Kepler's elliptical orbits and the history of astronomical observation

Johannes Kepler made important contributions to astronomy in the decades after Copernicus. His primary contribution was a modification or correction that he made to Copernicus's assumption that planets revolved around the sun in circular orbits: Kepler correctly argued that the revolutions are elliptical in nature.

Galileo must be counted among the most important of all astronomers because of his insistence on the use of rigorous observation. The first person ever to use a telescope to make detailed observations of the galaxy, he discovered the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter.

The British astronomer John Hadley (b. 1682) invented the first reflecting telescope, which allowed for all of the modern observations. His compatriot William Herschel brought about substantial improvements in telescope technology and with his reflecting telescope discovered Uranus and then the moons of Uranus and Saturn. He also discovered a number of deep-sky objects. He worked with his sister, Caroline Herschel -- one of the women who is often left out of the history of astronomy (Brock, 2007).

Finally, I believe that it is so hard for people to let go of the geocentric view of the galaxy because humans like to believe that we are supremely important. Because so many people lack a firm grounding in science they can hold to such beliefs because they do not understand the flaws in them. This is analogous to the ways in which people can doubt that global warming is both real and caused by human activities.

Question Two

Geoscience is a general term that comprises a number of related scientific disciplines, including geology, geochemistry, and geophysics and usually also oceanography and meteorology. Each of these sciences in different ways attend to the origins of our planet, the physical composition and form of Earth, the topological features of our planet, and the ways in which is has changed over time and continues to change. Geography blends the study of the Earth and its physical features with a study of the way in which these features affect humans and the ways in which humans in turn affect the Earth.

I believe that the greatest strength and weakness of geography are actually the same. It is both more holistic and more interdisciplinary than are sciences such as physics -- or geology. I think that this holistic focus -- which bridges the hard sciences and the social sciences -- causes other scientists to take geographers less seriously, which limits the ways in which geography can influence the international dialogue of science. At the same time, I think that the scientific aspects of geography cut off geographers from other social scientists such as anthropologists, with whom there should be a natural alliance. The result is a sort of orphaned science.

However, I also believe that a holistic approach is the only viable one for the discipline and has allowed it to make important advances in our understanding of our species (Harvey, 1997, p. 78).

Question Four

The pressure gradient force is the acceleration of air that occurs due to pressure differences in the atmosphere. In general, air moves from a region of high atmospheric pressure to one of low. This movement produces wind. Frictional force is the resistance or force that is produced when the surfaces of two objects come into contact with each other.

The Coriolis effect is the effect of the fact that the Earth's rotation deflects air. Since the Earth spins to the east, objects in the Northern Hemisphere tend to veer slightly right and those in the Southern Hemisphere veer to the left. This is what causes the absence of both northerly and southerly winds in both the polar regions and the tropics. Trade winds are also determined by the Coriolis force (Barry & Chorley, 2003, p. 113).

Question Five

The Mediterranean climate found along the coast of Southern California is defined by a low level of rain and low rates of humidity. This results from the fact that during the summer there are high-pressure belts that move from the subtropics to the Northern Hemisphere and then shift to the south in the fall and winter. This results in a dry climate.

The substantial differences between the climate in the Eastern and Western United States arises primarily from the existence of the two major mountain ranges -- the Sierra Nevadas and the Rockies -- that block winds that determine Western climate from reaching the Eastern side of the country.

The presence of north-south mountain ranges in the United States ensures that the West Coast is primarily determined by conditions in the Pacific and that the East Coast climate is primarily determined by conditions in the Atlantic. The periodic El Nino and La Nina winds exacerbate this effect (Glantz, 2003).