Module 2:

ASTRONOMY: A Self-Learning Module for College Students 1

HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY
MARVIN Y. ARCE

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 ASTRONOMY: A Self-Learning Module for College Students 1

MODULE 2: History of Astronomy

Introduction

Astronomy is considered as one of the oldest sciences. When Stoneage humans turned
to an agrarian way of life and began to settle into communities, their interest must naturally have
turned to the "heavens". The seasons became important; during different times of the year,
different stellar patterns appear in the sky. In the spring, Virgo and her accompanying
constellations signal the time to prepare the earth, to plant crops, and to be wary of floods. In
the fall, Orion rises to indicate time to harvest and to prepare for winter.
The approximate equivalence of the human menstrual cycle and the 30-day orbital
period of the Moon which produces lunar phases led to the belief that the heavens, and the
Moon in particular, were related to fertility.
To early humans facing an uncertain and changeable future, the constancy of the
heavens must have suggested perfection and certainly led to deification in many cultures.
We may expect that eclipses would have been especially frightening to early humans.
After predicting the seasons, eclipse prediction may have been one of the earliest astronomical
activities.
This module will take a glimpse of the brief history of astronomy.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this module you shall be able to:

1. identify the process of science;

2. differentiate astronomy to astrology;
3. discuss the brief timeline of astronomy;
4. acknowledge the contributions of some individual to the development of astronomy as a
science.

DISCUSSION

This course is a science course, and the main purpose of science is to trace, within the
chaos and flux of phenomena, a consistent structure with order and meaning. This is called the
philosophy of rationalism, rational as in conforming with reason. And the purpose of scientific
understanding is to coordinate our experiences and bring them into a logical system.

Throughout history, intellectual scientific efforts have been directed towards the
discovery of pattern, system and structure, with a special emphasis on order. Why? Primarily,
the control of the unpredictable driven by the fear of the unknown. Those who persue answers
are known as scientists. The main occupation of a scientist is problem solving with the goal of
understanding the Universe.

Science, it is widely agreed, originated from two main sources. One was the need to
develop practical knowledge and to pass it from generation to generation. The other was a more
spiritual concern with the nature and origin of the world. Common to both of these well-springs

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of science was an appreciation of the regularity of Nature. One of the first scientists to make
frequent use of the concept of a law of Nature, in the sense that we now use that term, was the
Franciscan friar and scholar Roger Bacon.

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Scientific arguments of logic basically take on four possible forms:

1. the pure method of deduction, where some conclusion is drawn from a set of
propositions (i.e. pure logic);
2. the method of induction, where one draws general conclusions from particular facts that
appear to serve as evidence;
3. by probability, which passes from frequencies within a known domain to conclusions of
stated likelihood; and
4. by statistical reasoning, which concludes that, on the average, a certain percentage of a
set of entities will satisfy the stated conditions.

mathematics temporal data,

and computer spectral data temporal data sets of data
simulations images

Deduction
logical / rational Induction
correlations / Probability Statistics
likelihood trends
thought patterns

generalities of predictions of
laws of nature rules of nature
nature nature

Figure 2.1 The four possible form of logical scientific arguments along with the
related information, reasoning process and its relation to nature.

The fact that scientific reasoning is so often successful is a remarkable property of the
Universe, the dependability of Nature.

To support these methods, a scientist also uses a large amount of skepticism to search
for any fallacies in hypothesis or scientific arguments. In order to draw conclusions, a scientist
uses the scientific method, a rigorous standard of procedure and discussion that sets reason
over irrational belief. Central to the scientific method is a system of logic.

The scientific method has four steps:

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1. observation/experimentation
2. induction
3. hypothesis
4. falsification

Note that there is an emphasis on falsification, not verification. If a theory passes any test
then our confidence in the theory is reinforced, but it is never proven correct in a mathematically
sense. Thus, a powerful hypothesis is one that is highly vulnerable to falsification and that can
be tested in many ways. Science can be separated from pseudo-science by the Principle of
Falsification, the concept that ideas must be capable of being proven false in order to be
scientifically valid.

Figure 2.2 The Scientific Method

Much of science education is the construction of a `mental toolbox' that, when applied to
observations, is used to interpret within the framework of our current physics. The purpose of
the scientific method is the construction of models and theories, all with the final goal of
understanding.

ASTRONOMY AS A SCIENCE

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The above concepts are applied, to varying degrees, by all sciences; geology, chemistry,
biology, physics and astronomy. Astronomy is a science because:

1. Astronomy involves many disciplines, but certain captures the imagination more than
any other science.

Physics (light and matter)

Mathematics (relating time, distance, energy, etc.)

Astronomy Chemistry (chemical make-up of atmosphere,

surfaces, etc.)

Geology (structure and dynamics of planet’s surface)

Computer Science (tools and methods of analysis)

Figure 2.3 Relationship of Astronomy to other branches of
Science

2. Astronomy asks the basic, most fundamental questions of existence. The purpose of
astronomy is to explain stellar phenomenon in rational, coherent manner

Initial condition
How does the Universe operate? Mechanism

Future/Fate

3. Astronomy is a theoretical approach to the study of all things extra-terrestrial, that is all
objects outside Earth’s atmosphere.

Astronomy differs from other sciences in that:

 an astronomer cannot change the parameters of an experiment, i.e. only passive

observations are allowed;
 the distances are very large;
 timescales are very long; and
 we are exploring very exotic phenomenon, yet we are limited by current physical
framework.

ASTRONOMY VS ASTROLOGY

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Though the practices of astrology and astronomy have common roots, there is an
important distinction in astrology vs astronomy today. Astronomy is the study of the universe
and its contents outside of Earth’s atmosphere. Astronomers examine the positions, motions,
and properties of celestial objects. Astrology attempts to study how those positions, motions,
and properties affect people and events on Earth. For several millennia, the desire to improve
astrological predictions was one of the main motivations for astronomical observations and
theories.

Astrology continued to be part of mainstream science until the late 1600s, when Isaac
Newton demonstrated some of the physical processes by which celestial bodies affect each
other. In doing so, he showed that the same laws that make, say, an apple fall from a tree, also
apply to the motions of the celestial sphere. Since then, astronomy has evolved into a
completely separate field, where predictions about celestial phenomena are made and tested
using the scientific method.

In contrast, astrology is now regarded as a pastime and a pseudoscience — though

thousands of people around the world still invoke advice from astrologers and astrology
publications in making important professional, medical, and personal experiences. Today
astrology is still widely practiced with forecasts about the future in the form of 'Star Sign'
sections which are a common feature of many magazines and newspapers. Whilst many
believe the veracity of such 'readings' many considers them pure superstition. In fact, the
Barnum Effect, or Forer Effect, might explain why so many people take them seriously at all.

Barnum Effect, also called Forer Effect, in psychology, the phenomenon that occurs
when individuals believe that personality descriptions apply specifically to them (more so than to
other people), despite the fact that the description is actually filled with information that applies
to everyone. The effect means that people are gullible because they think the information is
about them only when in fact the information is generic, or is applicable to anyone. Psychics,
horoscopes, magicians, palm readers, and crystal ball gazers make use of the Barnum Effect
when they convince people that their description of them is highly special and unique and could
never apply to anyone else.

HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY

We have very little in the form of recorded

information on early man's impression of the
heavens, mostly some drawings of eclipses, comets,
supernovae such as the Pueblo Petrograph (see
below). However, early man was clearly
frightened/overwhelmed by the sky. One of the
earliest recorded astronomical observations is the
Nebra sky disk from northern Europe dating
approximately 1,600 BC. This 30 cm bronze disk
depicts the Sun, a lunar crescent and stars
(including the Pleiades star cluster).

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The disk is probably a religious symbol as well as a crude astronomical instrument or

calendar. In the Western hemisphere, similar understanding of basic stellar and planetary
behavior was developing. For example, Native American culture around the same time were
leaving rock drawings, or petroglyphs, of astronomical phenomenon. The clearest example is
found below, a petroglyph which depicts the 1,006 AD supernova that resulted in the Crab
Nebula.

Early man also believed that the

heavens held power over earthy existence
(psychology of the unknown) which is the
origins of the pseudo-science astrology as an
attempt to understand, predict and influence
events

The earliest written records (i.e.

history) were astronomical observations
produced by the Babylonians (~1600 B.C.)
who recorded positions of planets, times of
eclipses, etc. There is also evidence of
interest in astronomical phenomenon from
early Chinese, Central American and North
European cultures such as Stonehenge, which is a big computer for calculating the position of
planets and the Sun (i.e. when to have that big blowout Solstice thing).

Thus, Astronomy was the 1st science, as it was

the first thing we recorded observations for.

Later in history, 5,000 to 20,000 years ago,

humankind begins to organize themselves and develop
what we now call culture. A greater sense of
permanence in your daily existences leads to the
development of culture, where people develop narrative
stories for cultural unity which we now call myths.

Most myths maintain supernatural themes, with

gods, divine and semi-divine figures, but there was
usually an internal logical consistence to the narrative.
For example, myths are often attempts at a rational explanation off events in the everyday
world, their goal is to teach. Even if we consider some of the stories to be ridiculous, they were,
in some sense, our first scientific theories. They also, usually, follow a particular religion, and so
this time is characterized by a close marriage of science and religion.

Hellenistic Culture

About 1,000 years later, the ancient Greeks inherited astronomical records from the
Babylonians and applied the data to construct a cosmological framework. Data was not just

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used for practical goals, such as navigation, but also to think of new experiments, the origin of
what we call natural philosophers.

Of the many natural philosophers before the time of Socrates (the Presocratics) was
Thales (~480 B.C.). His combination of math and Babylonian data allowed him to predict
eclipses.

Between the cosmological foundation set by the Presocratics and the world of Ideas
introduced by Plato was a set of fundamental calculations on the size of the Earth, Moon, Sun
and the distances between the nearby planets performed by Eratosthenes and Aristarchus (c.
250 BC). Using some simple geometry, these two natural philosophers were able to, for the first
time, place some estimate of the size of the cosmos in Earth terms.

For a long time it was realized that the earth's surface was curved by people familiar with
the behavior of incoming and outgoing ships. For it was obvious that as a ship passed over the
horizon, the hull disappeared first, then the topmost sailing masts (although one could argue this
is an effect of refraction in the atmosphere). Ancient astronomers could see with their eyes that
the Sun and the Moon were round. And the shadow of the Earth, cast on the lunar surface
during a lunar eclipse, is curved. A sphere is the simplest shape to explain the Earth's shadow
(a disk would sometimes display a shadow shaped like a line or oval).

Eratosthenes used a spherical Earth model, and some simple geometry, to calculate its
circumference. Eratosthenes knows that on a special day (the summer solstice) at noon in the
Egyptian city of Syene, a stick placed in the ground will cast no shadow (i.e., it is parallel to the
Sun's rays). A stick in the ground at Alexandria, to the north, will cast a shadow at an angle of 7
degrees. Eratosthenes realizes that the ratio of a complete circle (360 degrees) to 7 degrees is
the same as the ratio of the circumference of the Earth to the distance from Alexandria to
Swenet. Centuries of surveying by Egyptian pharaohs scribes gave him the distance between
the two cities of 4900 stadia, approximately 784 kilometers. This resulting in a circumference of
40,320 kilometers, which is amazingly close to the modern value of 40,030 kilometers. With this
calculation, Eratosthenes becomes the father of geography eventually drawing up the first maps
of the known world and determining the size of the most fundamental object in the Universe, our
own planet.

Hipparchus (100 B.C.) produced first star catalog and recorded the names of
constellations.

During the times before the invention of the telescope, there were only seven objects
visible to the ancients, the Sun and the Moon, plus the five planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn. It was obvious that the planets were not on the celestial sphere since the
Moon clearly passes in front of the Sun and planets Mercury and Venus can be seen to transit
the Sun (the Sun passes in front of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). Plato first proposed that the
planets followed perfect circular orbits around the Earth (for the circle is the most perfect
shape). Later, Heraclides (330 B.C.) developed the first Solar System model, placing the
planets in order from the Earth it was is now called the geocentric solar system model and the
beginning of the geocentric versus heliocentric debate.

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Figure 2.4 Geocentric Solar System Model

Note that the orbits are perfect circles because of the philosophical belief of early
philosophers that all things in the Heavens are “perfect”.

Slightly later, Aristarchus (270 B.C.) proposed an alternative model of the Solar System
placing the Sun at the center with the Earth and the planets in circular orbit around it. The Moon
orbits around the Earth. This model became known as the heliocentric model.

Figure 2.5 Heliocentric Solar System Model

Aristarchus was the first to propose a "new" Sun centered cosmology and one of the
primary objections to the heliocentric model is that the stars display no parallax (the apparent
shift of nearby stars on the sky due to the Earth's motion around the Sun). However, Aristarchus
believed that the stars were very distant and, thus, display parallax's that are too small to be
seen with the eye (in fact, the first parallax will not by measured until 1838 by Friedrich Bessel).
The Sun is like the fixed stars, states Aristarchus, unmoving on a sphere with the Sun at its
center. For Aristarchus it was absurd that the "Hearth" of the sky, the Sun, should move and
eclipses are easy to explain by the motion of the Moon around the Earth.

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Ptolemy (200 A.D.) was an ancient astronomer, geographer, and mathematician who
took the geocentric theory of the solar system and gave it a mathematical foundation (called the
"Ptolemaic system"). He did this in order to simultaneously produce a cosmological theory
based on Aristotle's physics (circular motion, no voids, geocentric) and one that would provide a
technically accurate description of planetary astronomy. Ptolemy's system is one of the first
examples of scientists attempting to "save the phenomena", to develop a combination of perfect
circles to match the irregular motion of the planets, i.e., using concepts asserted by pure reason
that match the observed phenomenon.

Ptolemy wrote a great treatise on the celestial sphere and the motion of the planets call
the Almagest. The Almagest is divided into 13 books, each of which deals with certain
astronomical concepts pertaining to stars and to objects in the solar system. It was, no doubt,
the encyclopedic nature of the work that made the Almagest so useful to later astronomers and
that gave the views contained in it so profound an influence. In essence, it is a synthesis of the
results obtained by Greek astronomy; it is also the major source of knowledge about the work of
Hipparchus, who made a map of the heavens and named the constellations.

In the first book of the Almagest, Ptolemy describes his geocentric system and gives
various arguments to prove that, in its position at the center of the universe, the Earth must be
immovable. Not least, he showed that if the Earth moved, as some earlier philosophers had
suggested, then certain phenomena should in consequence be observed. In particular, Ptolemy
argued that since all bodies fall to the center of the universe, the Earth must be fixed there at
the center, otherwise falling objects would not be seen to drop toward the center of the Earth.
Again, if the Earth rotated once every 24 hours, a body thrown vertically upward should not fall
back to the same place, as it was seen to do. Ptolemy was able to demonstrate, however, that
no contrary observations had ever been obtained.

Ptolemy accepted the following order for celestial objects in the solar system: Earth
(center), Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. However, when the detailed
observations of the planets in the skies is examined, the planets undergo motion which is
impossible to explain in the geocentric model, a backward track for the outer planets. This
behavior is called retrograde motion.

The solution to retrograde motion was to use a system of circles on circles to explain the
orbits of the planets called epicycles and deferents. The main orbit is the deferent, the smaller
orbit is the epicycle. Although only one epicycle is shown in the figure below, over 28 were
required to explain the actual orbits of the planets.

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In the Ptolemaic system, deferents were large circles centered on the Earth, and
epicycles were small circles whose centers moved around the circumferences of the deferents.
The Sun, Moon, and planets moved around the circumference of their own epicycles. In the
movable eccentric, there was one circle; this was centered on a point displaced from the Earth,
with the planet moving around the circumference. These were mathematically equivalent
schemes.

We know from history that the great library at Alexandria burns in 272 A.D., destroying a
great deal of the astronomical data for the time. Roman culture collapses and we enter the Dark
Ages. But, the Roman Catholic Church absorbs Aristotle's scientific methods and Ptolemy's
model into its own doctrine. Thus, preserving the scientific method and Ptolemy's Heliocentric
Solar System. Unfortunately, the geocentric model was accepted as doctrine and, therefore,
was not subjected to the scientific method for hundreds of years.

Renaissance Period

Copernicus (1500's) reinvented the heliocentric theory and challenged Church doctrine.
Copernicus (c. 1520) was not the first astronomer to challenge the geocentric model of Ptolemy,
but he was the first to successfully formulate a heliocentric model and publish his model. He
was able to overcome centuries of resistance to the heliocentric model for a series of political
and scientific reasons. Politically, the authority of the Church was weakening in Northern Europe

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in the 15th century allowing more diversity in scientific thinking (although the new Protestant
faiths were also not quick to embrace the heliocentric model). Scientifically, a better
understanding of motion (particularly inertia) was undermining the whole concept of an
unmoving Earth. A rotating Earth is a much simpler explanation for the diurnal motion of stars,
an Earth that rotates is only one step away from an Earth that revolves around the Sun. The
heliocentric model had a greater impact than simply an improvement to solve retrograde motion.
By placing the Sun at the center of the Solar System, Copernicus forced a change in our
worldview, a paradigm shift or science revolution.

Copernicus began his quest for an improved solar system model with some basic
principles. Foremost was the postulate that the Earth was not the center of the Universe, only
the center of local gravity and the Moon. Second, the postulate that the Sun was the center of
the solar system, all planets revolved around the Sun. In this fashion, retrograde motion is not
cause by the planets themselves, but rather by the orbit of the Earth.

While Copernicus includes a rotating Earth in his heliocentric model, he continues to

cling to Aristotle's celestial motions, i.e. orbits that are perfect circles (rather than their true
shape, an ellipse). This forces Copernicus to adopt a series of moving sphere's for each planet
to explain longitude motion. While Copernicus has fewer sphere's, since more of the retrograde
motion is accounted for, his system is still extremely complicated in a computational sense. It's
two greatest advantages is that it places the inferior planets near the Sun, naturally explaining
their lack of large eastern or western elongations, and removing any extreme motions, such as
that needed to explain durnal changes.

Copernicus also changes the immovable empyrean heaven into a fixed sphere of stars,
severing theology from cosmology. However, Copernicus fails to produce a mechanically simple
scheme for astrologers to cast horoscopes or astronomers to produce almanacs, for ultimately
the tables he produces are as complicated as Ptolemy's and he did not publish all his results in
the final edition of his work, "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres".

Tycho Brahe (1580's) was astronomy's 1st true observer. He built the Danish
Observatory (using sextant's since telescopes had not been invented yet) from which he
measured positions of planets and stars to the highest degree of accuracy for that time period
(1st modern database). He showed that the Sun was much farther than the Moon from the
Earth, using simple trigonometry of the angle between the Moon and the Sun at 1st Quarter.

Figure 2.6 Brahe’s hypothesis regarding the distance

of the Sun and the Moon to the Earth.

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Johannes Kepler ((1600's) a student of Tycho who used Brahe's database to formulate
the Laws of Planetary Motion which corrects the problems of epicycles in the heliocentric theory
by using ellipses instead of circles for orbits of the planets.

This is a key mathematical formulation because the reason Copernicus' heliocentric

model has to use epicycles is due to the fact that he assumed perfectly circular orbits. With the
use of ellipses, the heliocentric model eliminates the need for epicycles and deferents. The
orbital motion of a planet is completely described by six elements: the semi-major axis, the
eccentricity, the inclination, the longitude of the ascending node, the argument of the perihelion
and the time of the perihelion.

Figure 2.7 Kepler’s Elliptical Heliocentric

Solar System Model

The formulation of a highly accurate system of determining the motions of all the planets
marks the beginning of the clockwork Universe concept, and another paradigm shift in our
philosophy of science.

Galileo (1620's) developed laws of motion (natural versus forced motion, rest versus
uniform motion). Then, with a small refracting telescope (3-inches), destroyed the idea of a
"perfect", geocentric Universe with the following 5 discoveries:

The spot in the sun

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mountains and ‘seas” (maria) on the moon; and

The Milky Way is made of lots of stars.

These first three are more of an aesthetic nature. Plato requires a `perfect' Universe.
Spots, craters and a broken Milky Way are all features of imperfection and at odds with Plato's
ideas on purely philosophical grounds. However, the laws of motion are as pure as Plato's
celestial sphere, but clearly are not easy to apply in the world of friction and air currents, etc. So
these observations, by themselves, are not fatal to the geocentric theory. The next two are fatal
and can only be explained by a heliocentric model.

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Venus has phases

Jupiter has moons (the Galilean Moons: Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede

Notice that planets with phases are possible in a geocentric model. But for a planet to
change in apparent size with its phases, like Venus is impossible if the planet orbits the same
distance from the Earth. And, lastly, if all bodies orbit around the Earth, then the moons of
Jupiter, which clearly orbit around that planet, are definitive proof that the geocentric model is
wrong.

17th Century

The next major leap was that of Sir Isaac Newton (1680s), an English physicist and
mathematician. Newton is credited with developing the Laws of Motion, Law of Universal
Gravitation, building the first Reflecting Telescope (still called the Newtonian Reflector), and
developing a Theory of Color. The theory was based on Newton’s observations that a prism
breaks sunlight into component colors. Newton also shares credit for the development of
Calculus with Gottfried Leibniz, as well as developed other ideas in physics, including an
empirical law of cooling, studies the speed of sound, and the idea of a Newtonian fluid.

18th Century

The 18th century, often referred to as the age of enlightenment saw a steady increase in
the study of the sciences. The abstract theorizing of the Greek philosophers and the hit-and-
miss approach of the medieval alchemists gave way to the sound scientific methods of
experimental science as founded by Galileo and Newton in the previous two centuries.

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Basically, this involved the testing of theories by experiment or observation; thereby establishing
whether or not the theory was correct. Astronomy in the 18th century, although it followed the
rising tide of experimental and observational science, was also seen as important for the
practical science of Navigation. Towards the end of the century several events and influences
brought astronomy to prominence in the public eye.

These were:
1. The importance of Astronomy for navigation which was necessary to facilitate trade with
distant countries.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, trade with the Empire, particularly with the new world
and India, was becoming increasingly important to Great Britain. With only primitive navigational
methods at their disposal many ships were lost on the high seas and it soon became evident to
the maritime authorities that improvements in the techniques of navigation were required. This
lead directly to the setting up of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in 1675 which was charged
with the duty of improving the accuracy of the positions of stars which could be used by
mariners for determining their position at sea.

2. The success of Newton's theory in predicting the movements of the planets and comets in
the solar system.

In the 17th century the great mathematician, Sir Isaac Newton, had proclaimed The
Universal Law of Gravitation, which postulated that the same force that pulled the falling apple
to the ground also held the moon in its orbit around the Earth and the planets in their orbits
around the Sun. To accurately test Newton's theory, precise measurements of the planets were
required, these were to be provided by the new observatories.

3. Captain Cooke's voyages of discovery and the Transit of Venus of 1769.

As knowledge of the motions of the planets improved it became possible to make more
precise predictions for the future. In 1769 it was predicted that the planet Venus would transit
across the face of the sun as viewed from the Earth. It was realized that this rare event would
provide a unique opportunity to determine the basic unit of the solar system, the distance from
the earth to the sun, (called the Astronomical Unit) provided it could be observed from several
stations around the world.

The Royal Society commissioned Captain Cooke to voyage to the Pacific to observe this
event from the South Seas and to this end he carried with him an astronomer. It was during this
voyage that Cooke annexed Australia. (Drawing by Cooke of transit of Venus).

Observations of the transit were also made by King George III from his new observatory
at Kew, built specially for the purpose. The telescope by Short used by George III for this
historic observation was presented to Armagh Observatory by Queen Victoria. A clock, by
Shelton of London, was used by George III to determine the exact time of the apparition.

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The transit of Venus in 1769 was also observed from Ireland using special instruments
brought from London for the purpose. They were carried out at Cavan, a townland near
Strabane, by Charles Mason (of Mason-Dixon Line fame).
4. The discovery of Uranus by Herschel.

Sir William Herschel, a musician from Germany who settled in England, was probably
the greatest astronomer and telescope builder of the 18th century. His telescopes, which were
the largest and most powerful of their day, gave him a distinct advantage over his contempories
and enabled him to discover many new nebulae and clusters of stars.

Planets, unlike stars, have a visible disc in a large telescope and in March 13, 1781
Herschel discovered a new planet which he named Georgium Sidus after George III, his patron.
This was the first planet to be discovered since the time of the ancient Greeks and, not
surprisingly, its discovery had a profound effect on the public; no longer were the heavens seen
to be immutable from ancient times - there were new discoveries to be made in the solar system
and beyond. The new planet later came to be known as Uranus.

19th Century

19th-century astronomers went beyond cataloguing the skies to understanding their

composition and predicting what could not be seen.

Where 18th century astronomy could be characterized by precise measurement of

position and the classification of heavenly bodies, the 19th century saw astronomy applying
developments in maths, physics, chemistry and geology to understand the make up of these
bodies and the origins of the Universe. Astronomers were now interested in finding out exactly
what a star, comet, or planet consisted of and how each was formed.

Spectroscopy developed in physics and chemistry was applied to find the chemical
components making up the stars while theories in geology were used to understand the
formation of bodies in the solar system.

When William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, this had been the first planet to be
discovered since antiquity and sparked a new interest in our solar system. Astronomers began
looking for a planet between Mars and Jupiter, as predicted by a mathematical relationship
known as the Titius-Bode Law. Instead of a planet, they discovered a series of small, faint
bodies: Ceres in 1801, Pallas in 1802, Juno in 1804 and Vesta in 1807. These objects became
known as minor planets, or asteroids, and many more were discovered during the latter half of
the 19th century, starting with Astraea in 1845 and Hebe in 1847.

Mathematicians John Couch Adams in England and Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier in
France both analyzed variations in the orbit of Uranus and concluded that there should be
another yet another planet in the solar system. Adams contacted Astronomer Royal George
Biddell Airy at the Royal Observatory to ask him to search for this new planet. Airy was unwilling
to undertake the search, considering it unimportant and unrelated to the Royal Observatory's
work in navigation and timekeeping. He recommended that Adams contact Challis, at
Cambridge, who could search using the Northumberland telescope. Challis studied the area of

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 ASTRONOMY: A Self-Learning Module for College Students 17

the sky predicted by Adam's calculations but, unfortunately, missed the fact that one of the
objects in the search field showed a planetary disc. Meanwhile, Leverrier had contacted Johann
Gottfried Galle, of the Berlin Observatory. Neptune was discovered by Galle and his student
Louis d'Arrest on 23rd September 1846.

In 1859 chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811–99) and physicist Gustav Robert
Kirchhoff (1824–87) discovered that the spectrum produced by passing sunlight through a
prism could be compared with spectra produced by chemicals burned in the laboratory, and that
this could show which chemicals were present in the Sun. This one discovery led to all kinds of
new branches of astronomy. Spectroscopy was used to study the outer regions of the Sun
during total eclipses (the only time that the Sun's corona is visible). It was also used to study the
composition of stars

The 19th century was also a time for mass involvement in astronomy. Expeditions to
observe eclipses were popular with both professional and amateur astronomers alike.
Astronomy clubs and societies were set up. The Royal Astronomical Society was formed in
1822 and the British Astronomical Association in 1890, coming out of the popularity of regional
amateur societies around the country.

The 19th century also saw the start of international collaborations between observatories
– for example, the Carte du Ciel project, which involved observatories around the world
photographing sections of the sky in order to build a map of the heavens.

20th Century

Astronomy was revolutionized in the 20th century. The electron was discovered in 1897
and this transformed spectroscopy and introduced plasma and magnetohydrodynamic physics
and astro-chemistry. The following are some major events that happened during the 20th
century:

 In 1906 Ejnar Hertzsprung establishes the standard for measuring the true brightness
of a star. He shows that there is a relationship between color and absolute magnitude for
90% of the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. In 1913, Henry Norris Russell published a
diagram that shows this relationship. Although astronomers agree that the diagram
shows the sequence in which stars evolve, they argue about which way the sequence
progresses. Arthur Eddington finally settles the controversy in 1924.

 In 1910, Williamina Fleming publishes her discovery of white dwarf stars.

 In 1916, German physicist Karl Schwarzschild uses Albert Einstein's theory of general
relativity to lay the groundwork for black hole theory. He suggests that if any star
collapse to a certain size or smaller, its gravity will be so strong that no form of radiation
will escape from it.

 In 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding and that the farther
away a galaxy is, the faster it is moving away from us. Two years later, Georges
Lemaître suggests that the expansion can be traced to an initial "Big Bang".

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 ASTRONOMY: A Self-Learning Module for College Students 18

 In 1957, Russia launches the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit, beginning the
space age. The US launches its first satellite, Explorer 1, four months later.

 July 29, 1958 marks the beginning of the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space
Administration), agency newly created by the United States to catch up with Soviet
space technologies. It absorbs all research centers and staffs of the NACA (National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), an organization founded in 1915.

 Russia takes the lead in the space race as Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to
orbit Earth in April. NASA astronaut Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space
a month later, but does not go into orbit, although he is the first person to land with
himself still inside his spacecraft thus technically achieving the first complete human
spaceflight by FAI definitions. John Glenn achieves orbit in early 1962.

 The US wins the race for the Moon as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin step onto the
lunar surface on July 20, 1969. Apollo 11 is followed by five further landing missions,
three carrying a sophisticated Lunar Roving Vehicle.

 In 1972, Charles Thomas Bolton was the first astronomer to present irrefutable
evidence of the existence of a black hole.

 In 1955, the first exoplanet, 51 Pegasi b, is discovered by Michel Mayor and Didier
Queloz.

POST-ASSESSMENT
Upload a softcopy (MS Word, PDF file) or a picture/c (JPG or PNG) of your answers to the
following questions on our Output Submission Form on or before October 3, 2020, 11:00 A.M.

Answer the following.

1. According to antiquity, what are the two major sources of the origin of modern science?

2. Identify and briefly explain the four possible forms of a logical scientific argument.

3. Discuss the scientific method using the diagram in Figure 2.2.

4. Discuss how astronomy is related to and difference with other sciences.

5. Discuss the difference between astronomy and astrology. Why is astrology considered a
pseudo-science? Why do you think some people claim that astrology “works”?

6. Describe the nature of Astronomy during the following period:

a. Pre-History
b. Hellenistic Period
c. Renaissance Period

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 ASTRONOMY: A Self-Learning Module for College Students 19

d. 17th century
e. 18th century
f. 19th century
g. Present day
7. Discuss the contribution of the following individuals to the development of Astronomy:
a. Erastosthenes
b. Hipparchus
c. Heraclides
d. Aristarchus
e. Ptolemy
f. Copernicus
g. Johannes Kepler
h. Galileo
i. Isaac Newton
j. William Herschel
k. Johann Gottfried Galle

8. Research 5 Filipino astronomers and their contribution to Astronomy.

If you want to learn more about the history of Astronomy, you can watch the following
videos with the link provided below.

 The Evolution of Astronomy, Chapter 1: The Very Beginnings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE9DSiRZ3SQ

 The Evolution of Astronomy, Chapter 2: Modern Astronomy and Space Travel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ajDriN5ODU

 The History Of Astronomy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVXFrDYxm80

Marvin Y. Arce
All Rights Reserved `
2020