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PHY 120 Astronomy
Course Time Table - Fall Semester 2003
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WEEK |
Topics, Activities, and Assignments for This Week |
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Week 1 Our Place in the Universe |
Introduction of instructor and students, review of course
outline, basic astronomical definitions, solar system sizes and distances, overview of the planets,
the earth's rotation, the seasons, the expanding universe. Assignment: Read Chapter 1 - Our place in the Universe and the summary. Try answering the Does it Make Sense? Questions at the end of the chapter. Activities for Week 1: One student is given a steel ball whose diameter is one inch. This ball represents the earth. The student stands 10 feet (=93,000,000 miles) from a sun made of pvc pipe which has a diameter 109 times as large as the "steel ball" earth. The other students are each given a ball representing the corresponding size of that planet in relation to the earth. Students position themselves at the appropriate locations in front of the sun. Where do you think the student holding Pluto will be located from the sun? Goal: To understand the size and scale of our solar system. Students view segments 1-2 through 1-8 as well as segment 1-11 of the Cosmos Series by Carl Sagan Using the SkyGazer software, students choose Solar Neighborhood,Paths of the Planets, Seasons of the Earth, and Wobble of the Earth from the Explore menu From the Basic Folder in the SkyGazer software, students look at the following animations: Chicago 10,000 AD; Dragging the Sky; Earth's Seasons, North Pole 3, and Precession of the Equinoxes From the Demo Folder of the SkyGazer software, students look at Dipper+80,000 years |
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Week 2 Discovering the Universe for Yourself |
Students learn to use software such as Starry
Night tm and Voyager Sky Gazer tm
to identify constellations and planets. Students learn the meaning of terms such as the celestial
sphere, celestial pole and celestial equator. They learn to measure the angular size of the moon and
understand why certain constellations are only visible in the night sky during the winter months
while others can only be seen in the summer. Phases of the moon, why we see only one side of the
moon, solar and lunar eclipses, and retrograde motion are among the topics covered this
week. Assignment: Read Chapter 2 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of the chapter. Activities for Week 2: From the Explore menu of the Voyager Sky Gazer software students choose the Shadows on the Earth, Phases of the Planets, and the Solar System to learn about eclipses. From the Basics folder of the SkyGazer software, students watch the following animations as they read each section: (2.1) A Celestial Family, Animal Houses, Chart Display Buttons, Constellation Patterns, Full Sky, Milky Way, The Trapezium, Wide Field Milky Way; (2.2) Changing the location, Day and Night, Follow a Star, Grid Lines, Night Sky in Nairobi, North Pole, North Pole 2, The Little Bear, Winter Sky (2.3) Christmas Eclipse 2000, Europe Eclipse 1999, Lunar Eclipse, Moon along the Ecliptic, Moon Orbit, Phase of the Moon, Moon Orbit, Shadow over America, Totality (2.4)Planet Paths From the Demo Folder, students watch the following animations: Celestial Poles, Water Constellations, Russian Midnight Sun, Drunken Moon, Earth Orbiting the Moon, Earth-Moon from Mars, Mars in Retrograde |
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Week 3 The Science of Astronomy |
In week 3,
students learn how modern astronomy arose from its roots in ancient observation, including those of
the Greeks. How did ancient cultures explore the solar and lunar cycles? The Copernican Revolution,
Tycho Brahe, Kepler's Laws and the experiments of Galileo are among the topics explored in this
chapter Assignment: Read Chapter 3 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of the chapter. Activities for Week 3: From the Explore menu of the Voyager Sky Gazer software, students observe the Solar System and Paths of the Planets. From the Basics folder of the SkyGazer software, students watch the following animations as they read each section: (3.2) Precession of the Equinoxes, Ptolemy on Venus (3.4) Follow a Planet, Phase of Mercury, Planet Orrery, Planet Panel, Planet Paths, Pluto's Orbit, Saturn, Saturn's Phases, Tracking Venus From the Demo Folder, students watch the following animations: (3.2)Ptolemy on Mars (3.4) Earth and Venus, Hale-Bopp Path, Hyakutake at Perihelion, Hyakutake nears Earth, Pluto's Orbit, Trailing Saturn, Triple Conjunction of 7 BC, Venus-Earth-Moon |
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Week 4 A Universe of Matter and Energy |
In this chapter, students learn important concepts such as mass and
energy and how they are related. They learn to define terms such kinetic and potential energy, the
distinction between temperature and heat, mass energy conservation, the atomic structure of matter,
and energy states in atoms. Assignment: Read Chapter 4 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of the chapter. Activities for Week 4: Kepler's Laws of Motion - Drawing an Ellipse; Students view segments 9-2 (Apple Pie), 9-3(The Very Large), 9-4(Atoms), and 9-5(Chemical Elements) from the Cosmos Series. |
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Week 5 |
Students learn key ideas about motion and gravity in this chapter. They learn the terminology of
motion through familiar examples. Newton's Law's of Motion are explained as well as the important
conservation laws of linear and angular momentum. Newton's Law of Gravitation, the Moon's
synchronous rotation, orbital energy and escape velocity are also covered in this chapter. Assignment: Read Chapter 5 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of the chapter. Activities for Week 5: Starry Night Activity - Position ; Students view segment 3-4 (Laws of Nature) from the Cosmos series. |
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Week 6 |
In this chapter, students explore the basic properties of light from stars. They
learn how to identify the light spectra from different materials and see how this can determine the
composition of stars as well as how fast a star is rotating. Assignment: Read Chapter 6 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of the chapter. Activities for Week 6: Students investigate how the intensity of a light source decreases as the distance from the light source increases. They also observe the spectral lines of several elements using a spectroscope. Students investigate how light rays are bent by lenses of various shapes. Starry Night Activity: Motion |
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Week 7
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In this chapter, students learn what four characteristics of our solar system must be explained by any formation theory. Among the questions students will be able to answer after completing this chapter include: What was the solar nebula, how did gravitational collapse affect the solar nebula, what produced the orderly motion we observe in the solar system today, what key fact explains why there are two types of planets, how did the terrestrial planets and jovian planets form, how do we think our moon formed, how old is the solar system and how do we know. Assignment: Read Chapter 9 Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of the chapter. Activities for Week 7: Students view segments 7-10 Distance to Stars and 7-11 Evidence of Other Planets of the Cosmos Series by Carl Sagan. Starry Night Activity: Seasonal Stars |
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Week 8 |
This week students learn the properties of our star - the sun. They learn what process creates energy in the Sun and why the Sun's size remains stable. They learn how the sun became hot enough for nuclear fusion to occur. They study the major layers of the sun. They discover why the sun was dimmer in the past. Solar neutrinos, sunspots and solar flares are among the topics they will study in this chapter. Assignment: Read Chapter 15 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of the chapter. Activities for Week 8: Students view segments 9-6(Nuclear Forces) and 9-7(The Stars and Our Sun) of the Cosmos Series by Carl Sagan |
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Week 9 |
This week students study the properties of stars. They learn about the lives of stars and the two main elements found in all stars. They discover the two basic physical properties astronomers use to classify stars. Stellar Luminosity, Surface Temperature, Stellar Masses, the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram, and Star Clusters are among the topics investigated. Assignment: Read Chapter 16 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of the chapter. Activities for Week 9:From the Basic Folder of SkyGazer software they watch the following animations:Large Stars, More Stars, Star Color and Size, Tracking Altair, Tracking Proxima Centauri,, and in the Demo folder of SkyGazer software they watch Barnard's Star, Circling the Hyades, Flying around Pleiades, and The Tail of Scorpius Stary Night Activities: H-R Diagram |
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Week 10
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This week students learn what kind of pressure opposes the inward pull of gravity during most of a star's life. Other questions to be answered include: What basic stellar property determines how a star will live and die? How to we categorize stars by mass? Where are stars born? What is a protostar? What are the "prebirth" stages of a star's life? What is a brown dwarf? What are the major phases in the lives of low mass , high mass, and binary stars? Assignment: Read Chapter 17 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of the chapter. Activities for Week 10: Students view segments 9-8 (Death of Stars) and 9-9 (Star Stuff) of the Cosmos Series by Carl Sagan . Stary Night Activities: Star Formation and Lifetimes |
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Week 11 |
In Chapter 18, students study what happens to stars in their final stages. Among the questions students will answer include: What determines the fate of a stellar core that has exhausted all its nuclear fuel? What is a white dwarf? What is a nova, a white dwarf supernova, neutron stars, pulsars, and X-ray binaries? What is a black hole? Do black holes suck in objects? What would you see if you saw someone falling into a black hole? What are Gamma Ray Bursts? Assignment: Read Chapter 18 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of this chapter. Activities for Week 11: Students view segments 9-10(Gravity in Wonderland) and 9-11(Children of the Stars) from the Cosmos Series by Carl Sagan. |
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Week 12 |
In Chapter 20, students study three major types of galaxies. They learn how astronomers measure the vast cosmic distances between galaxies. What is a standard candle and how is it used to determine distance? Why do Cepheid variable stars make good standard candles? What is Hubble's law? In what sense does the universe expand? What is the "The Hubble Constant" and how does it help us determine the age of the universe? Assignment: Read Chapter 20 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of this chapter. Activities for Week 12: Students view segments 10-2(Big Bang), 10-3(Galaxies), 10-4(Astronomical Anomalies), 10-5(Doppler Effect), 10-7(Dimensions), and 10-8(The Universe) |
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Week 13 |
In Chapter 21, students learn how galaxies evolve. They learn how astronomers think that galaxies form and what causes some galaxies to be spiral and others elliptical in shape. Students explore topics such as galaxy clusters, starburst galaxies, quasars, and active galactic nuclei. study three major types of galaxies. They learn how astronomers measure the vast cosmic distances between galaxies. They understand the meaning of the term "The Hubble Constant" Assignment: Read Chapter 21 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of this chapter. Activities for Week 13: Stary Night Activities: Parallax and Distance, Spectroscopic Parallax and Milky Way Scales |
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Week 14 |
In this chapter students seek to answer the following questions: What is dark matter? What evidence do we have that it exists? How do we estimate the amount of dark matter versus luminous matter in galaxies?, What are three independent ways to measure the total mass of a cluster of galaxies? What are MACHOS and WIMPS? What does the universe look like on a very large scale? What are four general models for the future expansion of the universe and which model is currently favored? Do we know what might be causing the universe to accelerate? Assignment: Read Chapter 22. Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of each chapter. Activities for Week 14: Stary Night Activities: Looking at Distant Objects and Expansion of the Universe |
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Week 15
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In the last chapter to be covered in the book, students learn what astronomers think about the conditions that existed in the early universe. What was the universe made of in its earliest moments? What key events define the various eras of the universe since the Big Bang? What two key lines of evidence support the Big Bang model? What is the cosmic microwave background? What do we mean by the "inflation" in the early universe? Assignment: Read Chapter 23 . Try doing the Review Questions and problems at the end of each chapter. Activities for Week 15:Students view segments 13-7 (Big Bang and the Stuff of Life), 13-8 (Evolution of Life), and 12-9(Star Stuff) from the Cosmos Series |
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Week 16 |
Final Exam Week. Students take a comprehensive exam over all chapters covered in the course. The exam consists of multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, true-false, and short essay questions. The exam includes a section on the identification of well-known stars and constellations. |
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