Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: mysterious skies
- 2 Two spheres: modeling the heavens and the Earth
- 3 Wanderers: the Moon and the planets
- 4 An Earth-centered cosmos: astronomy and cosmology from
- 5 Moving the Earth: the revolutions of Copernicus
- 6 Instruments of reform: Tycho’s restoration of observational
- 7 Physical causes: Kepler’s new astronomy
- 8 Seeing beyond Aristotle: Galileo’s controversies
- 9 The system of the world: Newton’s universal physics
- 10 Confirming Copernicus: evidence for Earth’s motions
- Appendix Mathematical details
- Notes
- References
- Index
Appendix - Mathematical details
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 March 2019
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: mysterious skies
- 2 Two spheres: modeling the heavens and the Earth
- 3 Wanderers: the Moon and the planets
- 4 An Earth-centered cosmos: astronomy and cosmology from
- 5 Moving the Earth: the revolutions of Copernicus
- 6 Instruments of reform: Tycho’s restoration of observational
- 7 Physical causes: Kepler’s new astronomy
- 8 Seeing beyond Aristotle: Galileo’s controversies
- 9 The system of the world: Newton’s universal physics
- 10 Confirming Copernicus: evidence for Earth’s motions
- Appendix Mathematical details
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
This appendix provides mathematical details to supplement the ideas presented in the main text. Topic covered include: angular measurement, apparent diameter, trigonometry, finding the Sun’s altitude from the length of a shadow, determining the relative distances of the Sun and Moon, and finding the distance to an astronomical object using parallax measurements. In addition, this appendix shows how to calculate the sizes of epicycles in the Ptolemaic theory and the periods and sizes of planetary orbits in the Copernican theory. Mathematical details are also provided for Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion, Galileo’s measurement of mountains on the Moon, Galileo’s studies of falling bodies and projectiles, Newton’s universal gravitational force, and Bradley’s theory of the aberration of starlight.
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- Information
- Finding our Place in the Solar SystemThe Scientific Story of the Copernican Revolution, pp. 307 - 336Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019