according to Ptolemy?

5:1

What was Saturn’s deferent-epicycle ratio, according to Ptolemy?

10:1

What did Copernicus interpret from Jupiter’s deferent-epicycle ratio?

Jupiter’s orbit is 5x larger than Earth’s orbit

• 5 R_Earth

What did Copernicus interpret from Saturn’s deferent-epicycle ratio?

Saturn’s orbit is 10x larger than Earth’s orbit

• 10 R_Earth

What unit of measure is R?

orbital radius

What is Mercury’s R_Earth?

0.4 R_Earth

What is Venus’ R_Earth?

0.7 R_Earth

What did Copernicus believe about Mercury & Venus?

inner planets

What did Copernicus realize about P & R?

follow same planetary rank

What unit of measure is P?

orbital period

What is Mercury’s P?

88 days

What is Venus’ P?

225 days

What is Jupiter’s P?

12 years

What is Saturn’s P?

30 years

What is 1 example of a church scholar that didn’t feel a heliocentric universe conflicted with Scripture?

Nikolaus von Schönberg

• 1536 Archbishop of Capua

What were Copernicus’ reasons for not publishing Commentariolus?

• felt he was amateur

• controversial idea

What is 1 example of a church scholar that felt a heliocentric universe conflicted with Scripture?

Martin Luther

• 1539 C.E.

What did Copernicus do in 1543 C.E?

published “De Revolutionibus orbium coelestium”

What was the translation of Copernicus’ text?

“On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres”

What was the identity of the person that Copernicus’ text was dedicated to?

Pope Paul III

What was inserted at the beginning of Copernicus’ book?

anonymous preface

• model doesn’t have to be true to work

What were Tycho Brahe’s birth & death dates?

1546 C.E. & 1601 C.E.

What was Tycho’s background?

Danish noble

• kidnapped by uncle

• parents allowed kidnap

What was the reason for Tycho’s gold nose?

argued at party over math & duelled but nose was sliced off so created gold bridge

What was the story behind Tycho’s spouse?

8 children but wasn’t allowed to legally marry

What was Tycho’s most famouse story?

pet mouse that got drunk on beer & died of broken leg

What did Tycho do in 1563 C.E?

discover planetary conjunction

• Jupiter

• Saturn

• Venus

What does “planetary conjunction” mean?

planet overtakes other planet in orbit causing planets to appear close

What did Tycho believe about Ptolemaic & Copernican models?

incorrect planetary conjunction in 2 ways

• incorrect in predicting planets’ closeness

• incorrect dates

  • Ptolemaic: 1 month

  • Copernican: 2 days

What did Tycho notice in his late 20s?

1572 supernova

What was the elapsed time of the 1572 supernova?

16 months

What did Tycho believe about supernovas?

remained fixed relative to stars

What did Tycho realize from supernovas?

celestial realm isn’t unchanging

What were the reasons for Tycho’s rocket to fame?

• best observational astronomer

• few people were ready