Download Light and Telescopes Astronomy 1 — Elementary Astronomy LA Mission College Spring F2015

Light and Telescopes
Astronomy 1 — Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Spring F2015
Quotes & Cartoon of the Day
“We find them smaller
and fainter, in constantly
increasing numbers, and
we know that we are
reaching into space,
farther and farther, until,
with the faintest nebulae
that can be detected with
the greatest telescopes,
we arrive at the frontier of
the known universe.”
Edwin Powell Hubble
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Announcements
COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS • Canyon Country Campus
Join us for a
Star
Party
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Due 10/15
CoC Star Party Friday
Presented by Dr. Luisa Rebull
Research Scientist, SSC and IRSA, IPAC, Caltech
Featuring:
• Hands-on interactive demonstrations and activities
• COC student clubs and academic departments
highlighting innovative approaches to
understanding the science that governs the universe
• Gaze at the stars through a variety of telescopes
Friday,
OCT 16
7 – 9:30 p.m.
Carl A Rasmussen Amphitheater
College of the Canyons Canyon Country Campus
17200 Sierra Highway, Santa Clarita, CA 91351
Tallest Tower
Building Competition
Sign-up online!
www.canyons.edu/Offic
es/
CCC/Pages/StarParty.a
spx
LA Mission College
F THE C
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Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
CA
www.canyons.edu/ccc
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For more information visit
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Food and beverages
will be available for purchase
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HW Kepler, Gravity
Light posted
STAR FORMATION: Light Beyond The Visible
C OU
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Levine F2015
Last Class
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LT EM Spectrum
Telescopes & Observatories
Light and the Atmosphere
Multi-wavelength Astronomy
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
This Class
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Midterm debrief
Multi-wavelength Astronomy
Intro to the Solar System
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Multiwavelength Astronomy
Astronomy 1 — Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Spring F2015
Astronomers observe across the Electromagnetic spectrum
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Gamma rays
X-rays
the ultraviolet (UV)
visible light
the infrared (IR)
submillimeter & radio
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
WHAT WE LEARN ABOUT AT
DIFFERENT WAVELENGTHS
Infrared: More than Your Eyes Can See
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Xray & Gamma Ray Astronomy
Compton Gamma Ray
Observatory
Image Credit: NASA
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Hot objects & violent events
matter heated to millions of degrees
cosmic explosions, high speed collisions, material moving at extremely high speeds.
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Black Holes
Supernovae
White dwarfs & pulsars
Hottest part of Sun’s atmosphere
observatories must be in space
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Infrared Astronomy
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Old, cold & dusty objects
space based observatories or
high-flying aircraft.
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A few narrow bands from Earth
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heat radiation from cool
objects
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penetrate thick interstellar
dust
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star-forming regions
central areas of our galaxy
Cool stars
Spitzer Space Telescope
NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC)
cold interstellar clouds
star-forming galaxies
planets
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Radio ( & Microwave) Astronomy
Very Large Array
(VLA)
Image courtesy of
NRAO/AUI
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Very cold objects, traces atomic and molecular hydrogen
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Radiation left over from the Big Bang
supernovae
quasars
interstellar gas and molecules
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
The Solar System
Astronomy 1 — Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Spring F2015
Key Properties of the Solar System
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Disk shape (mostly)
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Orbits lie nearly in a plane
Dominant common direction of rotation & revolution
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Key Properties of the Solar System
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2 types of planets
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Terrestrial/Rocky
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Dense, inner SS
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Key Properties of the Solar System
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2 types of planets
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Jovian/Gas Giant
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Low density, outer SS
planetary rings, many satellites
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Key Properties of the Solar System
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Lots of small bodies
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“debris”
Asteroid 243 Ida & Dactyl
August 28, 1993
Image Credit: NASA
moons, dwarf planets,
asteroids, comets,
meteoroids, kuiper belt
objects
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Key Properties of the Solar System
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Lots of empty space
Common age ~4.6 billion years
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Lots of Empty Space
Asteroid belt in movies
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Lots of Empty Space
next nearest asteroid to scale is
15 miles away
1 km asteroid~1 in
Asteroid belt “real life”
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Neil DeGrasse Tyson on Killer Asteroids
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
SOLAR SYSTEM SCALE &
STRUCTURE
Contents & Scale of the Solar System
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Unit of distance for SS is Astronomical Unit or AU
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1 AU is distance Earth-Sun
1 AU = about 150 million kilometers, or 93 million miles
Overview of Contents
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The Sun
Inner SS & Terrestrial planets & Asteroid Belt (0-~5 AU)
Outer SS & Jovian Planets (~5-30 AU)
Kuiper Belt (30-50 AU)
Heliopause (~230 AU)
Voyager spacecraft!!!!!!
Oort Cloud (hypothetical) (50,000-100,000 AU)
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Anatomy of the Solar System 0-5 AU
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The Sun
Inner SS
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Mercury
Venus
Earth/Moon
Mars
Asteroid belt, between
the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
http://www.cosmosportal.org
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Anatomy of the Solar System
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The Sun
Inner SS
Outer SS (5-30 AU)
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Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Anatomy of the Solar System
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The Sun
Inner SS
Outer SS
Kuiper Belt/Kuiper-belt objects (KBOs)
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30-50 AU
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Pluto & other dwarf planets
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Anatomy of the Solar System
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Heliopause
Termination shock can be considered edge of SS
Voyager spacecraft now interstellar!
Launched in 1977
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Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Video Voyager Goes Interstellar
http://www.space.com/22752-voyager-1-goes-interstellar-solar-systemboundary-passed-video.html#ooid=l5OGF5cDp4DTaZp2mYwJDkkYCMUV7I4
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Anatomy of the Solar System
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Oort Cloud
(hypothetical)
http://abyss.uoregon.edu
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
LET’S PRACTICE
Rank the following in order of increasing radius:
I. The Sun
II. Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun
III. Earth’s orbit around the Sun
IV. The Heliopause
A. I, II, III, IV
B. IV, II, III, I
C. I, III, II, IV
D. I, IV, III, II
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Most of the space in the solar system is filled by
A. the Sun
B. the terrestrial planets
C. the Jovian planets
D. empty space
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
WARM-UP QUESTION
The Sun has a diameter of approximately 1.4 million
kilometers. Roughly how many Earths would fit across
the diameter of the Sun?
A. 10
B. 100
C. 1000
D. 10,000
E. 1 million
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
LT SUN SIZE
The Sun has a diameter of approximately 1.4 million
kilometers. Roughly how many Earths would fit across
the diameter of the Sun?
A. 10
B. 100
C. 1000
D. 10,000
E. 1 million
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Let’s Practice
sunspots. How does the size of Earth compare to the size of the sunspot that is identified on
the right side of the image of Sun?
The image
at right shows a
a) Earth and the sunspot are about the
size. Sun. The dark
picture same
of the
b) The sunspot is much, much larger than
spots located
on this image
Earth.
c) The sunspot is much, much smaller than
are sunspots.
How does the
Earth.
size of Earth compare to the
size of the sunspot that is
identified on the right side of
the image of Sun?
2) Which statement do you think best represents the size comparison between the diameter of
the Sun and the distance between the Moon and Earth? The Sun’s diameter is
a) smaller than the distance between the Moon and Earth.
b) approximately equal to the distance between the Moon and Earth.
c) larger than the distance between the Moon and Earth.
A. Earth and the sunspot are about the same size.
B. The sunspot is much, much larger than Earth.
3) If you were constructing a scale model of the solar system that used a Sun that was the size
of a basketball (approximately 12 inches in diameter), which of the following lengths would
most closely approximate the scaled distance between Earth and the Sun?
a) 3 feet (length of an outstretched arm)
b) 10 feet (height of a basketball goal)
c) 100 feet (height of an 10 story building)
d) 300 feet (length of a football field)
C. The sunspot is much, much smaller than Earth.
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Which statement do you think best represents the size
comparison between the diameter of the Sun and the
distance between the Moon and Earth? The Sun’s
diameter is
A. smaller than the distance between the Moon and
Earth.
B. approximately equal to the distance between the
Moon and Earth.
C. larger than the distance between the Moon and
Earth.
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
If you were to construct a scale model of the solar
system that used a 2 cm cherry to represent the Moon,
how large of a ball would you need to represent the
Sun?
A. 4cm
B. 30cm
C. 110 cm
D. 440 cm
E. 880 cm
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
WRAP-UP
Topic for Next Class
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Sun, Earth & Moon
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Reading Assignment
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Astro: 5&7
Astropedia: 5 & 11
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015
Homework
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Kepler, Gravity & Light due 10/15
Astronomy 1 - Elementary Astronomy
LA Mission College
Levine F2015