2nd Pre-Quarter Reviewer

GREEKS
They are much noted for their contributions in different fields. They were not only great philosophers but great
scientists and mathematicians as well.
PTOLEMIC MODEL
It claims that the planets moved in a complicated system of circles. This model also became known as the Ptolemic
System.
OBLATE SPHEROID
The shape of the Earth. It has bulging equator and squeezed poles.
NORTH STAR
It was believed to be in fixed position in the sky. However, when the Greeks traveled to places nearer the equator, like
Egypt, they noticed that it is closer to the horizon.
ARISTOTLE
A student of Plato and considered as one of the great philosophers of his time; his earth-centered view dominated for
almost 2,000 years.
ECLIPSE
An astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured by passing into
the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer.
SHADOW
A dark (real image) area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object.
ERATOSTHENES
A Greek philosopher who computed the circumference of the Earth and who gave the most accurate size during their
time.
RETROGRADE MOTION
An apparent change in the movement of the planet through the sky. It is not real in that the planet does not physically
start moving backwards in its orbit. It just appears to do so because of the relative positions of the planet and Earth and
how they are moving around the Sun.
WINTER SOLSTICE
A moment when the Sun's path in the sky is farthest south in the Northern Hemisphere or farthest north in the Southern
Hemisphere.
SUMMER SOLSTICE
The longest day of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere it is in June, while in the Southern Hemisphere it's in
December.
HELIOCENTRISM
The astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the Solar System.
GEOCENTRISM
Any theory of the structure of the solar system (or the universe) in which Earth is assumed to be at the center of it all.
NICOLAS CUPERNICUS
He considered the sun as the stationery center of the universe. He classified Earth as a planet just like Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
GALILEO GALILEI
He was the greatest Italian scientist of the Renaissance. Due to the telescope, he was able to discover and observe
important astronomical facts such as lunar craters, the phases of the Venus, the moons of Jupiter, sun spots, and the
sizes of the stars

GREEK ASTRONOMERS
a. Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras was able to explain what causes the phases of the moon. According to him, the moon shone only by
reflected sunlight. Since it is a sphere, only half of it illuminated at a time. This illuminated part that is visible from the
earth changes periodically.
b. Eudoxus
Eudoxus proposed a system of fixed spheres. He believed that the Sun, the moon, the five known planets and
the stars were attached to these spheres which carried the heavenly bodies while they revolved around the stationary
Earth.
c. Aristotle
Aristotle was a student of Plato. For him, the earth is spherical in shape since it always casts a curved shadow
when it eclipses the moon. He also believed that the earth was the center of the universe. The planets and stars were
concentric, crystalline spheres centered on the earth.
d. Aristarchus
Aristarchus is the very first Greek to profess the heliocentric view. The word helios means sun; centric means
centered. This heliocentric view considered the sun as the center of the universe. He learned that the sun was many
time farther than the moon and that it was much larger than the earth. He also made an attempt to calculate the
distance of the sun and the moon by using geometric principles. He based his calculations on his estimated diameters of
the earth and moon, and expressed distance in terms of diameter. However, the measurements he got were very small
and there were a lot of observational errors.
e. Eratosthenes
The first successful attempt to determine the size of the earth was made by him. He did this by applying
geometric principles. He observed the angles of the noonday sun in two Egyptian cities that were almost opposite each
other- Syene (now Aswan) in the south and Alexandria in the north. He assumed they were in the same longitude.
f. Hipparchus
Hipparchus is considered as the greatest of the early Greek astronomers. He observed and compared the
brightness of 850 stars and arranged them into order of brightness or magnitude. He developed a method for predicting
the times of lunar eclipses to within a few hours. Aside from this, he also measured the length of the year to within
minutes of the modern value.
g. Claudius Ptolemy
He believed that the earth was the center of the universe. His Ptolemic Model claimed that the planets moved in
a complicated system of circles. This geocentric model also became known as the Ptolemic System.

Phases of the Moon

A moon, also called a satellite, is a relatively small object that is orbiting around a planet. Earth’s moon is the fifth
biggest moon in the solar system. As we will see, several other planets in the solar system also have moons. On average,
the distance between the Earth and the moon is 384,000 kilometers. To give you an idea of its size, the moon is about
four times smaller than the width of the Earth.

The gravity of the Earth pulls on the moon such that one face of the moon is always facing us, and we can never see the
other side. Just like the Earth, half of the moon is always lit by sunlight and the other half is in shadow. As the moon
orbits the Earth, we see a different phase of the moon. It takes 27 days, 7 hours, and 43 minutes for our Moon to
complete one full orbit around Earth. This is called the sidereal month, and is measured by our Moon's position relative
to distant “fixed” stars. However, it takes our Moon about 29.5 days to complete one cycle of phases (from full Moon to
full Moon).

There are eight phases within about a month. The time interval between a full (or new) moon and the next repetition of
the same phase, a synodic month, averages about 29.53 days. Therefore, in those lunar calendars in which each month
begins on the day of the new moon, the full moon falls on either the 14th or 15th day of the lunar month
New Moon.
A new moon appears only when the moon is on the side of the earth most directly in line with the sun. There is no
illumination on the earth’s side, so it is also sometimes called the dark moon. If it were visible, it would ride very high in
summer and very low in winter. It reaches an intermediate height in spring and fall. Within a few days after the dark
moon, a thin waxing crescent moon may be seen low in the western sky shortly after sunset.

First quarter.
Half the side of the moon facing the earth appears illuminated. It rises about noon, reaches its high point for the day at
sundown, and sets near midnight. It ides low in fall and high in spring and takes a middle course during summer and
winter.

Full Moon.
The whole side of the moon is now illuminated to viewers from the earth. The full moon rises in the east as the sun sets
in the west. It stays up all night long, reaching its highest point about midnight. In summer, it is as low in the sky as the
sun is at noon in midwinter. In winter, its apparent height is comparable with that of the sun at noon in summer. In
spring and fall it rides at an intermediate height.

Third, or last quarter.

Like the first quarter, it is seen illuminated on half the side facing the earth. The third quarter moon rises about
midnight, is highest at dawn and sets about noon. In the morning it is in the western sky. It rides high in the havens in
fall and low in spring and follows a middle course in summer and winter.

The following crescent gets thinner and thinner. It is known as the waning crescent moon or the old moon as it
approaches the phase of the new moon to complete the cycle. Sometimes within the horns of the bright waxing or
waning crescent the rest of the disc can actually be seen dimly, illuminated.

The crescent glows from direct sunshine and the rest is made by earthshine. Earthshine is sunlight reflected to the moon
from the daylight region of the earth. This appearance is popularly called “the old moon in the new moon’s arms.”
Between the full and the two quarter phases, the moon appears as a lopsided globe. It is then called the gibbous moon.

During the next seven days, progressively more and more of the moon’s exposed view becomes illuminated. The moon
is going through its waxing crescent phase. At the first quarter, the angle between sun, moon and earth is 90 degrees.
During the next week, more and more of the sunlit part is exposed to us as the moon goes through its waxing gibbous
phase.

We see a full moon when sun, earth and moon are lined up with the earth in the middle. The cycle reverses during the
following two weeks as we see less and less of the sunlit side while the moon continuously moves in its orbit. This
movement produces the waning gibbous. The time elapsed during one complete cycle is about 29 ½ days.

ECLIPSES
There are two types of eclipses, lunar eclipse and solar eclipse.

Lunar Eclipse

The lining up of the earth, moon, and sun produces a lunar eclipse when the moon passes into the shadow of the earth.
Usually a lunar eclipse either precedes or follows a solar eclipse by two weeks. Just as all solar eclipses involve a new
moon, all lunar eclipses involve a full moon. A lunar eclipse may be partial or total. All observers on the dark side of the
earth see a lunar eclipse at the same time. Interestingly, when the moon is fully eclipsed, it is still visible and reddish.

Solar Eclipse

Sometimes, the moon comes between the sun and the Earth. Then, it hides briefly from our sight. We call this an eclipse
of the sun. Ancient people feared an eclipse, because it was supposed to show that the gods were angry, or that there
would be floods, wars and other disasters.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon’s shadow falls on the earth. Because of the large size of the sun, rays of sunlight
taper to provide an umbra and a surrounding penumbra. An observer in the umbra part of the shadow experiences
darkness during the day a total eclipse, totality. Totality begins when the sun disappears behind the moon and ends
when the sun appears on the other edge of the moon. The average time of totality is 2 to 3 minutes, and a maximum of
7.5 minutes.
Differences of Lunar and Solar Eclipses
There are some differences between lunar and solar eclipses. It is shown in the diagram below.