Download ASTR1010 – Lecture 2 - University of Colorado Boulder

ASTR1010 – Lecture 2 – 17 Jan 13
Today
•  Why Astronomy? One more answer
•  The Really Big Picture
Announcements:
•  Tuesday: please install SkyGazer and bring laptop!
•  Clickers-for-credit starts Tuesday, 22 Jan
•  “JiTT QUIZ #1” due Saturday 5pm
– 
Your turns…
• Introduce yourself to 2 neighbors
– Trade names, hometowns, interests, etc.
– What topics do you each most want to learn about
in this class?
• We’ll make some efforts to get to know you…
JiTT2 due Tuesday noon
•  MasteringAstronomy.com assignment (MA1) due Friday 5pm
–  Access code problems? Contact me ASAP! TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.
•  Math Review Sessions: 5-6pm Wednesday 23 Jan, 6-7
Tuesday 29 Jan in Duane D142
Reading Comprehension Question
Reading Comprehension Question
An Astronomical Unit (AU) is equal to
a.  The size of an atom
b.  The size of the earth
c.  The distance from the Earth to the Moon
d.  The distance from the Earth to the Sun
e.  The distance from the Sun to the nearest star
An Astronomical Unit (AU) is equal to
a.  The size of an atom
b.  The size of the earth
c.  The distance from the Earth to the Moon
d.  The distance from the Earth to the Sun
e.  The distance from the Sun to the nearest star
If you’re buying online…
Reading Reminders
•  All reading assignments & due dates are on the
syllabus! Reading happens before topics are
presented in class
•  Read TCP1 for Thurs; skim TCP2
•  Sample Ch1 reading quiz questions:
–  About how old is the universe?
–  What is the ecliptic plane?
–  Which is larger, 1 AU or 1 light-year?
–  What’s the expected workload, according to
the syllabus
•  Also, please start observing the sky and prepare
to discuss what you notice
Reading Reminders
•  All reading assignments on syllabus! Reading
happens before topics are presented in class
•  Read TCP2 for Tuesday; JiTT2 Due Tuesday at 9am!
•  Sample Ch2 reading quiz questions:
–  What moon phase is necessary for an eclipse of the
Sun? Of the Moon?
–  What is stellar parallax?
–  What is retrograde motion?
–  What are circumpolar stars?
Desire2Learn demo
•  Calendar
•  “Getting Started”
•  JiTT Quiz
•  Discussion
•  MA help
Discuss with your neighbors:
Spring 2013: Golden Age of Planetary Exploration??
•  Should the University of Colorado offer
astronomy classes even though most
students will not become professional
astronomers? Why or why not? Give two
reasons.
•  Spacecraft in orbit around Mercury, Venus,
Ceres and Saturn, the Moon* and others on their
way to Jupiter and Pluto
– 
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PODCa9sA34A&feature=player_embedded
•  Two Mars Rovers & three orbiters still going
strong - and more coming!
•  Extrasolar Planets – discovery rate now exceeds
one per day
•  Now is the time - and Boulder is the place!
Two Mars Rovers…
plus three
orbiters…
and CU building the
next one
Earth: 16!
Mars Imperial Defense Grid: 22!
Cassini Orbiter around Saturn
•  Ethane lakes on
Titan!
•  Enceladus: another
active world!
•  Imaging Team
headquarters in
Boulder
•  UV spectrometer
built by CU!
And if that seems weird…
The Monotillation of Traxoline
(attributed to Judy Lanier)
It is very important that you learn about traxoline.
Traxoline is a new form of zionter. It is montilled in
Ceristanna. The Ceristannians gristerlate large amounts
of fevon and then bracter it to quasel traxoline.
Traxoline may well be one of our most lukized snezlaus in
the future because of our zionter lescelidge.
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete
sentences. Be sure to use your best handwriting.
– What is traxoline?
– Where is traxoline montilled?
– How is traxoline quaselled?
– Why is it important to know about traxoline?
… there are probably 100 billion planets in
our galaxy, and even more moons.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Chapter 1 Topics
Our Place in the Universe
The History of Stuff (the elements)
In this section you’ll…
•  Become familiar with the “layout” of the Universe
•  Get a sense of “deep time” – our place in time
•  Understand how the elements came into existence
The Really Big Picture
• 
• 
• 
Where are we?
 
 
 
– 
Scale Model Solar System
“Powers of Ten”
AstronomyPlace tutorial
Quiz on Big Picture Basics
Where do we come from?
“When are we”? -- The “cosmic calendar
Powers of Ten video
•  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0
•  Remake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U
•  Reinforces the need for scientific
notation!
•  Puts us in our place!
•  Notice the ‘heirarchy’ of structure
•  Keep the objects in the right order!
•  What’s the ratio between the largest and
smallest known scales?
Another take…
A light year is a unit of…
a. 
b. 
c. 
d. 
A light year is a unit of…
a. 
b. 
c. 
d. 
time
distance
Either, depending on context
Neither - none of the above
Big Picture - Clicker Question
Which is largest?
–  A: 1 Astronomical Unit (AU)
–  B: Distance to Andromeda galaxy
–  C: Distance to North Star
–  D: Distance to Pluto
–  E: Altitude of orbiting shuttle above surface
time
distance
Either, depending on context
Neither - none of the above
The Big Picture: Terms & Scales
•  Put the following in order of increasing size:
–  1 Astronomical Unit (AU)
–  Size of typical planet
–  Distance to nearest galaxy
–  Distance to moon
–  Distance to North Star
–  Distance to Pluto
–  Altitude of orbiting shuttle above surface
Big Picture - Clicker Question
Which is largest?
–  A: 1 Astronomical Unit (AU)
–  B: Distance to Andromeda galaxy
–  C: Distance to North Star
–  D: Distance to Pluto
–  E: Altitude of orbiting shuttle above surface
Big Picture - Answers
•  Answers:
–  Altitude of orbiting shuttle
–  Size of typical planet
–  Distance to moon
–  1 Astronomical Unit (AU)
–  Distance to Pluto
–  Distance to North Star
–  Distance to nearest galaxy
What is our place in the universe?
Big Picture - Answers
•  Answers:
–  Altitude of orbiting shuttle
–  Size of typical planet
–  Distance to moon
–  1 Astronomical Unit (AU)
–  Distance to Pluto
–  Distance to North Star
–  Distance to nearest galaxy
(hundreds of km)
(thousands of km)
(400,000 km)
(150 million km)
(tens of AU)
(tens of light years)
(thousands of l.y.)
Universe Quick Facts
# of stars in a galaxy
100 billion
# of galaxies in observable universe
100 billion
Age of universe in years
14 billion
Universe Quick Facts
# of stars in a galaxy
100 billion
# of galaxies in observable universe
100 billion
Age of universe in dog years
100 billion
Where do we come from? COSMIC RECYCLING
The first (and simplest)
elements were created
during the Big Bang
When the star dies,
they are expelled into
space…. to form new
stars and planets!
More complex
elements were
created in stars
by fusion
Most of the elements in our bodies were created in the core of a star!
How old is the
Universe?