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Astronomy 2e

For Further Exploration

Astronomy 2eFor Further Exploration

For Further Exploration

Articles

Brahe and Kepler

Gingerich, O. “Johannes Kepler and the Rudolphine Tables.” Sky & Telescope (December 1971): 328. Brief article on Kepler’s work.

Rosenthal, J. “Kepler’s Dream, Today’s Reality.” Sky & Telescope (February 2020): 62. About Kepler’s book Somnium, about spaceflight and how it became reality.

Witkoski, F. “Governing the Planets.” Sky & Telescope (August 2019): 58. On the history of Kepler’s Third Law.

Newton

Christianson, G. “Newton’s Principia: A Retrospective.” Sky & Telescope (July 1987): 18. On the great book where he summarized his work.

Gingerich, O. “Newton, Halley, and the Comet.” Sky & Telescope (March 1986): 230.

Sullivant, R. “When the Apple Falls.” Astronomy (April 1998): 55. Brief overview of Newton and gravity.

The Discovery of Neptune

Bell, T. “Discovering Neptune: What Really Happened.” Sky & Telescope (September 2022): 32. New details about the prediction and discovery of the eighth planet.

Sheehan, W., “Finding Neptune.” Astronomy (February 2022): 26. History of the planet’s discovery.

Websites

Brahe and Kepler

Johannes Kepler: http://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Kepler. Encyclopedia Britannica article.

Johannes Kepler: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Kepler/. MacTutor article with additional links.

Noble Dane: Images of Tycho Brahe: http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/tycho/index.htm. A virtual museum exhibit from Oxford.

Tycho Brahe: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Brahe/. MacTutor article with more links.

Newton

Isaac Newton’s Life: https://www.newton.ac.uk/about/isaac-newton/isaac-newtons-life/. From the Institute at Cambridge named for him.

Sir Isaac Newton: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Newton/. MacTutor article with additional links.

Sir Isaac Newton: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/newton/newtonbio.htm. Newton Biography at the Luminarium.

The Discovery of Neptune

Adams, Airy, and the Discovery of Neptune: https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1988JHA....19..121C. A defense of Airy’s role by historian Alan Chapman.

Mathematical Discovery of Planets: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Neptune_and_Pluto/. MacTutor article.

Neptune: The First Planet Discovered Mathematically: https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=4004. Brief introduction with quotes.

Videos

Brahe and Kepler

Kepler’s Three Laws: The Mechanical Universe Episode 21: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJvOGp1wzTI. Part of a public television series on physical science (28:46).

Renaissance Lives: Tycho Brahe and the Measure of Heavens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhXCC7ZKm1E. A talk by historian John Robert Christianson (1:07:54).

Solar System Dynamics: Orbits and Kepler’s Laws: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjOOrr2uPuU. Brief discussion of Kepler’s career and how he came up with the laws of planetary motion, which are demonstrated; NASA video (6:54).

Tycho Brahe’s Life and Death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6MIKP_mjDQ Talk by astronomer Ian Morrison (7:51).

Newton

Isaac Newton: Unhappy Scientific Genius: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK1bCqkn6Vk. An episode of Biography that interviews many noted historians of science about Newton’s contributions. (44:30).

Newton’s Three Laws (with Bicycle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGO_zDWmkvk. A TED cartoon; teacher explains the three laws and how they apply to a bicyclist (3:32).

Sir Isaac Newton versus Bill Nye: Epic Rap Battles of History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yis7GzlXNM. A good-humored rap battle between Newton and the modern science popularizer (2:47).

The Discovery of Neptune

Conceptual Physics: The Discovery of Neptune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckOch3OAyFM Physics teacher Paul Hewitt explains how the eighth planet was found by its perturbing the orbit of Uranus. (2:36).

Richard Feynman: The Discovery of Neptune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgXQffVgZRs. A brief black-and-white lecture by the Nobel-prize winner and great explainer (4:33).

The Crazy Way We Found Neptune in the 1800s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO_zng-jeww. A good retelling of the history in the Solar System Snacks series (7:53).

Understanding Motion on Earth and in Space

Conservation of Angular Momentum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bdyrv3cc0M. This student-produced video explores angular momentum with a number of good classroom demonstrations (5:20).

How You Wash Hair in Space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIjNfZbUYu8. Astronaut Karen Nyberg demonstrates how she washes her hair in free-fall aboard the International Space Station (2:54).

Orbital Motion Explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSh_S2bHrHE. A short cartoon with discussion of what’s involved in a stable orbit, from NOAA (2:37).

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