On studying for midterm exam 1

1. The exam on Thursday will have approximately 30 multiple choice questions and two or three short answer questions. You should be able to finish it easily in 50 minutes, but you can have until 11:30 if you want.
2. The web notes provide an outline.
3. You should know about the motions of the earth, moon, and planets from three points of view:
   1. as seen from space, with the planets moving about the sun.
   2. in a coordinate system in which the earth is fixed at the center of the coordinate system.
   3. as actually observed in the sky, with the sun, moon, and planets moving on the celestial sphere.
4. You should know about the astronomers we have studied: the school of Pythagoras, Eudoxus, Aristotle, Aristarchus, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler, Galileo. (We will reserve Newton for midterm exam 2.)
   1. When did each astronomer work?
   2. Where?
   3. What was the historical context?
   4. What ideas did each present?
   5. What was the evidence?
   6. What arguments could be made pro and con?

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