Astro 101: The Solar System

Lesson 1 - Charting the Heavens
- Reading Assignment
  
  Chapter 1.1: Our Place in Space, Chapter 1.2: Scientific Theory and the Scientific Method...
- Math Notes
  
  Units: Standard Prefixes: nano (or n) = 0.000000001 (or 10⁻⁹)...
- Exercise 1
  
  On a clear night, look at the constellations, or patterns of stars, in the northern and southern skies...
- Exercise 2
  
  Keep track of roughly how high the sun is in the sky around midday as the semester progresses...
- Exercise 3
  
  Your thumb at arms length subtends about one degree...
- Homework 1
  
  Download Homework 1 from WebAssign...
Lesson 2 - The Copernican Revolution
- Reading Assignment
  
  Chapter 2.1: Ancient Astronomy, Chapter 2.2: The Geocentric Universe, Chapter 2.3: The Heliocentric Model of the Solar System...
- Summary of Historical Figures and Texts
  
  Aristotle (384 - 322 BC), Aristarchus (310 - 230 BC), Ptolemy (2nd century AD)...
- Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion
  
  Read Chapter 2.5 and More Precisely 2-1...
- Newton's Laws of Motion
  
  Read Chapter 2.7...
- Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation
  
  Read Chapter 2.7...
- Newton's Forms of Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion
  
  Read Chapter 2.7 and Chapter 2.8...
- Math Notes
  
  Read Chapter 1.7 and More Precisely 1-2...
- Exercise 4
  
  Hold your index finger vertically in front of your nose and focus on some distant object, such as a wall...
- Homework 2
  
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Lesson 3 - Radiation and Spectroscopy
- Reading Assignment
  
  Chapter 3.1: Information from the Skies, Chapter 3.2: Waves in What?, Chapter 3.3: The Electromagnetic Spectrum...
- Kirchoff's Laws
  
  Read Chapter 4.1...
- Summary of Absorption and Emission Line Series of the Hydrogen Atom
  
  Read Chapter 4.2, Chapter 4.3, and More Precisely 4-1...
- Math Notes
  
  Read Chapter 3.1, Chapter 4.2, and Discovery 4-1...
- Exercise 5
  
  To the human eye, there are red, orange, yellow, yellow-white, white, blue, and blue-violet stars...
- Exercise 6
  
  Google "Doppler effect applet" and experiment.
- Homework 3
  
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Lesson 4 - Telescopes
- Reading Assignment
  
  Chapter 5.1: Optical Telescopes, Chapter 5.3: Images and Detectors, Chapter 5.2: Telescope Size,...
- Summary of Major Space Telescopes
  
  Read Discovery 5-1 and Chapter 5.7....
- Math Notes
  
  Read Chapter 5.2., LGP = light gathering power, or the rate at which a telescope collects light,...
- Exercise 7
  
  I have built six robotic telescopes in the Chilean Andes, called PROMPT, and I am helping others to build similar telescopes around the world...
- Homework 4
  
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Lesson 5 - Introduction to the Solar System
- Reading Assignment
  
  Chapter 6.1: An Inventory of the Solar System, Chapter 13.1: The Discoveries of Uranus and Neptune, Chapter 14.3: Beyond Neptune...
- Summary of Discovery of the Solar System
  
  Read Chapter 6.1...
- Summary of Exploration of the Solar System
  
  Read Chapter 6.6, Discovery 6-1, and Discovery 8-1...
- Math Notes
  
  Read Chapter 6.2...
- Homework 5
  
  Download Homework 5 from WebAssign...
- Extra Credit Homework
  
  Write a 2-page essay on any of the missions, or related series of missions, listed above under "Summary of Exploration of the Solar System"...
Lesson 6 - Earth and the Moon
- Reading Assignment
  
  Chapter 7.1: Overall Structure of Planet Earth, Chapter 7.3: Earth's Interior...
- Math Notes
  
  Average Surface Temperature of a Rapidly Rotating or a Sufficiently Atmosphered Planet (or Moon)...
- Homework 6
  
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Lesson 7 - The Terrestrial Planets
- Reading Assignment
  
  Chapter 8.2: Physical Properties (Mercury), Chapter 8.1: Orbital Properties (Mercury), ...
- Summary of Terrestrial Planet Physical Data
  
  Planet, Equatorial Radius (Earth = 1), Mass (Earth = 1),...
- Summary of Major Moon Physical Data
  
  Planet, Moon, Equitorial Radius (Earth = 1),...
- Math Notes
  
  The height that a shield volcano can attain depends on how much weight it can support, which depends on how strong a planet's surface gravity is...
- Homework 7
  
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Lesson 8 - The Jovian Planets
- Reading Assignment
  
  Chapter 11.1: Orbital and Physical Properties, Chapter 11.3: Internal Structure,...
- Summary of Jovian Planet Physical Data
  
  Planet, Equatorial Radius (Earth = 1), Mass (Earth = 1),...
- Summary of Major Moon Physical Data
  
  Planet, Moon, Equitorial Radius (Earth = 1),...
- Summary of Five Most Abundant Elements
  
  Element, Symbol, Atomic Weight, Abundance,...
- Math Notes
  
  Read Chapter 12.4., If a moon gets too close to a planet, it will be torn apart by tidal forces...
- Homework 8
  
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Lesson 9 - The Formation of Planetary Systems / Life in the Universe
- Reading Assignment
  
  Chapter 15.1: Modeling Planet Formation, Chapter 6.7: How Did the Solar System Form?,...
- Summary of Dwarf Planet Physical Data
  
  Dwarf Planet, Equatorial Radius (Earth = 1), Mass (Earth = 1),...
- Summary of Interplanetary Debris
  
  Object, Composition, Size...
- Math Notes
  
  There are no additional math notes for Lesson 9: This material is more qualitative...
- Homework 9
  
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