History of Astronomy and Neptune

Science is and has become a necessity to know just to keep up with the tremendous advancements of today and tomorrow. Basic things, such as how the universe was suspected to be started or who Ptolemy and Galileo were and what they did are just things that need to be known to fully understand what is happening in the world around you. These things are what you need to know, if you're a scientists, to a grocery shop bagger.

Ptolemy was a Greek man who became the man to set the future for astronomy. He was the third of the Alexandrian men, this group of scientists and mathematicians taught Alexander and his generals themselves. Living around 150 A.D., and being one of the Alexandrian men, he had access to knowledge no one at the time had. From the information that he had access to, and the framework that Aristotle provided, Ptolemy was able to make a mathematical model of the universe. Certain faults and glitches in the current model grew Ptolemy confused and angry. Using his own current knowledge and applying Euclid's geometry to the universe's model he created the Ptolemaic system. In the Ptolemaic system, the model had the planets rotating around the Earth which is known as a different. Technically, in the model, the planets weren't revolving around an Earth than was centered, but more of an Earth that was off-centered, which is known as eccentric. To solve the current problem of why the planets speed up and slow down, Ptolemy insisted that the planets do not travel at a set rate, but more of a rate that changes at will. He then brought up the point that the planets do travel at an set rate, but only at the equant. The equant was a center point at which at that point, planets would seem to be traveling at an equal and uniform rate. There was still a small problem, retrograde motion. Retrograde motion is when a celestial object moves opposite to most other celestial objects around it. To explain this, he proposed that the planets move along a sub-orbit, in this case, along the deferent. His model allowed it to be agreeable to Plato's and Aristotle's models, but go into more detail of eccentric observations.

Nicolaus Copernicus was born in February 19, 1473 in Torun and was the founder of the heliocentric planetary theory. He insisted that there was a rotating Earth that revolved, along with other planets, around a central sun. He was encouraged to do so, but reluctant for possibilities that he might be known as crazy as many others before him have for knew theories. He published them anyway and were handed to him the day he died. He died in Fraurenburg on May 24, 1543.

Johannes Kepler was born in 1571 and was one of the first strong believers of the heliocentric planetary theory. He discovered the three laws of planetary motion. This German astronomer believed in the Harmonices Mundi, or the Harmonies of the World. In his Harmonices Mundi he spoke of his third law, which was about the relationship between the orbital periods and the distances of the planets from the sun. He believed the sun regulates the velocity of the planets. This fact was a marking point in Astronomy history. This left a path for Newton's theory of universal gravitation.

Galileo Galilei was a student at the University of Pisa. He studied medicine, though his real interests were natural philosophy and mathematics. What he is mostly remembered for is his work on free fall, his use of telescopes, and his employment of experimentation. In 1592, he became a professor of the University of Padua. His job was to teach Euclid geometry and standard astronomy to medical students. Instead he taught and lectured a more unconventional form of astronomy and natural philosophy to his medical students. In a personal letter to Kepler sent in 1598, Galileo stated that he was a Copernican, meaning he believed the teachings of Copernicus. In 1609, he heard of a Dutchman who made a spyglass shown in Venice. After reading reviews and reports and never meeting the man, he used his technical skills in mathematics and his skills as a workman and crafted a telescope with more optical performance. This new telescope made amazing discoveries in the worlds above, and were told in the book that he published in 1610 called the Message from the Stars.

There are nine planets in our solar system, there are four solid rock planets and 5 gas giants. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. It is slightly smaller in diameter than the moons Ganymede and Titan but twice the mass. It has a small magnetic field which is about 1% of Earth's gravitational force and it has no satellites. The second planet from the sun is Venus. It has been known and named prehistorically. Venus is the brightest object in the sky besides the stars and the moon. Earth is known as the third "rock" from the sun and is the fifth largest planet. Earth is the only planet in our solar system that isn't named after Greek or Roman mythology. It is known to be the prettiest planet. Mars is the last inner rock planet and is the fourth planet from the sun. The name Mars comes from the word "Ares" which is the god of war. Due to its red color it is known as the Red Planet.

Gas Giants are planets farther out in the solar system that are supposedly completely gas. The first and largest gas giant is Jupiter. It is the fifth planet from the sun and is twice as massive as all the planets in our solar system combined. Jupiter had 4 known moons in 1610 which were discovered by Galileo Galilei and thusly named the Galilean moons. Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest. Galileo first discovered Saturn in 1610, he noted the odd appearance but was confused by its look. It was not until 1659 when Christian Huygens correctly translated the geometry of the rings. After Saturn, Uranus is the seventh planet and the third largest. It is larger than Neptune in diameter but smaller in mass. Uranus was discovered by a William Herschel, while doing a routine check of the sky on March 13, 1781. It was originally named "the Georgian Planet" after King George III. It was later changed to match other planets being named after Greek or Roman mythology. Neptune is the eighth planet from the sun and the fourth largest by diameter. Neptune was first observed by Gaulle and d'Arrest on September 23 of 1846. There were looking in spots calculated independently by Adams and La Verrier. Since the spot was calculated by both an Englishman and a Frenchman, the English and French started to fight over who would get the naming rights to the planet. After vigorous arguments, they both settled on the name Neptune. Pluto is the farthest planet out in the solar system most of the time. Due to Pluto's awkward orbit, it sometimes becomes the eighth planet in front of Neptune. Pluto is smaller than 7 of the moons in our solar system. Pluto was discovered