ANNOUNCEMENTS

MIDTERM EXAMS AVAILABLE FROM BOBBY WALLACE, THE TA*** DECISIONS ON MIDTERM/FINAL/RESEARCH PAPER: WHICH TWO OF THREE DO YOU WISH TO COUNT? WILL BE DUE AT END OF CLASS ONE WEEK FROM TUESDAY, NOV 3rd .***

MORE DETAILS ON RESEARCH PAPER NOW POSTED ON THE WEBSITE.

REGULAR WEEKLY HOMEWORKS COMMENCES TODAY; NEW HW DUE NEXT THURSDAY CAN BE PICKED UP AFTER CLASS OR ACCESSED ON WEBSITE AS BEFORE.

OBSERVING PROJECTS: FIRST TWO DUE one week from TODAY, OCTOBER 29th.

MIDTERM/FINAL/RESEARCH PAPER DECISION

• CHOOSE 2 OF THESE 3 TO COUNT FOR YOUR GRADE:

• INTENT IS TO LIGHTEN BURDEN, NOT CREATE ADDITIONAL

BURDEN FOR ALL TO OBTAIN A HIGHER GRADE

• FOR EXAMPLE:

1. IF YOU OBTAINED A MIDTERM EXAM GRADE THAT YOU

ARE OK WITH, THEN YOU MAY CHOOSE TO COUNT THE

MIDTERM AND THEN CHOOSE TO EITHER TAKE FINAL

OR WRITE RESEARCH PAPER.

2. IF YOU ARE UNHAPPY WITH YOUR MIDTERM EXAM

GRADE THEN YOU CAN CHOOSE TO TAKE BOTH THE

FINAL EXAM AND WRITE THE PAPER.

JUPITER

VENUS

PHOTO TAKEN THROUGH

A QUESTAR PORTABLE

TELESCOPE AT THE

ASPEN CENTER FOR

PHYSICS IN JULY 2015

4Galileo Galilei

Galileo’s observations solidified the Copernican revolution

5

Galileo Galilei

One of first people to use the new, Dutch invention oflenses to build a telescope -to look at the sky

6

Final nails in the Geocentric coffin

Part I: Moons of Jupiter

• Day by day observations of motion of “stars”orbiting Jupiter– Galileo later realized

these “stars” were moons (like our Moon)

• Showed these are objects that do not orbit the Earth

• Smaller objects orbit bigger object, like planets around the Sun

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Final nails in the Geocentric coffin Part II: Phases of Venus

• Galileo’s observations of gibbous AND crescent phases of Venus proved that it orbits the Sun and not the Earth

VENUS SYNODIC PERIOD: 584 DAYS 5 VENUS CYCLES ≈ 8 YEARS.

VENUS TABLE FROM

DRESDEN CODEXMOTION OF VENUS AS VIEWED

FROM OUTSIDE THE SOLAR SYSTEM

IN 1901 GERMAN LIBRARIAN ERNST

FORSTEMANN NOTICED THE

RECURRENCE OF THE NUMBER 584 IN

THIS TABLE. THE TABLE EXTENDS FOR

5 VENUS CYCLES: (5 x 584) = 2920 DAYS

= (8 X 365) or 8 “vague years” (The “Haab”)

1/ VENUS AS MORNING STAR 263 DAYS

2/ VENUS BEHIND SUN 50 DAYS

3/ VENUS AS EVENING STAR 263 DAYS

4/. VENUS INVISIBLE 8 DAYS

TOTAL = 584 DAYS

NOH EK: GREAT STAR TO MAYA

DIRECTLY RELATED TO :KUKULKAN & QUETZALCOATL

“AT THE TIME NOH EK WAS VISIBLE IN THE EVENING SKY, QUETZALCOATL DIED. HE WAS NOT SEEN FOR 4 DAYSWHEN HE WAS IN THE UNDERWORLD AND FOR 4 MORE DAYS HE WAS EMACIATED AND WEAK.

“NOT UNTIL 8 DAYS PASS DID THE GREAT STAR APPEAR AS THE MORNING STAR. THEY SAID THAT THEN QUETZALCOATL ASCENDED THE THRONE AS A GOD.”

CORRESPONDS TO 8 DAYS OF INVISIBILITY OF VENUS BETWEEN EARTH AND SUN

COMPARING MAYA VENUS ASTRONOMY TO MODERN VALUES: WHY SO DIFFERENT IN PARTS

WHEN TOTALS MATCH VERY WELL??

MODERN COUNT • 263 DAYS MORNING STAR

• 50 DAYS INVISIBLE BEHIND

SUN

• 263 DAYS EVENING STAR

• 8 DAYS INVISIBLE

BETWEEN US

AND SUN

• 583.92 DAYS TOTAL

MAYA COUNT• 236 DAYS = 8 MOONS

• 90 DAYS = 3 MOONS

• 250 DAYS = 8 ½ MOONS

• “DEATH AND EMACIATION OF QUETZACOATL”

• 584 DAYS TOTAL

VENUS REAPPEARANCE CYCLES

• AFTER 5 SYNODIC CYCLES, VENUS APPEARANCES REPEAT

• 5 X 584 DAYS = 2920 DAYS

• VENUS CYCLES REPEAT AT APPROXIMATELY THE SAME TIME OF YEAR EVERY EIGHT YEAR…

• ACTUALLY VENUS CYCLES REPEAT EVERY 8 HAABs, MAYA SEASONAL CALENDAR OF 365 DAYS

• 8 X 365 DAYS = 2920 DAYS

• Also 99 lunations !

THE FIVE PAGES OF VENUS CYCLES FROM THE DRESDEN CODEX

MAYA ASTRONOMERS KNEW BASICS AND DETAILS OF VENUS’ SYNODIC APPEARANCES: VENUS HAS 5 DIFFERENT APPEARANCE PATTERNS IN THE SKY, EACH LASTING FOR ONE SYNODIC PERIOD OF 584 DAYS. THESE APPEARANCE PATTERNS REPEAT AFTER AN 8 YEAR TIME PERIOD, AND THEN REPEAT ON THE SAME DAY OF THE MAYA CALENDAR ROUND AFTER A FULL 104 YEARS PERIOD.

BABYLONIANS KNEW ALL ABOUT VENUS (ISHTAR) TOO !

16TH CENTUREY BCE BABYLONIAN CUNIEFORM TABLET…ONE OF OLDEST WRITTEN RECORDS ON EARTH.

VENUS PATTERNS REPEAT EVERY 8

YEARS AND THEN REPEAT ON THE

MAYA CALENDAR CYCLE EVERY 104

YEARS

TRIPLE COINCIDENCE OF VENUS REAPPEARING AT OR NEAR WINTER

SOLSTICE WITH CRESCENT MOON IN SKY IS:

1. RARE…ONCE IN A LIFETIME

2. HAPPENS EVERY YEAR, WE JUST DON’T NOTICE

3. HAPPENS ROUGHLY ONCE PER DECADE

4. NEVER WILL HAPPEN AGAIN

TRIPLE COINCIDENCE OF VENUS REAPPEARING AT OR NEAR WINTER

SOLSTICE WITH CRESCENT MOON IN SKY IS:

1. RARE…ONCE IN A LIFETIME

2. HAPPENS EVERY YEAR, WE JUST DON’T NOTICE

3. HAPPENS ROUGHLY ONCE PER DECADE: ONCE EVERY 8 YEARS

**** ANCIENT MAYA KNEW !!! AND WATCHED FOR IT !

1. NEVER WILL HAPPEN AGAIN

Outer Planet Motions distinctly Different from Venus & Mercury

RETROGRADE MOTION OF THE OUTER PLANETS WERE HARD TO UNDERSTAND IN A “GEO-CENTRIC” COSMOLOGY: “NAIL #3” IN COFFIN OF GEO-CENTRIC THEORY

RETROGRADE MOTION OF OUTER PLANETS