Name _______________________________ Astronomy Notes

Astronomy - the study of earth, moon stars, and other objects in

space

I. Days and Years

A. Rotation – spinning of a planet on its axis
1. results in only half of a planet receiving sunlight at a time
2. Causes day and night
B. Revolution – movement of an object around another
1. Earth revolves around the sun in an ellipse (oval shape)
2. Referred to as an orbit
3. One complete revolution is called a year
C. Calendar
1. One Earth year = 365 days
2. One complete Earth orbit = 365 ¼ days
3. One Leap year = 366 days (one every 4 years)
- allows calendars and seasons to stay aligned

II. Earth's Seasons

A. Caused by
1. Revolution around the sun
2. Tilt of the Earth’s axis
B. Planetary Position
1. Summer – North hemisphere points toward sun
2. Fall – Equal sunlight, sun appears to be moving south
3. Winter – South hemisphere points toward sun
4. Spring – Equal sunlight sun appears to be moving north
C. Equinox – When the sun passes directly over the equator
1. Sept 21/22 - first day of fall
2. March 21/22 – first day of spring
D. Solstice – When sun is directly over 23.5oN or S
1. June 21/22 (first day of summer) – Tropic of Cancer
2.December 21/22 (first day of winter) – Tropic of Capricorn
III. Phases of the Moon
A. Caused by the relative positions of the Earth, Moon, and the sun
B. The phase you see depends on how much of the sunlit side
of the moon faces the earth
C. Phase names
1. New moon
2. Waxing Crescent
3. First Quarter
4. Waxing Gibbous
5. Full moon
6. Waning Gibbous
7. Third Quarter
8. Waning Crescent
D. Eclipses
1. Solar Eclipse - occurs when a new moon blocks the
sunlight to the earth
2. Lunar Eclipse - occurs when the earth blocks the sunlight
to a full moon
E. Tides
1. Caused by the moon’s gravity
2. High tide and low tide alternate about every 6 hours
3. Cause erosion and the intertidal zone

IV. The Universe

A. Big Bang Theory
1. The universe began with a period of extreme and rapid
expansion of matter
2. Most matter consists of hydrogen and helium
3. The Universe is continuing to expand, causing galaxies
to move away from each other
V. Our Galaxy
A. The Milky Way
1. One of many galaxies in our universe
2. Spiral shape
VI. The Solar System:
A. History
1. "Planet" – means wandering star
a. Ancient Greeks saw 5 wandering stars in the sky
b. We know them as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn

2. Solar System Models

a. Geocentric Solar System – earth centered solar
system with everything revolving around us
b. Heliocentric Solar System – sun centered solar
system with planets revolving around it
3. Famous Astronomers
a. Ptolomy (Greek) 140 AD
- supported the Geocentric model (earth centered)
- tried to further explain motion of the planets
- theory lasted 1400 years!!
b. Copernicus (Polish) 1500's
- Supported the Heliocentric model (Sun centered)
c. Galileo (Italian) 15-1600's
- believed Copernicus
- improved the telescope and was the first to
use it to look at the night sky
- saw 4 moons moving around Jupiter
- also watched Venus go through phases
- Provided "proof" that the earth could not be the
center of the universe
B. Objects in our Solar System
1. Sun – only a middle sized star
2. Inner planets
- Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
- all are Terrestrial (have rocky surfaces)
a. Mercury – closest to the sun, almost no atmosphere
b. Venus –retrograde rotation (rotates backwards), very
dense atmosphere, rains sulfuric acid, hottest planet in
the solar system due to the greenhouse effect
 c. Earth – only planet that sustains life, surface is 70%
water, atmosphere is 20% oxygen
d. Mars – called the Red Planet, due to iron oxide in the
crust
3. Outer Planets
- separated from the inner planets by asteroid belt
- include Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
(& Pluto)
- J,S,U, and N are gaseous (no solid surfaces)
- Pluto is the only solid “planet” of the outer 5
a. Jupiter – largest planet, has a giant storm called the
Great Red Spot
b. Saturn – very low density, rings are made of small rocks,
dust, and ice
c. Uranus – rotates from top to bottom, has a ring,
but it is hard to see
d. Neptune – methane atmosphere makes it appear blue,
named for the god of the sea
*e. Pluto– no longer considered a planet, but a “dwarf
planet”
4. Comets – Greek for “long haired star”
- Chunks of ice and dust with long narrow elliptical orbits
- Sun melts the ice and causes tail to form
- Edmund Haley (1705) calculated the orbit of Haley’s
comet to be 76 years
5. Asteroids – objects that revolve around the sun that are too
small and numerous to be considered planets
- most orbit between Mars & Jupiter in the Asteroid Belt
- believed by most to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs
6. Meteors - "Shooting Stars"
- chunk of rock or dust that enters the earth's atmosphere
and burns
- called a meteoroid before it enters atmosphere
- called a meteorite if it hits earth's surface