These review questions are meant help you to organize what you have learned in class. Remember to review the chapters in the book also.
1. Describe the apparent motions (as seen from the Earth's surface) of the sun, moon, and planets across the sky (daily, monthly, yearly)
2. Describe how ancient people made calendars when they were hunter-gatherers.
Describe three different methods by which ancient peoples used the motions of the sun to make an accurate yearly calendar when they became farmers. Tell who, where, when they did this. Are any of these methods still accurate today? Why or why not?
3. Explain why there are seven days in the week. How did their names originate?
4. Name and sketch six constellations in the evening sky this month. (Use your star map and ring mask) What planets are in the evening sky? Which direction should you look to see them?
5. Tell a myth about characters who became constellations. What group of people originated the story? Who first told these myths and what were their three reasons for doing so? Tell how these apply to the myth you chose to tell.
6. State Kepler's three laws of planetary motion. How did he come up with these laws?
7. Describe the solar system models of Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Kepler. For each one give the century, the model center, orbit shape, orbit speeds, explanation of retrograde motion, advantages over previous work, and disadvantages.
8. Describe five things which Galileo saw through his telescope and tell how they provided information on the debate between the geocentric and heliocentric models of planetary motion.
Think about the problems at the end of each chapter in the textbook.