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1 | | If you were standing on the Earth's equator, where would you look to see the north celestial pole? Could you see this pole from Australia? |
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2 | | Draw a sketch of the Earth and persuade yourself that your latitude is the angle of the north celestial pole above the northern horizon. |
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3 | | Can you think of an astronomical reason why the zodiac may have been divided into 12 signs rather than 8 or 16? |
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4 | | Some people still believe the Earth is flat. What "proof" would you offer them that it is round? Could you persuade them? |
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5 | | If the shape of the Earth's orbit was unaltered but its rotation axis was shifted so that it had no tilt with respect to the orbit, how would seasons be affected? |
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6 | | Why does the position of sunrise along the eastern horizon change during the year? |
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7 | | Suppose the stars were very much closer than they really are. How might that have made it easier for Aristarchus to persuade people that the Earth moves around the Sun? |
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8 | | Tycho argued that the Sun orbited the Earth but that the other planets orbited the Sun. Could Tycho's model explain the phases of Venus as observed by Galileo? Why? |
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