Alan Stern (1957 – Now)

• Principal investigator - New Horizons mission to Pluto (NASA)

• Critical of planet guidelines:

• ‘Dominate’/’clear’ neighborhood - subjective
• Engineered backwards to give answer
• Allow small number of planets to be remembered

(1957 - Now)
 New Horizons Mission – Part One
• Mission – Flyby study of Pluto
• Launched: January 19th 2006
• Arrived: July 14th 2015
• Duration of primary mission – 9.5 years
 New Horizons Mission – Part two
• Flew by Jupiter in 2007. Gave gravity assist to increase speed
• Spent majority of travel in ‘hibernation’
• Will complete Kuiper belt flyby in January 2019
• 200 Dwarf planets estimated!
 New Horizons – 3D Render
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1fPhhTT2Oo

• Found to be larger than expected

• Cliffs and craters detected

 Remember
We are in the timeline in science
 Objectives: Part Three
• To discuss the Earth’s true shape (an oblate spheroid?)

• To explain what causes this shape

• To discuss the Earth’s dimensions relative to more tangible objects

 Earth – A Sphere? Group Task
Is the Earth a perfect sphere? Explain your answer
 Earth – A Sphere? Group Task
Technically: No. Practically: YES
 Earth Diameter/Circumference Variation
Equatorial Diameter: 12,756.3 km
Meridional Diameter: 12,714 km

Equatorial Circumference: 40,075 km

Meridional Circumference: 40,009 km
 Earth’s Surface – Not Smooth
•There is variation on the surface (mountains/trenches).
•What are the highest/lowest points on Earth’s crust?
 Earth – A Sphere?
•Points on Earth relative to sea level:
•Mount Everest: +8.85km
•Mariana Trench: -11.0km
 Highest Point on Earth
Relative to the Earth’s centre and outwards:
◦ Mount Chimborazo, Ecuador
◦ Ocean also bulges, so Mt Everest is higher relative to sea level
 Earth – A ‘Perfect’ Sphere?
• “If the Earth was scaled down, it’d be the smoothest cue ball ever made”
• Technically an oblate spheroid (by a third of a percent!)
 Equatorial Bulge
• The equatorial diameter is 42.77km higher than the polar diameter
 Equatorial Bulge
• Why does the Earth have one?
 Equatorial Bulge
• Rotation and “Centrifugal force” (inertia)
• Newton’s law of inertia
• Speed of Earth surface at equator is 'more difficult’ for gravity to overcome
 Rotation – Tangential speed
• Points at equator: Higher speed than those at middle latitudes
Video Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tctr8CIMOZA

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 Remember!
• Diameters vary by a third of a percent.
• If shrunk to snooker-ball size. Diameter variation = 0.1mm
 A Question – Pair Task
What planet has the most notable equatorial bulge?
 Saturn
• 10% wider through equator than poles
• Rapid rotation and low density
Equatorial
Body Flattening ratio
bulge

Earth 42.77 km 1:298.2575

Mars 50.2 km 1:135.56

Jupiter 10,175 km 1:14.14

Saturn 11,808 km 1:10.21

 Earth’s Shape - Continued
Something else causes the Earth to bulge. What is it?
 Tidal Forces
• Caused by gravitational pull of sun/moon
 Tidal Bulge - Negligible
• 100,000 smaller than rotation bulge
• Stretch solid Earth by 30cm
•Cause water surfaces to vary by a meter
 Note: Tidal Bulges
• We will look at these in more detail when we go into gravity
 Exam Question- Checkpoint
‘The Earth is a perfect sphere’. This is open to interpretation. Discuss why some
people agree with this statement and some do not – (8 marks)
 Possible Points for your answer
• The earth’s polar and equatorial diameter are different (1)
• Technically not a perfect sphere (1) oblate spheroid (1)
• Difference is 0.3%/40km (values stated) (1) This is negligible (1) Saturn’s is 10% difference (1)
• Equatorial bulge (1) due to Earth’s rotation (1)
• Centrifugal force highest at equator/Equator points move faster/need more force (1)
• Tidal force also cause Earth to bulge (1) Negligible in comparison to Equatorial bulge (1)
• Difference in highest and lowest points on Earth crust is under 20km (1)
• If the Earth was shrunk to the size of a cue ball, it’d look perfectly spherical (1)
• Not observable even from photos to human eye (1)
 But First
• We glanced over a few things and took them as a given.
 Objectives: Part Four
• To discuss/explain geocentrism vs heliocentrism

• To define and explain Kepler’s laws for the heliocentric model

• To look at the evidence supporting a rotating Earth

• To explain day and night on Earth (and seasonal variation)

 Objectives: Part Four
• To discuss/explain geocentrism vs heliocentrism

• To define and explain Kepler’s laws for the heliocentric model

• These are going to take a while….

 Naked-Eye Observation – Group Task
What bodies do we typically observe in the sky over 24 hours?
Observations
• Sunrise and sunset
• Moon ‘rise and set’
• Stars
• ‘Naked-eye’ planets
 Side-Note: Naked-Eye Planets
• Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn
 Observations
• Sunrise and sunset
• Moon ‘rise and set’

• What does this infer?

 Geocentrism
• Objects in the sky orbit around a fixed Earth at center of universe
• (Apparent daily motion – GIF)
 Geocentrism - Evidence
• Sun appears to revolve around Earth once a day

• Moon/Planets appear to have a motion relative to Earth

• Earth feels solid, stationary to Earthbound observer

 Remember
• Naked-eye observation – All there was for most of humanity
• Geocentrism evidence made sense
 Geocentrism
• Model built on observation of apparent daily motion
•Celestial objects “move” across sky each day (stars/planets/moon..)
 Side Note – Evidence vs Proof
• Proof - Indisputable. Conclusive.
• Evidence - supports hypotheses. Suggestive Information.
 Group Task
Give examples of evidence vs proof
◦"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"
Evidence Proof
 So remember…
• Geocentrism/Flat Earth Theory/Inner Earth – has evidence
• But not PROOF!
 Geocentrism
• Accepted until ≈ 16th century
• Accepted by Plato, Aristotle, Eratosthenes and Ptolemy

424 - 348 BC 384 – 322 BC 276 -195 BC 100 - 170 AD

 Claudius Ptolemy’s Geocentric Model – 100A.D
• Used epicycles to explain strange motion of planets seen from Earth
 Retrograde Motion
• The ‘strange’ path of planets (Mars) when observed from Earth
• Seems to back-and-forth
 Retrograde Motion
• Excellent video:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtV0PV9MF88
 Iterations of Ptolemy’s Model
• Got complicated, as they tried to explain sky observations!