Term
The term in Arabic for the very thin crescent Moon right after new that marks the
beginning of the month in the Islamic calendar is |
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Definition
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Term
Which of the following statements about astrology during the Islamic period is true?
AA S 1 (1) it was acceptable as a part of medical practice |
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Definition
| it was acceptable as a part of medical practice |
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Term
Which of the following scholars was not associated with the House of Wisdom
in Baghdad? |
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Definition
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Term
Which of the following motions was definitely first suggested by Thabit Ibn Qrra
(Tobit)? |
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Definition
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Term
Which of the following zijes was noteworthy because it included a compilation of
observational data on conjunctions and eclipses? |
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Definition
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Term
Whose zij was the first to include the advance of the Sun's apogee and tables of sines
instead of chords for trigonometry? |
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Definition
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Term
The great observatory of the Islamic period which was equipped with large instruments,
a library, a sizeable staff and also produced a definite school of thought about the
planetary motions was |
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Definition
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Term
The Samarkand Observatory, one of the great observatories of the Islamic period, was
founded by |
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Definition
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Term
The problem with Ptolemy's model for the Moon's orbit, namely that its distance would
vary by a factor of two contrary to observations, was resolved by |
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Definition
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Term
| The approximate date of the Alfonsine Tables was |
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Definition
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Term
The concept of impetus was introduced by medieval professors Buridan and Oresme
to explain |
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Definition
| violent or forced motion as opposed to natural motion in Aristotle's philosophy |
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Term
The best university textbook on the motions of the planets in the early European period
was |
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Definition
| New Theory of the Planets by Peurbach and Regiomontanus (Mueller) |
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Term
The first extensive (three decades) series of fairly accurate observations of the Sun,
Moon, and planets carried out in Europe was by |
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Definition
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Term
Which of the following instruments was used for measuring the ecliptic coordinates of
objects? |
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Definition
| zodiacal armillary sphere |
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Term
The instrument that was used either to correct the altitude of Polaris to get the
observer's latitude or to tell the time of night was the |
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Definition
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Term
| The approximate date of Kepler is |
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Definition
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Term
| Copernicus estimated the average distance of an inferior planet from the Sun by using |
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Definition
| trigonometry with its angle of greatest elongation |
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Term
| The real significance of Copernicus's book On the Revolutions was that it |
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Definition
| reintroduced the idea of a heliocentric universe and presented arguments |
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Term
Andreas Osiander changed the title of Copernicus's book On the Revolutions and
added an unsigned preface because |
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Definition
| he was afraid the Protestants would consider it against Holy Scripture |
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Term
| The planetary tables that were based on Copernicus's On the Revolutions were the |
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Definition
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Term
Tycho Brahe used observations of which of the following to disprove for the first time
Aristotle's doctrine that nothing ever changes in the superlunary region? |
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Definition
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Term
One of the innovations introduced into observational astronomy by Tycho Brahe involved a change
in the way a certain instrument was used that allowed two observers to observe simultaneously.
This was the |
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Definition
| sextant, by moving the backsight from the pivot to two points along the angular scale |
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Term
One of the reasons that Tycho Brahe was able to obtain more accurate positions of planets and
stars than the Greeks was |
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Definition
| his application of a correction for atmospheric refraction from tables he compiled |
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Term
| Tycho Brahe didn't accept the Copernican system. Instead he proposed a system in which |
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Definition
| the Sun and Moon go around the Earth and everything else revolves around the Sun |
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Term
| Kepler's book which presented his third law of planetary motion was |
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Definition
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Term
| Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion (actually the first to be discovered) states that |
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Definition
an imaginary line from the Sun to a given planet sweeps out equal areas in equal
time intervals |
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Term
| The shape of a planet's elliptical orbit is given by its |
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Definition
|
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Term
| Galileo's discovery that Venus shows all the same phases as the Moon proved |
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Definition
| that the Ptolemaic system was incorrect but nothing about the Copernican system |
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Term
Which of the following points was not used by Galileo to argue that sunspots
really are on the Sun's surface and not simply passing in front of it? |
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Definition
| the spots appear to move across the Sun's disk at a constant rate |
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Term
| The work which caused Galileo to be tried by the Roman Catholic Church was his |
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Definition
| Dialogue on the Two Great World Systems |
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Term
Which of the following books marked the beginning of modern planetary theory and
theoretical astronomy? |
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Definition
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Term
Bacon's approach to natural philosophy (science) was based on experimentation and
observation as well as the application of the |
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Definition
|
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Term
| Descartes's idea about space was that it |
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Definition
| is filled with swirling particles forming vortices (the plenum) |
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Term
| As far as is known the first scientific society was the |
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Definition
| Accademia dei Lincei (Academy of the Lynx-Eyed) |
|
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Term
| The Philosophical Transactions |
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Definition
| was (and is) the research journal of the Royal Society of London |
|
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Term
The first successful pendulum clock as a precision instrument for keeping time was
invented by |
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Definition
|
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Term
| The largest moon of Saturn, Titan, was discovered by |
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Definition
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Term
The first reasonably accurate estimate of the length of the astronomical unit was
obtained by Cassini in Paris and Richer in South America using |
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Definition
| the geocentric parallax of Mars at favorable opposition |
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Term
| The speed of light was first measured successfully by Roemer using |
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Definition
| the time delay of eclipses of Jupiter's moons across the Earth's orbit |
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Term
The instrument that was capable of measuring both altitude and azimuth at the same
time was the |
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Definition
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Term
Aristarchus's estimate of the Sun's distance relative to
the Moon's was |
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Definition
| considerably too low (about a factor 20) |
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Term
Which of the following first proposed the heliocentric
theory? |
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Definition
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Term
Magnitudes were introduced by Hipparchus to
categorize which of the following for stars? |
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Definition
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Term
| Precession was discovered by which of the following? |
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Definition
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Term
Ptolemy's detailed planetary models were published
in which of his works? |
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Definition
| Matematike syntaxis = Mathematical Compilation |
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Term
In the simplified geocentric model we covered in lecture,
the epicycle for an inferior planet is |
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Definition
| that planet's orbit around the Sun |
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Term
In the simplified geocentric model we covered in lecture,
a superior planet's orbital period around its epicycle in
the Greek way of reckoning is |
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Definition
| that planet's synodic period |
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Term
Ptolemy's reason for introducing the equant into his models
was to better represent the |
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Definition
| variable motion in longitude |
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Term
| The term hilal refers to which of the following? |
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Definition
the "new" Moon (very thin crescent) at the
beginning of the month in the Islamic calendar |
|
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Term
Which of the following was not associated with the
House of Wisdom in Baghdad? |
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Definition
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Term
The advance of the Sun's apogee seems to have been first
introduced into planetary tables (along with the use of sines
in trigonometry in place of chords) by |
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Definition
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Term
The Book of the Fixed Stars with new magnitudes for
some stars in place of Ptolemy's was the work of |
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Definition
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Term
The so-called Maragha School of planetary theory was
established at the observatory of that name by |
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Definition
|
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Term
Which of the following zijs included observational data
on eclipses, conjunctions, and the like? |
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Definition
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Term
Ibn al-Shatir was able to get rid of the equant
using what device instead? |
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Definition
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Term
The only star catalogue to be published during the Islamic
period with positions that were newly measured (instead of
updated ones from Ptolemy) was produced at which observatory? |
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Definition
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Term
The solution proposed for the problem of violent or forced
motion in Aristotle's physics at the University of Paris in
the Middle Ages was the concept of |
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Definition
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Term
The Theory of the Planets was a university text
on astronomy written by |
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Definition
|
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Term
Bernhard Walther of Nuremberg, who made the first extensive
set of fairly accurate observations (spanning three decades)
in Europe, was "recruited" as an observer by |
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Definition
| Johann Mueller = Regiomontanus |
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Term
The instrument that was used either to measure the angular
separation between two objects in the sky or to measure an
object's altitude (such as Polaris, to approximate the latitude)
was the |
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Definition
|
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Term
Copernicus estimated the average distance of a superior
planet from the Sun in astronomical units by using |
|
Definition
trigonometry with the angle calculated at its time
of quadrature using orbital periods (Earth's and planet's) |
|
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Term
QQ The person responsible for getting Copernicus to write
up his researches on planetary models was |
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Definition
|
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Term
The real significance of Copernicus's book On
the Revolutions was that it |
|
Definition
reintroduced the idea of a heliocentric
universe and presented arguments for it |
|
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Term
Religious opposition to Copernicus's book On the
Revolutions initially came from |
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Definition
Protestants who believed it contradicted the
plain meaning of Scripture |
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Term
Tycho Brahe used observations of the "new star"
of 1572 to prove that contrary to Aristotle, things do
change in the superlunary region. What did he measure --
or try to measure -- to show this |
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Definition
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Term
At his second observatory, Stjerneborg, Tycho Brahe
located his main instruments underground instead of on
upper floors as he had at Uraniborg. His reason for
doing this was |
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Definition
to place them on solid ground and shield them
from wind, which reduced vibration |
|
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Term
Kepler's Cosmographic Mystery was the book which first
presented |
|
Definition
his idea for "explaining" the distances of the
planets from the Sun using the regular solid figures |
|
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Term
Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion, the so-called
Law of Areas, states that |
|
Definition
an imaginary line from the Sun to a given planet
sweeps out equal areas in equal time intervals |
|
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Term
| The size of a planet's elliptical orbit is given by its |
|
Definition
|
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Term
Galileo's discovery that Venus goes through all the same
phases as the Moon |
|
Definition
demonstrated that the Ptolemaic model for Venus
couldn't be correct, regardless of whether it was placed
closer than the Sun or farther away |
|
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Term
Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's moons was a boost to the
Copernican theory at the time because |
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Definition
it eliminated the argument that the Moon would
be left behind if the Earth orbits the Sun |
|
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Term
Which of the following books marked the beginning of modern
observational astronomy when it first appeared? |
|
Definition
|
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Term
The new approach to natural philosophy (science) based
on experimentation and observation as well as its emphasis
on practical application of the knowledge thus gained was
advocated by |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| The first of the scientific societies was the |
|
Definition
| Accademia dei Lincei (Academy of the Lynx-Eyed) |
|
|
Term
| Journal des Savants (or Scavans) was |
|
Definition
the research journal of the French Academy of
Sciences |
|
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Term
The pendulum clock first became a precision instrument
because of |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Four medium-sized moons of Saturn were discovered by |
|
Definition
| G. D. Cassini = Cassini I |
|
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Term
The size of the astronomical unit was first estimated
fairly closely (although not with high accuracy) by Cassini
and Picard using direct measurement of |
|
Definition
| the geocentric parallax of Mars at opposition |
|
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Term
| The approximate date of Hipparchus was |
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Definition
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