Physical Sciences

Quarter 2 – Module 3
Modern Astronomy
 Introductory Message
For the facilitator:

Welcome to the Physical Science Grade 11 Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM)

Modules on Modern Astronomy!

This module was collaboratively designed, developed and reviewed by educators

both from public and private institutions to assist you, the teacher or facilitator in
helping the learners meet the standards set by the K to 12 Curriculum while
overcoming their personal, social, and economic constraints in schooling.

This learning resource hopes to engage the learners into guided and independent
learning activities at their own pace and time. Furthermore, this also aims to help
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their needs and circumstances.

In addition to the material in the main text, you will also see this box in the body of
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Notes to the Teacher

This contains helpful tips or strategies that will
help you in guiding the learners.

As a facilitator you are expected to orient the learners on how to use this module. You also need to
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Furthermore, you are expected to encourage and assist

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Lesson

3 Modern Astronomy

Throughout human history, scientists have struggled to understand

what they see in the night sky. Famous astronomers — many of them great
scientists who mastered many fields — explained the heavens with varying
degrees of accuracy. Over the centuries, a geocentric view of the universe —
with Earth at the center of everything — gave way to the proper
understanding we have today of an expanding universe in which our galaxy
is but one of billions. On this list are some of the most famous scientists
from the early days of astronomy through the modern era, and a summary
of some of their achievements.

After 14 centuries since Ptolemy, five noted scientists made important

discoveries that gave rise to the birth of modern astronomy. These were
Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei and
Isaac Newto

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 What is It

Tycho Brahe

 Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer and nobleman who made accurate
observations of the movement of celestial bodies in an observatory built for
him by King Frederick II of Denmark in 1576. He was able to invent different
astronomical instruments, with the help of his assistants, and made an
extensive study of the solar system. He was able to determine the position of
777 fixed stars accurately.

Johannes Kepler

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  When King Frederick II died, and the successor did not fully support Brahe’s
work, he moved to Prague in 1599 where he was supported by Emperor
Rudolf II and worked as an imperial mathematician. Emperor Rudolf II
recommended Johannes Kepler to work for him as an assistant. Kepler was
born to a poor German family and studied as a scholar at the University of
Tü bingen in 1589.

Brahe and Kepler's Work

 Brahe and Kepler had an unsteady working relationship. Kepler was Brahe's
assistant. However, Brahe mistrusted Kepler with his astronomical data in
fear of being shadowed by his assistant.
 Brahe assigned to Kepler the interpretation of his observations of Mars,
whose movement did not match Brahe’s calculations. Kepler was tasked to
figure out what path Mars followed as it revolved around the Sun. It was
believed by many scientists that Brahe gave this task to Kepler to keep him
occupied and left Brahe to develop his laws of planetary motion.

Kepler's Discoveries from Brahe's Data

Kepler postulated that there must be a force from the Sun that moves the planets.
He was able to conclude that this force would explain the orbit of Mars and the
Earth, including all the other planets, moved fastest when it is nearest from the
Sun and moved slowest when it is farthest from the Sun.

Eventually, Brahe decided to give all his data to Kepler hoping that he would be
able to prove his Tychonic system and put together new tables of astronomical
data. This table was known as Rudolphine Tables, named after the Roman emperor
and was useful in determining the positions of the planets for the past 1000 years
and the future 1000 years. This table was the most accurate table that is known to
the astronomical world.

After Brahe died in 1601, Emperor Rudolf II assigned Kepler as the new imperial
mathematician, and all of Brahe’s writings, instruments, and the Rudolphine tables
were passed on to him. From Brahe’s data, Kepler was able to formulate his laws of
planetary motion: the law of ellipses, the law of equal areas, and the law of
harmonies.

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Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion

First Law - The Law of Ellipses

When Kepler tried to figure out Mars’ orbit, it did not fit the then-famous theory
that a planet follows a circular path. He then postulated that instead of a circular
path, planets follow an oval or an ellipse orbit.

This orbit matched his calculations and explained the “irregularities” in the
movement of Mars. He was able to formulate his first law of planetary motion,
the law of ellipses which describes that the actual path followed by the planets
was elliptical, not circular, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.

Second Law - The Law of Equal Areas

The second law, which is the law of equal areas states that when an imaginary line
is drawn from the center of the Sun to the center of a planet, the line will sweep out
an equal area of space in equal time intervals.

Planet
P
A
B

A
B

Elliptical orbit

Figure 4: The figure shows the Kepler’s 2nd Law or The

Law of Equal Areas

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The law describes how fast a planet moves in its orbit. A planet moves fastest when
it is nearest the Sun and slowest when it is farthest from the Sun, and still, the
same area is swept out by the line in equal amounts of time.

Third Law - The Law of Harmonies

The law of harmonies, which is the third law, describes that the square of a
planet’s orbital period (T2) is proportional to the cube of a planet’s average distance
from the Sun (R3). It states that that the ratio of the squares of the periods of two
planets is equal to the ratio of the cubes of the average distances of these two
planets from the Sun or:

where the subscript 1 indicates planet 1 and subscript 2 indicates

planet 2.

50000
Neptune
10000
Uranus

1000 Saturn

100 Jupiter

10
Mars
1 Earth

Venus
Mercury 10 100 1000 10000

Square of Orbital Period (Yr2)

Figure 4: The figure shows the Kepler’s 3rd Law or The Law
of Harmonies

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 What’s More

Our understanding of the elliptical motion of planets about the Sun spanned
several years and included contributions from many scientists. Answer the
questions below. Write your answers on your notebook.

Q1. Which scientist is credited with the collection of the data necessary to support
the planet's elliptical motion?

A1.
Q2. Which scientist is credited with the long and difficult task of analyzing the
data?

A2.

3. Which scientist is credited with the accurate explanation of the data?

A3.

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 What I Have Learned

Fill in the blanks with the correct answer. Write your answers on a separate sheet
of paper.

1. was a Danish astronomer and nobleman who made accurate

observations of the movement of celestial bodies.
2. was a German astronomer and mathematician who worked
as an assistant to Brahe and formulated the three laws of planetary motion based
on Brahe’s extensive astronomical data.
3. states that planets follow an elliptical orbit.

4 states that when an imaginary line is drawn from the center

of a planet to the center of the Sun, an equal amount of space is swept in equal
amount of time.
5. states that the ratio of the squares of the period of two
planets is equal to the ratio of the cubes of the planets’ average distance from the
Sun.

ON YOUR JOURNAL
If you were given a chance to write something on your journal for your chosen
Modern Astronomer, who would it be and what would you tell him about his
findings on ancient history?

(Name of the Modern Astronomer)

My Journal