2.

3 Astronomy in the Renaissance 51

not only for showing the superiority of the heliocentric over the geocentric system but
also for revealing the true shape of planetary orbits.
Tycho did more than just record planetary positions; he recognized opportunity
when he saw it. In 1572, when an exploding star (what we today call a supernova)
became visible, Tycho demonstrated from its lack of motion with respect to other stars
that was far beyond the supposed spheres on which planets move. Likewise, when a
it

bright comet appeared in 1577, he showed that it lay far beyond the Moon, not within
the Earth's atmosphere, as taught by the ancients. These observations suggested that
the heavens were both changeable and more complex than was previously believed.
Although Tycho could appreciate the simplicity of the Copernican model, he re-

Instead, he offered a compromise model in which all of the planets except the Earth
went around the Sun, while the Sun, as in earlier models, circled the Earth. Tycho was
the last major astronomer to hold that the Earth was at the center of the Universe.

Johannes Kepler
After Tycho Brahe's death, his young assistant, Johannes Kepler (fig. 2.22), was able

to derive from Tycho's huge set of precise information a detailed picture of the path of
the planet Mars. Whereas all previous investigators had struggled to fit the planetary
paths to circles, by using Tycho's superb data Kepler was able to show that the path of
Mars was not circular but elliptical.
An ellipse can be drawn with a pencil inserted in a loop of string that is hooked
aröund two thumbtacks. If you move the pencil while keeping it tight against the
string; as shown in you will draw an ellipse. Each point marked by a tack
figure 2.23A,
is •called a focus of the ellipse. Not only was Mars's orbit elliptical, Kepler determined

that the Sun was located at a spot that was not the center of the ellipse but was off
center at a focus. Using an elliptical shape for the orbit, he was able to obtain excellent
agreement between the calculated and the observed positions of the other planets as
well. Kepler's discovery that planetary orbits are ellipses and not circles was a critical
FIGURE 2.22
step in understanding planetary motion.
Johannes Kepler (1 571-1 630)
Along with discovering the shape of planetary orbits, Kepler also measured the
relative sizes of the orbits. Because an orbit is elliptical, its size cannot be described by
a single number. The shape of an ellipse is instead given by its long and short dimen-
sions, called its major and minor axes, respectively (fig. 2.23B). Astronomers usually
use the orbit's semimajor axis—half the major axis, analogous to a circle's radius. To
describe the ellipse's shape, astronomers usually report its eccentricity, which indi-
cates how far from the center of the ellipse each focus is located. The eccentricity of a
circle is 0, but approaches 1 as the ellipse becomes more stretched out. Several ellipses
with the same semimajor axis but different eccentricities are displayed in figure 2.23C.

Planet

Tacks af each O
focus of ellipse
01

Maior axis

a
a exa
Loop a = Semimaior: e = Eccentricity
of string axis

FIGURE 2.23
(A) Drawing an ellipse. (B) The major and minor axes. The semimajor axis, a, is half of the major axis. The distance that each focus is off-cen-
ter in the ellipse determines the eccentricity, e, of the ellipse. (C) Three orbits are shown that have the same size semimajor axis but differing

eccentricities. The Sun lies at one focus of the ellipse.

 52 CHAPTER 2 'The Rise of Astronomy

Third Law for the Planets Known

Di Sun
(iri AstrPnp
0.387 0241 o.ö58 0.058

037884%
1.0 1.0 1.0

5.20 11.86 141 .0 141 .0

Based on Tycho's measurements, Kepler could measure not only the shape of a
it changes distance from the Sun. And when Kepler
planet's path but also its speed as
compared the size of a planet's semimajor axes with how long the planet takes to orbit
the Sun—its orbital period—Kepler discovered the relationship shown in table 2.2:
the square of the period is proportional to the cube of the orbital siie, as measured by
ANIMATION the semimajor axis.
Kepler's discoveries of the nature of planetary motions are expressed in' what are
l<éplé/-é laws known today as Kepler's three laws:

I. Planets move•in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse (see fig.
2.24-1).

II. The orbital speed of a planet varies •so that a line•joining the Sun and the planet
will sweep. over equal areas in equal time intervals (see fig. 2.24-11).
Ill. The amount of time a planet takes to orbit the Sun •is related to. its orbit's size,

such that the period, P, squared is proportional to the semimajor axis, a, cubed
(fig. 2.24-111). Mathematically,
P2 = a3

where P is measured in years and a is measured in astronomical units.

These three laws describe the essential features of planetary motion around our Sun.
The second law—in its statement that a line from the planet to the Sun sweeps out
equal areas in equal times—implies that when a planet 'is near the Sun, it moves more
Kepler's second law rapidly than when it is farther away. We can see this by Considering the shaded areas
in figure 2.24-11. For the areas to be equal, the distärite traveled alöng the orbit in a

Planet

2 months P = Time to omplete orbit

Sun
(for example)
I Semimajor axis

a
Sun
2 months
(for example) P2 years L
T a3AU

Ill

FIGURE 2.24
Kepler's three laws. (l) A planet moves in an elliptical orbit with the Sun at one focus. (II) A planet moves so that a line from it to the Sun
sweeps out equal areas in equal times. Thus, the planet moves fastest when nearest the Sun. For purposes of the drawings a two-month in-

terval chosen. (Ill) The square of a planet's orbital period

is (in years) equals the cube of the semimajor axis of its orbit (in AU), the planet's
distance from the Sun if the orbit is a circle.
 2.3 Astronomy in the Renaissance 53

Oiven time must be larger when the planet is near the Sun. Thus, according to Kepler's
second law, as a planet moves along its elliptical orbit, its speed changes, increasing as
it nears the Sun and decreasing as it moves away from the Sun.
The third law also has implications for planetary speeds, but it deals with the
relative speeds of planets whose orbits are at different distances from the Sun, not the
speed of a given planet. Because the third law states that P2 = a3, a planet far from the
Sun (larger a) has a longer orbital period (P) than one near the Sun (see table 2.2). For *INTERÄCTlvEf
example, the Earth takes 1 year to complete its orbit, but Jupiter, whose distance from
Kepler's third law
the Sun is slightly more than 5 times Earth's distance, takes about 12 years. Thus, a

planet orbiting near the Sun overtakes and passes a planet orbiting farther out, leading

Kepler's third law has other implications. For example, we shall see in chapter 3

that the law gives information about the nature of the force holding the planets in orbit.

Also, it'implies that a planet close to the Sun moves along its orbit faster than a planet
far from the Sun. Finally, the third law allows us to calculate the distance from the Sun
of any body orbiting we measure the body's orbital period. (See Astronomy by the
it if

Numbers: "Using Kepler's Third Law for Orbit Calculations.") The distance we obtain
Will only be relative to the Earth's distance, but the law thereby gives us at least the

relative scale of the Solar System.

Apart from such astronomical applications, Kepler's laws have an additional sig-
nificance. Kepler's laws are the first mathematical formulas to describe the heavens

correctly, and as such they revolutionized our way of thinking about the Universe.
Without such mathematical formulations of physical laws, much of our technological
society would be impossible. These laws are therefore a major breakthrough in our

quest to understand the world around us.

—It-is-perhaps-ironic that such mathematical laws should come from Kepler, be-
cause so much of his work is tinged with mysticism. For example, as a young man he
sought to explain the spacing of the planets as described in Copernicus's work in terms
öf nested geometrical figures, the sphere, the cube, and so on. In fact, it was Tycho's
notice of this work that led to his association with Kepler. Moreover, Kepler's third
law evolved from his attempts to link planetary motion to music, using the mathemati-
cal relations known to exist between different notes of the musical scale. Kepler even
attempted to compose "music of the spheres" based upon such a supposed link. Never-
theless, despite such excursions into these nonastronomical mattersi Kepler's discov-
eries remain the foundation for our understanding of how planets move. The work of
Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler was the pinnacle of pre-telescopic astronomy. How-
ever, even as Kepler was developing his geometric and mathematical laws describing
the motion of the planets, the nature of astronomy was about to change dramatically.

ASTRONOM
by the numbers;
USING KEPLER'S THIRD LAW FOR ORBIT CALCULATIONS

2:g.5ä23Z
P = 61630 = 2489k. %king the cube root of éadl side

So, since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has completed only 3 35.2 = 3.28.
about 1 / 3rd of an orbit. So these dangerous asteroids orbit at 3.28 AU (chapter 1 1