Material Detail

This series of webpages is part of a course, called Astronomy 161: The Solar System, offered by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Tennessee. This unit covers the sun-centered (heliocentric) solar system introduced by Copernicus; the observations of Tycho Brahe; the Kepler laws of planetary motion; the contributions of Galileo, including telescope observations and laws of dynamics; comparison of the laws of Aristotle with the laws of Galileo; and Newton's unification of astronomy and physics. Subsections explaining the contributions of Newton include: explanation of vector quantities used by Newton, such as velocity, acceleration and force; the Newtonian laws of motion, and universal law of gravitation; Newton's correction of Kepler's laws; conic sections and gravitational orbits; gravitational perturbations and the prediction of new planets. The section ends with a mention of Einstein and the theory of relativity.

Disciplines:

• Science and Technology  / Astronomy