Basics of Astronomy Worksheet

Understanding the origin of the earth
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Term or Concept Definition and explanation
The Universe
What is Earth’s Sun, and what is its role in the solar system?
What are the Milky Way galaxy and the sun’s position in it?
What is the Big Bang, and what does it say about the age of the universe?
What is meant by the phrase “looking out in the world is looking back in time?” The sun is a big star that is found in the center of the solar system and is responsible for weather and the climate changes (Edgeworth, 1949).
Additionally, the sun provides light to the planets that are necessary for survival.
The milky way is the name that is given to the barred spiral galaxy where the solar system is located. The solar system is situated in the vast galaxy of the stars. The sun is located near the edge of the milky way.
The big bang is a theory tells more about the origin of the universe it states that universe formation resulted from an explosion due to high temperatures and high density, where all matter
Moreover, energy was contained to one point (Edgeworth, 1949). The time of explosion has been regarded to be similar to the age of the universe
The terms mean that the light that we see from the galaxies has been travelling across space long before the existence of the earth. This is because light does not travel instantly.
Location in the Universe
What is Earth’s place in the solar system?
How close are the nearest stars to the Sun as compared to the distance between the Sun and the Earth?
How large is the Milky Way galaxy?
How many stars are estimated to exist in this universe?
How old is the earth compared to the universe itself? Earth is in the third position of the world.

The sun closer to earth than the stars is to the sun. The sun is about 92,000,000 miles away while the nearest star, besides the sun, are about 4.2 light years.
The milky way has a diameter of about 9.5*10^17km. while its thickness depends on how close on is to the Centre, but ranges between tens of thousands of light years.
There are about 400 billion stars in the Milky Way.
The earth is believed to be 4.5 billion years while the universe about 13 billion years. It is from the universe that Earth originated. Hence, the world is older than the earth.
Motion in the Universe
How fast does the Earth move around the Sun? Compare that to sure things in day-to-day life.
How is the Sun moving in the galaxy?
How are the galaxies around the Milky Way galaxy moving from humans’ point of view? The earth rotates at a speed of 30km/second around the sun. The speed is far much higher than the speed of a rocket that is assumed toe the fastest on earth moving at a speed of 7.9km per second.
The sun moves around the galaxy at an approximate speed of 828,000 km per hour.
From a human point of view, the sun galaxies are moving at a very low speed since it is assumed that if the rate were high as speculated we could feel it.
Significance of the Celestial Sphere
What certain directions and coordinate systems help you find your way around the sky?
Why do stars have different levels of brightness, and how does one describe their light as compared to one another?
What are constellations?
What is Polaris, and what is its significance in the sky?
Why does the Moon change its phase, how does it move, and how do these combine to create eclipses? We use the equatorial coordinate system, the visual system, periodic motions, the constellation, Altazimuth method and repetitive motions.
The stars have different levels of brightness since they have various levels of wattage and the distance between the stars and the earth also differs. The light describes star brightness we can make percept.
Constellation is a collection of many stars that form patterns at night.
Polis is the north stars which is the brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Minor. The Polaris is critical as it does not change its location hence can be used for navigation.
The moon changes in phases since it depends on the illumination from the sun as such, it has a black side add a bright side. We only see varying fractions of the day and night sides. The moon rotates around the sun in its orbit. As both the sun and the moon are in constant motion around the earth, it reaches a time when the crises cross one another leading to the formation of the eclipses (Uni.edu, 2015).
History of Astronomy
What is the science of astronomy?
What is the scientific method, and how does it relate to the science of astronomy?
Who was Aristotle, and what was his relationship to the science of astronomy?
What was the Copernican revolution?
What observations did Galileo make that proved that planets go around the Sun?
What laws tell about how the planets move around a star? The science of Astronomy is a study that involves an understanding of the heavenly bodies like the sun, moon, stars, comets and the galaxies.
The Scientific method involves the science way of thinking out specific situations. It is related to the science of astronomy in that with the science way of thinking we can understand the solar system and its theories.
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who acknowledges the importance of scientific astronomy.
Aristotle believed that the planets were spherical in shape, he developed he scientific way of thinking thongs out, hence lay a platform to be followed by other scientists.
Copernican revolution is described as a shift from the ideal model to the heliocentric model (Kuhn, 2003).
Galileo did observe the roughness of the surface of the moon and the spots on the sun. Secondly he found that stars were evolving around Jupiter. Lastly, he noted that Venus did have phase just like the moon all these facts enabled people to understand that the earth revolved around the sun.
Here are three Kepler’s laws that inform us o the motion of the planets. The three laws are the law of orbits, the law of areas and the law of periods (Hasan, 2005).
Seasons of the Earth
How does the Earth rotate, and how does that relate to day and night or the seasons?
How does the Earth revolve, and how does that refer to day and night or the seasons?
What causes the seasons? Is it the tilt of the Earth’s axis or its changing distance from the Sun throughout the year? The earth rotates around o its axis at and takes 24hours with each rotation. As the earth is rotating around its axis, they will be apart which will be exposed to the light. Hence, it becomes the day add another part will not be facing the sun hence not will be dark forming the night.
The earth revolves around the sun only once in a year.
The tilt of the sun via its axis is responsible for the formation of seasons. As the sun tilts on its axis as it revolves around the sun season occur.
The tilt causes seasons. With the different tilt amount of light from the sun reaches various parts of the earth resulting in the formation of different periods depending on the location of the sun (Perigal et.al., 1846).
Gravity, Free Fall, and Orbits
What is gravity, and how much weaker does it get as you get farther from the center of a body?
Are objects in orbit of the Earth still under the influence of gravity?
An object in orbit falls around the Earth. What do planets, comets, and asteroids fall around? Gravity is the force of the earth that attracts bodies towards the center of the earth. The gravitation pull increase as one moves further for the caster of the body but zeroes out at infinite distance (Qrg.northwestern.edu, 2015).
Objects in the orbit do not experience gravity. Hence, they become weightless.
The planets, comets ad steroids do not fall off if they are in space since they do not experience a gravitational force.
References
Edgeworth, K. E. (1949). The origin and evolution of the solar system. Monthly Notices of the
Royal Astronomical Society, 109(5), 600-609.
Hasan, H. (2005). Kepler and the laws of planetary motion. New York: Rosen Pub. Group.
Kuhn, T. S. (2003). [The ]Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the development of
western thought. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Perigal, H., Wheatstone, C., & Perigal, H. (1846). Notes on the kinematic effects of revolution
and rotation, concerning the motions of the moon, and of the earth, which are
assumed in the present system of astronomy with experimental illustrations. London: Printed for the author.
Qrg.northwestern.edu, (2015). What is gravity?. Retrieved 5 December 2015, from
http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/space-environment/1-what-is-gravity.htmlUni.edu, (2015). Stars. Retrieved 5 December 2015, from
http://www.uni.edu/morgans/astro/course/Notes/section2/new6.html