Intro Astronomy

General Info

Time: Tues Fri 1:30-3:00, Mon or Tues nights as weather permits
Place: SciBldg 217
Text: Astronomy, Chaisson & McMillan

A "science appreciation" course for a general audience which explores the nature of the universe, including the solar system, the sun, our galaxy, and everything else. A variety of basic physics is discussed along the way, including the nature of light and gravity. Some facility with basic math and numbers will be required, though I hope to teach what you need as we go for those who are rusty.

We do spend some time outdoors staring at the sky and peering through the college's telescope, but the main thrust of the course is in the classroom, learning about what we do and don't know about the heavens, and how we know it. I hope to pay particular attention to the methods of inquiry, and the importance of skepticism in the pursuit of the "truth" about world around us.

There is a wide variety of astronomy materials available over the internet, including images and data from world-class observatories which we will take advantage of, in addition to the text and other sources placed on reserve and in the library.

Students are expected to take part in class discussions, read the text and other sources as assigned, do a term observing project, complete short weekly written assignments, and take a few tests. The term grade is based on participation, tests, and the observing project.

This class may be taken as a designated writing class by adding one credit (for the additional work) and substituting 20 pages of writing (two 5-page and one 10-page) for the weekly written assignments. Expect to work with the writing tutors if your writing needs attention.

Resources

Our text's web site (Goals, quizes, internet links and so on which follow along with the text)
Astronomy & Space News (Yahoo)
Astronomy Picture of the Day(different image with explanation each day)
Hubble Images by Subject
Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (Messier catalog, links, SETI, image archive - very nice.)
The Nine Planets (multimedia tour - thorough, many images)
The Messier Catalog (images, history, descriptions of those fuzzy little blobs)
The Sun - a multimedia tour
Space Weather Bureau (solar flare updates, sun information
Window to the Universe(museum-like exposition of earth and space science)
eBlast astronomy links(Britannica's reviewed astronomy links)
Yahoo's astronomy links(thousands of astronomy links)
Chaise Astro Starting Points(collection of links from our text's author)
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Software

Voyager planetarium (on a network Mac, server:applications:area programs:physics)
Gravitation (ditto)

Rough Syllabus

Sept                                |
  2 (Wed), 3 (Thurs) Intro's        | Astronomy
                                    | ------------
  4 (Fri) regular schedule          |
  7 - 11   week 1                   +  Prologue : Heavens
                                    |  1 : Copernicus
 14 - 19	2                   +  2 : Light
                                    |  3 : Telescopes
 21 - 25	3                   + test 1
                                    |   4 : Solar System (SS1)
 28 -  2 	4                   +   5 : Earth / Moon (SS2)
                                    |   6 : Inner Planets (SS3)
Oct  5 -  9	5                   +   7 : Outer Planets (SS4)
                                    |   8 : Moons, Rings, Pluto (SS5)
 12		6                   + test 2
                                    |    9 : Sun
 19		7                   +   10 : Stars 1
	(19,20 Hendricks)           |   11 : Interstellar (Stars 2)
 26 		8                   +   12 : Stellar evolution (S3)
                                    |   13 : Neutron/Bl. Hole (S4)
Nov   2		9                   + test 3
                                    |   14 : Milky Way
  9		10                  +   15 : Normal Galaxies
                                    |   16 : Active Galaxies
 16		11                  +   17 : Cosmology
 23 - 24 (25-27 Thanksgiving)       |   18 : Life
 30 -  4	12                  +
                                    |   relativity / space flight
Dec  7 -  9	13                  +   sci fi / future / UFO's
                                    |
  12 (Sat),                         |
  14 (Mon), 15 (Tues) Exams         |
  15 (Tues) grades due              |

Assignments

for Fri Sept 11
1. If you don't already know how, make sure you can use a web browser. (Ask someone.)
2. Read at least the Prologue in the text.
3. From the class discussion, make sure you can handle powers of 10 and big/little numbers.
4. Watch the "Powers of 10" video.
5. Guesstimate the number of trees in the state of Vermont, and the number of cars in the USA. (Don't just look these numbers up!) Which do you think is bigger? (Use powers of 10.)
6. Estimate the height of a tree using the the angle it subtends from a (paced) distance away.
7. Read the latest Sky and Telescope in the library, and start being aware of where the moon is, which planets are up, and so on.
for Fri Sept 18
1. Read at least through chapter 2 in the text.
2. Start exploring some of the astronomy resources available on the 'net. (See the links up above.)
3. Questions:
  1. chap2, #2: What is the wavelength of a 100 MHz (in the FM) radio signal?
  2. Describe the differences and similarities between "thermal" and "spectral" radiation. How are they made? How are they detected?
  3. What is a "photon" of light? How does this concept connect to the "wave" nature of light?
  4. What parts of the electromagnetic spectrum can be detected at the surface of the earth? What blocks the other parts?
  5. Describe briefly the detectors that may be used to measure various parts of electromagnetic spectrum, and the astrophysical objects that emit that corresponding radiation.
for Fri Sept 25
1. Read chapters 3 and 4 : telescopes and the solar system
2. chap 3:
  1. Review question 1 (Why bigger 'scopes?) and
  2. 11 (optical vs radio resolution?)
3. chap 4:
  1. Get out at least once during the week late on a clear night and count meteors to find how many there were per hour. (This will vary depending on the time of night, which day, and the quality of seeing.)
  2. Review question 1: 3 differences between terrestial and jovian planets
  3. Discuss the similarities and differences between asteroids, short period comets, and long period comets. Which one might have wiped out the dinosaurs?
  4. Problem 5: If a typical comet has 10^13 kg of water (what volume is this?), and the earth has about 10^21 kg of water (show this is reasonable), how many comets do we need to supply the earth with water? And what rate of comet impacts does this imply if it happened over 500,000 yrs?
4. Start thinking about a term observing project.
for Fri Sept 25
1. First paper due 2 wks from today
2. First quiz coming up, end of next week
3. continue solar system
for Fri Oct 16 Give me a description of your observing project.
Read up through the solar system stuff, and browse the online pictures of the planets and moons.
for Fri Oct 23 Problems: Discussion 5.1, 5.7, Problem 5.5, Discussion 6.12, 6.15, 7.8, 7.18, 8.3, 8.7, *problem 8.4
for Fri Oct 30 Problems: Discussion 9.12, problem 9.4; Discuss 10.1, 10.8, 10.10; Discuss 11.1, 11.4, 11.16
for Fri Nov 6 Problems: Discuss 12.5, 12.9, 12.14, 12.15, Problem 12.2; Discuss 13.2, 13.3, 13.10, Problem 13.2

Physics & Astronomy at Marlboro | Jim's Schedule