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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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