A.

1.

Introduction

Definition of Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects (such
as stars, planets, comets, nebulae, star clusters and galaxies) and phenomena that
originate outside the atmosphere of Earth (such as cosmic background radiation)
Wikipedia.com

The science which investigates all the matter-energy in the universe: its distribution,
composition, physical states, movements, and evolution. Astronomy.org

The scientific study of matter in outer space, especially the positions, dimensions,
distribution, motion, composition, energy, and evolution of celestial bodies and
phenomena. Thefreedictionary.com

The word astronomy comes from the Greek astron, meaning star, and nomos,
meaning law. Astronomy, then, is the study of the physical laws, composition,
motions, origins, and deaths of all celestial bodies. The New Book of Popular Science

2. Importance of the Study of Astronomy

Astronomy has in the past
and in the present helped the
human race to learn about the
universe. It has also helped us
navigate. For millennia, the question
has been debated: Are we alone in
the universe? And if not, just where
are the warm, moist worlds on
which other life-forms are have
arisen and evolved?

It was under the clear, dark skies of the Middle East that the first true
astronomers began their work about 6,000 years ago. From towering ziggurats, early
Babylonian sky watchers carefully charted the movements of the heavens. Their

purpose was not to learn the mechanisms by which the universe worked; they sought,
instead, the will and wisdom of the gods in the stars and the planets.
Modern astronomy seeks to answer some of the most fundamental and
profound questions ever facing humans: How did the universe begin? How were Earth
and its planetary family born? Where did life come from? And what is the ultimate fate
of the universe?
Astronomy is probably the most ancient "science" where humans could try to
understand how things happen, and try to make predictions. It is still a science where
amateurs can make contributions. Therefore, astronomy is a good way to learn
the principles of science and put them in practice, even well before becoming an expert.
Astronomy is a field where things are difficult to understand; especially events
that cover long intervals, without writing things down. Also, the "artifacts" (words,
drawings, stories...) about astronomical events are somewhat easier to decipher than
other ones (simply because the types of events have not changed much over the
centuries -- a solar eclipse is still a solar eclipse, a comet is a comet, etc.). That is why we
are capable of understanding Chinese markings that tell of meteor showers thousands
of years ago.
In conclusion, Astronomy is important to us to better understand the universe
we live in, to further scientific thinking, to provide observational evidence needed to
test theories and suppositions about the biggest (and smallest) of things, to look into
our past, to look into our future, to help attain some perspective about our importance
(or lack of it) to the wider universe but most of all, to inspire a sense of wonder and to
boggle the mind at the sheer scale and beauty of the cosmos. The fascination with
stargazing for fun or to gather data through careful observation of stars has created a
great deal of information. Astronomy does not just help us see what is in space but is
critical to our understanding of the laws of the universe.

B.
1.

Planetary Motion

The Astronomy of Ancient Greece

The early Greeks began watching the heavens and charting the movements of
the Sun, Moon, and planets and used discoveries to regulate their daily activities. But
rather than using the stars to decipher the will of the gods, the ancient Greeks
believed that the universe was understandable because it had internal order rules that
it must obey.
Perhaps the first of all true astronomers was the ancient Greek
philosopher/scientist known as Thales, who developed a method of building theoretical
models to explain the structure and behavior of nature, much as we do today. And he
constantly sought confirmation of his ideas through analogies with more-familiar
events.
Many Greek philosophers pondered the cosmos over the centuries, but the one
who had the most impact on the burgeoning science of astronomy was Aristotle (384322 B.C.). This great thinker melded the numerous ideas of his predecessors into a single
conceptual model of nature a kind of grand unified theory that explained the workings
of the entire known universe as had never before been achieved.
Greek astronomy is astronomy written in the Greek language in classical
antiquity. Greek astronomy is understood to include the ancient Greek, Hellenistic,
Greco-Roman, and Late Antiquity eras. It is not limited geographically to Greece or to
ethnic Greeks, as the Greek language had become the language of scholarship
throughout the Hellenistic world following the conquests of Alexander. This phase of
Greek astronomy is also known as Hellenistic astronomy, while the pre-Hellenistic phase
is known as Classical Greek astronomy. During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, much
of the Greek and non-Greek astronomers working in the Greek tradition studied at
the Musaeum and the Library of Alexandria in Ptolemaic Egypt.
The development of astronomy by the Greek and Hellenistic astronomers is
considered by historians to be a major phase in the history of astronomy. Greek
astronomy is characterized from the start by seeking a rational, physical explanation for
celestial phenomena. Most of the constellations of the northern hemisphere derive
from Greek astronomy, as are the names of many stars and planets. It was influenced
by Babylonian and, to a lesser extent, Egyptian astronomy; in turn, it
influenced Indian, Arabic-Islamic and Western European astronomy.

The planets in early Greek astronomy

The name "planet" comes from the Greek term , plants, meaning
"wanderer", as ancient astronomers noted how certain lights moved across the sky in
relation to the other stars. Five planets can be seen with the naked
eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
and Saturn.
Sometimes the luminaries, the Sun and Moon, are
added to the list of naked to make a total of seven.
Since the planets disappear from time to time when
they approach the Sun, careful attention is required to
identify all five. Observations are not straightforward.
Early Greeks thought that the evening and morning
appearances of Venus represented two different
objects, calling it Hesperus ("evening star") when it appeared in the western evening sky
and Phosphorus ("light-bringer") when it appeared in the eastern morning sky. They
eventually came to recognize that both objects were the same planet. Pythagoras is
given credit for this realization.
The planets eventually received names drawn from Greek mythology. The
equivalent names in Roman mythology are the basis for the modern English names of
the planets.

2. Copernicus Heliocentric Theory

Copernican Heliocentrism is the name given to the astronomical model
developed by Nicolaus Copernicus and published in 1543. It positioned the Sun near the
center of the Universe, motionless, with Earth and the other planets rotating around it
in circular paths modified by epicycles and at uniform speeds. The Copernican model
departed from the Ptolemaic system that prevailed in Western culture for centuries,
placing Earth at the center of the Universe, and is often regarded as the launching point
to modern astronomy and the Scientific Revolution.
As a university-trained Catholic priest dedicated to astronomy, Copernicus was
acquainted with the Sun-centered cosmos of the ancient Greek Aristarchus. Although he
circulated an outline of the heliocentric theory to colleagues decades earlier, the idea
was largely forgotten until late in his life he was urged by a pupil to complete and
publish a mathematically detailed account of his model. Copernicus's challenge was to
present a practical alternative to the Ptolemaic model by more elegantly and accurately
determining the length of a solar year while preserving the metaphysical implications of
a mathematically ordered cosmos. Thus his heliocentric model retained several of the
Ptolemaic elements causing the inaccuracies, such as the planets' circular

orbits, epicycles, and uniform speeds, while at the same time re-introducing such
innovations as:

3.

Earth is one of seven ordered planets in a solar system circling a stationary Sun

Earth has three motions: daily rotation, annual revolution, and annual tilting of its
axis

Retrograde motion of the planets is explained by Earth's motion

Distance from Earth to the Sun is small compared to the distance to the stars

Keplers Laws
In the early 1600s, Johannes Kepler proposed three laws of planetary motion.
Kepler was able to summarize the carefully collected data of his mentor - Tycho Brahe with three statements that described the motion of planets in a sun-centered solar
system. Kepler's efforts to explain the underlying reasons for such motions are no longer
accepted; nonetheless, the actual laws themselves are still considered an accurate
description of the motion of any planet and any satellite.
Kepler's three laws of planetary motion can be described as follows:

The path of the planets about the sun is elliptical in shape, with the
center of the sun being located at one focus. The orbit of every planet is
an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci. (The Law of Ellipses/Orbits)

An imaginary line drawn from the center of the sun to the center of the
planet will sweep out equal areas in equal intervals of time. A line joining a
planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time. (The
Law of Equal Areas)

The ratio of the squares of the periods of any two planets is equal to the
ratio of the cubes of their average distances from the sun. The square of
the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semimajor axis of its orbit. (The Law of Harmonies/Periods)
Keplers First Law explains that planets are orbiting the sun in a path described
as an ellipse. An ellipse can easily be constructed using a pencil, two tacks, a string, a
sheet of paper and a piece of cardboard. Tack the sheet of
paper to the cardboard using the two tacks. Then tie the string
into a loop and wrap the loop around the two tacks. Take your
pencil and pull the string until the pencil and two tacks make a
triangle (see diagram at the right). Then begin to trace out a

path with the pencil, keeping the string wrapped tightly around the tacks. The resulting
shape will be an ellipse. An ellipse is a special curve in which the sum of the distances
from every point on the curve to two other points is a constant. The two other points
(represented here by the tack locations) are known as the foci of the ellipse. The closer
together that these points are, the more closely that the ellipse resembles the shape of
a circle. In fact, a circle is the special case of an ellipse in which the two foci are at the
same location. Kepler's first law is rather simple - all planets orbit the sun in a path that
resembles an ellipse, with the sun being located at one of the foci of that ellipse.
Keplers Second Law describes the speed at which any given planet will move
while orbiting the sun. The speed at which any planet moves through space is constantly
changing. A planet moves fastest when it is closest to the sun and slowest when it is
furthest from the sun. Yet, if an imaginary line were drawn from the center of the planet
to the center of the sun, that line would sweep out the same area in equal periods of
time. For instance, if an imaginary line were drawn from the earth to the sun, then the
area swept out by the line in every 31day month would be the same. This is
depicted in the diagram below. As can
be observed in the diagram, the areas
formed when the earth is closest to
the sun can be approximated as a
wide but short triangle; whereas the
areas formed when the earth is
farthest from the sun can be
approximated as a narrow but long
triangle. These areas are the same
size. Since the base of these triangles
are shortest when the earth is farthest
from the sun, the earth would have to
be moving more slowly in order for
this imaginary area to be the same size
as when the earth is closest to the sun.
Keplers Third Law compares the orbital period and radius of orbit of a planet to
those of other planets. Unlike Kepler's first and second laws that describe the motion
characteristics of a single planet, the third law makes a comparison between the motion
characteristics of different planets. The comparison being made is that the ratio of the
squares of the periods to the cubes of their average distances from the sun is the same
for every one of the planets. As an illustration, consider the orbital period and average
distance from sun (orbital radius) for Earth and mars as given in the table below.

Planet Period (s)

Average
Distance (m)

T2/R3
(s2/m3)

Earth

3.156 x
107s

1.4957 x 1011 2.977 x

10-19

Mars

5.93 x
107 s

2.278 x 1011

2.975 x
10-19

Galileos Contribution to Astronomy

In 1609, the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei heard about a new Dutch optical
invention called the telescope, which, when aimed toward distant objects, magnified
them. Galileo built a telescope of his own and used it to gaze at the heavens; He
discovered many things, including the cratered surface of the Moon, the constantly
moving moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, and the countless stars that make up the
wispy light of the Milky Way. Galileo, in one stroke of scientific genius, overturned the
ideas of Aristotle once and for all, and opened the door to the true science of astronomy
as we now know it.
Galileo, made a telescope with about 3x magnification. He later made improved
versions with up to about 30x magnification. With a Galilean telescope the observer
could see magnified, upright images on the earthit was what is commonly known as a
terrestrial telescope or a spyglass. He could also use it to observe the sky; for a time he
was one of those who could construct telescopes good enough for that purpose. On 25
August 1609, he demonstrated one of his early telescopes, with a magnification of
about 8 or 9, to Venetian lawmakers. His telescopes were also a profitable sideline for
Galileo selling them to merchants who found them useful both at sea and as items of
trade. He published his initial telescopic astronomical observations in March 1610 in a
brief treatise entitled Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger).

C. Universal Gravitation
1.

Newtons Principles
Newton's law of universal gravitation states that every point mass in the
universe attracts every other point mass with a force that is directly proportional to the
product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance
between them. (Separately it was shown that large spherically symmetrical masses
attract and are attracted as if all their mass were concentrated at their centers.) This is a
general physical
law derived
from empirical observations
by
what
Newton called induction. It is a part of classical mechanics and was formulated in
Newton's work Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica ("the Principia"), first
published on 5 July 1687. (When Newton's book was presented in 1686 to the Royal
Society, Robert Hooke made a claim that Newton had obtained the inverse square law
from him) In modern language, the law states the following:

Every point mass attracts every single other point mass by a force pointing along
the line intersecting both points. The force is proportional to the product of the
two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them:

,
where:

F is the force between the masses,

G is the gravitational constant,

m1 is the first mass,

m2 is the second mass, and

r is the distance between

centers of the masses.

the

Assuming SI units, F is measured in newtons (N), m1 and m2 in kilograms (kg), r in

meters (m), and the constant G is approximately equal to 6.6741011 N m2 kg2. The
value of the constant G was first accurately determined from the results of
the Cavendish experiment conducted by the British scientist Henry Cavendish in 1798,
although Cavendish did not himself calculate a numerical value for G. This experiment

was also the first test of Newton's theory of gravitation between masses in the
laboratory. It took place 111 years after the publication of Newton's Principia and 71
years after Newton's death, so none of Newton's calculations could use the value of G;
instead he could only calculate a force relative to another force.
Newton's law of gravitation resembles Coulomb's law of electrical forces, which
is used to calculate the magnitude of electrical force between two charged bodies. Both
are inverse-square laws, in which force is inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between the bodies. Coulomb's Law has the product of two charges in place of
the product of the masses, and the electrostatic constant in place of the gravitational
constant.
Newton's law has since been superseded by Einstein's theory of general
relativity, but it continues to be used as an excellent approximation of the effects of
gravity. Relativity is required only when there is a need for extreme precision, or when
dealing with gravitation for extremely massive and dense objects.

D. The Solar System

1.

The Earths Motion in Relation to the Sun and the Moon

Earths Rotation
The Earth spins on its axis from West to East (counter-clockwise). It takes the
Earth 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.09 seconds to complete one full turn. Day and night
are produced by the rotation of the Earth. The speed of rotation at any point upon the
equator is at the rate of approximately 1,038 miles per hour, decreasing to zero at the
poles.
Earth's rotation is the rotation of the solid Earth around its own axis. The Earth
rotates towards the east. As viewed from the North Star Polaris, the Earth turns
counter-clockwise.
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North
Pole is point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its
surface. This is a different point than Earth's North Magnetic Pole. The South Pole is the
other point where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface, in Antarctica.

Earths Revolution

While the Earth is spinning on its axis, it is revolving around the Sun in a counterclockwise direction. It takes the Earth one full year to complete one full revolution
around the Sun. This path is known as the Earth's orbit. It is very near a circle. The mean
distance of the Earth from the Sun is about 93 milling miles and the distance varies by 3
million miles, forming a slightly oval path.
The revolution of the Earth around the Sun traverses a distance of 595 million
miles in 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes and 9.5 seconds. This means a speed of 18 miles a
second (or 66,000 miles per hour) while at the same time rotating once each twentyfour hours.
In astronomy, the Earth's orbit is the motion of the Earth around the Sun, from
an average distance of approximately 150 million kilometers away. A complete orbit of
the earth around the Sun occurs every 365.256363 mean solar days
(1 sidereal year). This motion gives an apparent movement of the Sun with respect to
the stars at a rate of about 1/day (or a Sun or Moon diameter every 12 hours)
eastward, as seen from Earth. On average it takes 24 hoursa solar dayfor Earth to
complete a full rotation about its axis relative to the Sun so that the Sun returns to
the meridian. The orbital speed of the Earth around the Sun averages about 30 km/s
(108,000 km/h), which is fast enough to cover the planet's diameter (about 12,700 km)
in seven minutes, and the distance to the Moon of 384,000 km in four hours

2. Seasons of the Earth

A season is a subdivision of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology,
and hours of daylight. Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around
the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution. In temperate
and Polar Regions, the seasons are marked by changes in the intensity of sunlight that
reaches the Earth's surface, variations of which may cause animals to go into
hibernation or to migrate, and plants to be dormant.
During May, June and July, the northern hemisphere is exposed to more direct
sunlight because the hemisphere faces the sun. The same is true of the southern
hemisphere in November, December and January. It is the tilt of the Earth that causes
the Sun to be higher in the sky during the summer months which increases the solar
flux. However, due to seasonal lag, June, July and August are the hottest months in the
northern hemisphere and December, January and February are the hottest months in
the southern hemisphere.
In temperate and subpolar regions, generally four calendar-based seasons (with
their adjectives) are recognized: spring (vernal), summer (estival), autumn(autumnal)
and winter (hibernal). However, ecologists mostly use a six season model for
temperate climate regions
that
includes pre-spring (prevernal)
and late
summer (serotinal) as distinct seasons along with the traditional four.

Hot regions have two or three seasons; the rainy (or wet, or monsoon) season
and the dry season, and in some tropical areas, a cool or mild season.
In some parts of the world, special "seasons" are loosely defined based on
important events such as a hurricane season, tornado season or a wildfire season.
a) Spring
Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition time
between winter and summer. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and also to
ideas of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. The specific definition of the exact timing of
"spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and customs. At the spring
equinox, days are close to 12 hours long with day length increasing as the season
progresses.
Spring Season is a particular type of season that is experienced in the temperate
climatic zones. Spring is an intermediate seasonal phase in between winter and
summer. Spring signifies the emergence of new life. Spring months are the blossoming
months that bring meaningful growth and rejuvenation in its wake. Spring enriches
natural beauty and it seems as if nature is dressed in a beautiful green gown.
This season arrives during different parts of the year in the North and South of
the world. Places, which are situated in the north experience the spring season from
March to May while in the southern part of the world, September to November is the
springtime. Vernal Equinox indicates the arrival of spring season while the Summer
Solstice announces its departure.
In spring, the axis of the Earth is increasing its tilt toward the Sun and the length
of daylight rapidly increases for the relevant hemisphere. The hemisphere begins to
warm significantly causing new plant growth to "spring forth," giving the season its
name. Snow, if a normal part of winter, begins to melt, and streams swell with runoff.
Frosts, if a normal part of winter, become less severe. In climates that have no snow and
rare frosts, the air and ground temperature increases more rapidly. Many flowering
plants bloom this time of year, in a long succession sometimes beginning even if snow is
still on the ground, continuing into early summer. In normally snowless areas "spring"
may begin as early as February (Northern Hemisphere) heralded by the blooming of
deciduous magnolias, cherries, and quince, or August (Southern Hemisphere) in the
same way. Subtropical and tropical areas have climates better described in terms of
other seasons, e.g. dry or wet, or monsoonal, or cyclonic. Often the cultures have locally
defined names for seasons which have little equivalence to the terms originating in
Europe. Many temperate areas have a dry spring, and wet autumn (fall), which brings
about flowering in this season more consistent with the need for water as well as
warmth. Subarctic areas may not experience "spring" at all until May or even June, or
December in the outer Antarctic.

b) Summer
Summer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and
autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with
day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice. The date of the
beginning of summer varies according to climate, culture, and tradition, but when it is
summer in the Northern Hemisphere it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice
versa.
Summer is generally known to be the season which has the hottest and longest
days in a year. The summer nights are usually smaller than those of winter. It is a very
good season for outdoor activities like vacationing, swimming or simply lazing on the
beach. Various tropical summer fruits like pineapples, watermelons, mangoes, berries,
melons, and vegetables are abundant in summer.
In the Northern Hemisphere, it is usually defined as the period between
the summer solstice (years longest day), June 21 or 22, and the autumnal equinox (day
and night equal in length), September 22 or 23; and in the Southern Hemisphere, as the
period between December 22 or 23 and March 20 or 21. The temperature contrast
between summer and the other seasons exists only in middle and high latitudes;
temperatures in the equatorial regions generally vary little from month to month.
c) Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year and it is a part of the main seasons
found in the temperate zone. In general, winter is characterized by having minimum
temperatures and the days of the shortest duration. In the Northern Hemisphere,
winter is from winter solstice to vernal equinox.
Astronomically, the winter solstice, being the day of the year which has fewest
hours of daylight, ought to be the middle of the season, but seasonal lag means that the
coldest period normally follows the solstice by a few weeks. In the USA (and sometimes
in Britain) the season is regarded as beginning at the solstice and ending on the
following equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, depending on the year, this
corresponds to the period between 21 or 22 December and 20 or 21 March. In the UK,
meteorologists consider winter to be the three coldest months of December, January
and February. In Scandinavia, winter traditionally begins on 14 October and ends on the
last day of February. In many countries in the Southern, including Australia, New
Zealand and South Africa, winter begins on 1 June and ends on 31 August. In Celtic
nations such as Ireland (using the Irish calendar) and in Scandinavia, the winter solstice
is traditionally considered as midwinter, with the winter season beginning 1 November,
on All Hallows, or Samhain. Winter ends and spring begins on Imbolc, or Candlemas,
which is 1 or 2 February. This system of seasons is based on the length of days
exclusively. (The three-month period of the shortest days and weakest solar radiation
occurs during November, December, and January in the Northern Hemisphere and May
through July in the Southern Hemisphere.)

d) Autumn
Autumn, also termed as "fall" in North America is an intermediary phase in
between summer and winter. Autumn is a specific season in the temperate zone. The
end of summer signifies the arrival of autumn. Autumn is characterized by mellowness.
Autumn leaves have a reddish tinge which falls away during this season thereby paving
the way for further growth.
The equinoxes might be expected to be in the middle of their respective seasons,
but temperature lag (caused by the thermal latency of the ground and sea) means that
seasons appear later than dates calculated from a purely astronomical perspective. The
actual lag varies with region. Some cultures regard the autumnal equinox as "midautumn", others with a longer lag treat it as the start of autumn. Meteorologists (and
most of the temperate countries in the southern hemisphere) use a definition based on
months, with autumn being September, October and November in the northern
hemisphere, and March, April and May in the southern hemisphere.

3.

Causes and Kinds of Tides

Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the
gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth.
Some shorelines experience two almost equal high tides and two low tides each
day, called a semi-diurnal tide. Some locations experience only one high and one low
tide each day, called a diurnal tide. Some locations experience two uneven tides a day,
or sometimes one high and one low each day; this is called a mixed tide. The times and
amplitude of the tides at a locale are influenced by the alignment of the Sun and Moon,
by the pattern of tides in the deep ocean, by the amphidromic systems of the oceans,
and by the shape of the coastline and near-shore bathymetry.

a) Diurnal Tide
A tide in which there is only one high water and one low water each lunar
day. This so-called diurnal tide has a period of 24 hrs and 50 min.
b) Semi-Diurnal Tide
A tide having two high waters and two low waters during a tidal day. Semidiurnal tides have a period of 12 hrs and 25 min, and theoretically have a
wavelength of more than half the circumference of Earth.