Scientific Models in Astronomy Patterns: find, explain, predict, and understand

Models Tools for thought and imagination Verbal, graphical, physical, mechanical, analogical, mathematical Include only most important features (as simple as possible)

Scientific Models Explain: Current (and past!) observations Predict: Future observations Changeable: To match observations better Must be able to prove them “wrong” (falsifiable)

Scientific Models Geometry: Shapes and layout (such as circles, spheres, triangles) Physics: Motions and interactions of physical objects Aesthetics: simple and pleasing; coherent; connected Assumptions: Explicit or implicit; should be fewest necessary

Information (“Facts”) We observe “data”; need meaning to become information; models make meaning, result in understanding Different models can result in different facts from the same data (“model dependent”) Science is the process of finding meaning in nature

Models and Theories Models can result in basic unification of observations Models can open up new areas of investigation Models can reveal connections not seen before If powerful enough, models can be raised to theories