Astronomy Chapter 5
By making extensive observations of planetary motion, Tycho Brahe
provided only a lot of accurate data.
Tycho Brahe measured the positions of all the planets to an accuracy of
1/60 degree of arc.
Which of Kepler's Laws governs how a particular planet speeds up and slows down?
The Equal Area Law
In addition to being accurate, Tycho Brahe's observations focused on measuring the positions of the planets
all the time.
Kepler found that the orbit of Mars is best described as
an ellipse
Kepler's First Law of Planetary Motion is that the orbit of each planet is
an ellipse with the Sun at one focus.
Kepler was an early advocate of the Copernican Theory. When he applied it to Tycho's observations, it
failed but led to a better theory.
Tycho Brahe's work at Uraniborg was
funded by a large fraction of the national budget of Denmark.
One reason that the Copernican System failed to fit Tycho's observations was that
it used circular orbits instead of ellipses.
Tycho Brahe's main contribution to the understanding of planetary motion was to
make extensive observations.
Tycho Brahe's careful observations of the planets agreed with
none of these systems.
According to Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, as planets orbit the sun, they
speed up when closest to the Sun.