Chapter 5
Gravity and Motion:
The Early History of Modern Astronomy
Additional Misconceptions:
Incorrect:
Angular momentum is the same as "momentum."
Correct:
"Linear momentum," often called simply "momentum," is the tendency of
a body to keep moving straight ahead. "Angular momentum" is
different, and is a measure of the spin taking account also of the
distribution of weight with distance from the axis. Note that both
linear momentum and angular momentum are "conserved," that is, they do
not change without some outside force changing them.
Additional Links
www.galileo-galilei.org
Tycho Brahe exhibit at Museum of History of Science, Oxford
Kepler's biography from the Kepler mission
Working Group for the History of Astronomy
History of Astronomy
History of Astronomy and Space Science
Newton on the Web from CERN
The Galileo Project:
documents on early astronomers
Galileo's finger
Views of the Solar System by Calvin J. Hamilton
List of Solar System Info
Center for Archaeoastronomy, University of Maryland
History of Astronomy and Physics references from MIT
Newton on the Web:
Newton's unpublished manuscripts are being put onto the Web.
The Harmony of the Spheres:
See a nice illustrated summary of the main line of astronomical
history
Tycho Brahe site, Museum of History of Science, Oxford
Galileo Links
Galileo, Florence Museum of the History of Science
Galileo, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
Galileo, from the Astronomical Observatory of Padua
Errata
In the solutions manual available to professors, the solution for
Chapter 5 problem 14 would only be correct if the central black hole
had a mass of one solar mass. In all other cases, the proportionality
constant between P^2 and a^3 is not 1 when using A.U.s and years.
The solution for Chapter 5 problem 16 states that
(semimajor axis in AU)^3 x (central mass in solar masses) = (period in years)^2
In fact it should be (semimajor axis in AU)^3 / (central mass in solar masses) = (period in years)^2
Articles and News Updates
Jim Moser and Tom Pope have made a replica of Galileo's 1" telescope and obtained photograph of the moon, sunspots, etc., with it. See
http://www.pacifier.com/~tpope/
See Paula Giese's page on Aboriginal Star Knowledge,
http://indy4/jfdl.cc.mn.us/~isk/stars/starmenu.html.
A tour of megalithic sites
in Western Europe, and links to other
archaeoastronomy sites.
Galileo and More
See the homepage of the
Institute and Museum of the History of Science of Florence, Italy.
Galileo's notes posted from PEN
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Physics Education News June
1998 Number 2.
GALILEO PER TUTTI
Galileo Galilei laid the groundwork for classical mechanics in his book, Discorsi,
published in 1638. Discorsi is based on Galileo's studies of the motion of objects
and the records he kept in his "Notes on Motion." These notes, due to their
high historical and scholarly value, have been kept safe -- and unpublished
-- at the National Library in Florence, Italy. Now, in a joint effort by the
National Library, the Institute and Museum for the History of Science in Florence,
and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Galileo's
Notes have been partially published on the Web. 270 pages have been posted in
facsimile form, with transcriptions, translations, and hyperlinks. To make use
of this valuable resource, go to
http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/Galileo_Prototype/.
Albert Van Helden has a Galileo
Project Home Page, including information about Galileo and his experiments,
in the form of a tour of his villa.
Dr. Carl Pilcher, Science Director for Exploration of the Solar System
in NASA's Office of Space Science, announces the first issue of the new
Solar System Exploration newsletter. It is online at
http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/results/newsletter/newslet.html in pdf format.
The newsletter is published several times a year to keep the
planetary science community informed about activities and plans at NASA
Headquarters. The first issue discusses the Congressional budget status, the Mars
reports and replanning efforts, and education and public outreach. We hope to
facilitate dialog between the science community and Headquarters, and
invite your feedback comments, and suggestions. Send to
cpilcher@hq.nasa.gov or Ronald.S.Saunders@jpl.nasa.gov
See the location, look, and phase of any of 32 planets and moons on any date,
as simulated at JPL. The site includes
texture maps of various planets and moons.
$14 paper models of Voyager, Galileo, Magellan,
Hubble, Keck, and Mars Global Surveyor.
A List of Beginner's Resources About the Solar System For Teachers and Students
An annotated reading and resource list, compiled by Andy Fraknoi, is available
for beginners who want to learn more about our solar system is now part of the
educational web pages of the non-profit Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
The resource listing can be found at:
www.aspsky.org/education/solarsys.html
The listing discusses some of the most useful books and articles for teachers
and students on:
* the solar system in general,
* each planet,
* asteroids and comets,
* impacts, and
* the search for life on other local worlds.
There are also brief lists of useful web sites
and places to get slides and posters of solar
system images.
This list is part of the work of Project
ASTRO, a national program to train professional
and amateur astronomers to "adopt" 4th - 9th
grade classrooms in partnership with a local
teacher in their communities. The project is
currently operating in 11 regional sites from
Boston to San Francisco.
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