Johannes Kepler Was a German Scientist and Astronomer Who Lived from 1571 to 1630. He

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Johannes Kepler was a German scientist and astronomer who lived from 1571 to 1630. He discovered three laws about how planets move. These three_____ later helped Sir Isaac Newton discover the law of gravity.

1)  The first law was that all planets move in an elliptical (or _____-shaped) orbit, or path, around the sun. This means that Earth is closer to the sun (January) at some times in the year and ______at other times in the year (______).

2)  The ______law he discovered was that planets move a bit faster when they are closer to the sun.

3)  The third law Kepler ______explained that scientists could figure out how long it took a planet to complete a _____ around the sun using his math equation.

Kepler used ______to confirm many of Galileo’s earlier ideas, especially the idea that the Sun is the center of our solar system, not the Earth. He also studied other areas of ______, including the how lenses work, how our eyes are like ______, and the shapes of snowflakes. His laws were used to prove that the Earth’s ______is tilted, which is why we have seasons.

This activity is adapted from a World Book online article “Kepler, Johannes.”