Download astronomy 001 spring 2005 rm 121 laboratory

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ASTRONOMY 001 SPRING 2005 RM 121 LABORATORY CLASSROOM BUILDING
SECTION 001 MEETS MWF 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM
SECTION 002 MEETS MWF 12:00 - 12:50 PM
INSTRUCTOR DR. PETER W. DEUTSCH
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS
OFFICE 16 MBB PHONE: 724-773-3893
E-mail: [email protected]
OR http://www.personal.psu.edu/pd2
OFFICE HOURS MWF 3:00 TO 3:50PM;
TH 10:00 to 10:50 AM; AND FRI 2:00 to 2:50 PM
These office hours are not my only availability outside of class. I am often on campus all day
until 5 PM, and I am often available while setting up or taking down class in room 121
Laboratory Classroom Building at 9 am or next to my office in room 14 Michael Baker setting
things up. I can often be found at the Bistro working at a table. However Tuesday is a research,
work, and grading day. Occasionally I will be off campus later in the afternoon to attend a
seminar. A few times this may interfere with the office hours. During the 11 AM or 12 Noon hour
I am often in one of the LCB computer rooms such as 102 LCB across the hall from rm 121.
REQUIRED TEXT: In Quest of the Universe 4rd Edition by
Karl F. Kuhn and Theo Koupelis (Jones and Bartlett Publishers 2004)
This addition has many updates from the previous edition. Based on new knowledge or perception
there is often more than one change per page throughout the entire text. In fact some sections have
been entirely revamped or added as new.
There is also an Activities Manual and Kit excerpted from Shawl’s et. al.’s Discovering
Astronomy on sale in the Campus Bookstore. (Please read each activity carefully in turn before
we take it up in class. The instructions are very explicit and detailed.) The course is a survey of
astronomy. It is a three-credit course satisfying a general education requirement in physical
sciences, meeting three times a week for fifteen weeks.
Special Notes: Attendance requirements and related matters: (I) Anybody missing five or more classes
will be subject to failing the course. I cannot help you if you don’t come to class. I cannot help you if you
are not here.
(II) Those who have attended regularly – perfectly or nearly perfectly – will have 12.5 points added to
their highest test scores.(III) Attendance will be taken regularly. Please respect the means by which it is
taken. (IV) Approximately 10% to 15% of the grade will be for other activities. These include cooperative
activities and a subjective evaluation which includes class participation, and any other class interactions.
(V) Be courteous to my ‘guest’ lecturers. I frequently bring ‘visitors’ to my class via VCR/DVD or other
means. I do so not just to fill up times but because they – often in combination with special media
resources – have something important to share. (VI) There have been a few times when I have had take
special measures to protect the integrity of the classroom. I do this to protect the interests -- the welfare -of the class as a whole. If I call on you to do something specific to limit disruption to the class as a whole
or to stop doing something disruptive, please do as I say. I will make a special effort at another time
appropriate adjusting with you individually about any materials that might be missed. This disruption
usually involves talking, but occasionally it can take other forms such as loud and prolonged coughing
which may also signal a contagion or other visible forms of distress that may impact the class as a whole.
I don’t do this often. Nor do I do it casually. But I will do it if I judge it important to do so. (VII) Finally
I reserve the right to update this syllabus during the semester as is necessary and appropriate. Again, I
don’t do this often or casually but I will do it if it is important to do so.
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Course Content: The course provides an overview of our present understanding of the physical
Universe. Using our unaided eyes on a clear night we survey the sky learning about the remarkable,
distant objects and systems as they have been revealed by large telescopes and other, related advanced
instruments at optical and other wavelengths. An important issue is how astronomers have advanced from
observing distant, faint objects to a deep and detailed understanding of their physical workings and
evolution or development. How was the structure of the solar system explained over the past few
centuries? What are stars made? Why or how do they shine? What is the Milky Way made of and how is
it related to certain dim, fuzzy patches of sky that we now call galaxies? What are the galaxies made of?
How far are the stars and galaxies? Have they been around forever? Will they last forever? If not, when
did they form, and when will they die? How might they die? Why does the Universe appear to be
expanding? How do the Earth and its life fit into the Universe? This is certainly a long list of important
questions, and we don’t expect to answer all of them in detail at the end of the course. However we hope
you’ll begin to appreciate the fact that questions like these can actually be raised and addressed now to
varying degrees -- and with some success!
In fact acquainting you with that process, selling you on the scientific method is the main thing I want to
accomplish in this course. I want you to appreciate that science is a way of correcting the many mistakes
we do in fact make. Scientific model building has an effective clarifying impact on our understanding.
But to do this we must survey our knowledge of physical laws picking out just the right ingredients to
give us the right insights. We’ll look at gravity, the laws of motion, light, and even the physics of the very
small -- atomic and nuclear physics -- to get some feeling for how these questions are being answered. All
this will actually be done with very little mathematics.
However it is important to work in this course. There is a great deal to learn. There is no pill you can take
to learn the material instantly. If you find one, let me know about it! But I don’t think it’s an easy find.
Moreover while I can help and I will work hard on this class, what I can get you to do is more important
than what I do. Put in active learning time in class. Put in two hours of astronomy study for each hour of
class.
Now the following is important. Don’t be surprised if what you learn here sometimes contradicts what
you have taken or accepted as true before. Many people have preconceptions about astronomy which are
in fact false. For example:
 The North Star is not the brightest star in the sky. Instead it is merely a moderately bright star
near the north pole of the celestial sphere or night sky.
 The phases of the Moon are not due to the shadows of the Earth on the Moon. Instead relative
positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon determine the phases of the Earth. The Earth’s shadow
falls on the Moon only on the infrequent eclipses of the Moon.
 The Sun is not a solid. Rather it is a ball of hot gas – or more accurately it’s plasma. But that’s
not the one made from blood. It’s made from (hot) electrically charged particles.
 Learning about astronomy does not require’ lots and lots’ of mathematics. It does not require
long ‘boring’ calculation. Rather it requires good simple logic, an understanding of fundamental
math concepts, and the recognition -- the acceptance - - of important observations and facts.
 Astronomy is most certainly not off limits to women. It is not off limits to amateurs including
women amateurs. Instead both groups have contributed and continue to contribute substantially
to astronomy and astrophysics. Astronomy and astrophysics may well be the most inclusive of all
the physical sciences.
 Astronomy is not an easy course requiring little if any work because you already know a lot about
it. It is not just about constellations in the night sky. Rather it involves an almost stunning array
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of facts and circumstances across a broad
and active frontier. It is a very lively field.
You can learn a great deal but it requires real work.
Please become aware that misconceptions exist. While I can help by pointing them out and by having you
confront them in a non threatening way, many studies show that you have to take charge in rooting them
out. I can point them out but studies shows that it takes real (individual) work over an extended period of
time on the students’ part to root them out. See the door to my office (16 Michael Baker) for a fairly long
list of some common misconceptions.
DATES
CHAPTER (KUHN)
TITLE
Mon Jan 10 – Wed Jan 12:
Prologue
The Quest Ahead
Chapter 1
An Earth-Centered Universe
Chapter 2
A Sun-Centered System
Chapter 3
Galileo, Newton, and Einstein
TEST: Fri Feb. 11
Fri Feb. 11 - Wed Mar 16:
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Fri Mar. 18 -Wed Apr. 13:
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Fri Apr. 13 - Fri Apr. 29:
Topics from:
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Light and Electromagnetic Spectrum
(Skipped! We won’t cover this chapter.)
The Earth-Moon System (Deemphasize Earth’s geology.)
Chapter 7
A
Planetary Overview
Chapter 8
(Skipped! We won’t cover this chapter.)
Chapter 9
(Skipped! We won’t cover this chapter.)
Chapter 10
Pluto and Solar System Debris
TEST: Fri March 18
The Sun
Measuring Properties of the Stars
(Skipped! We won’t cover this chapter.)
The Lives and Deaths of Stars
The Deaths of Massive Stars (This is
the designated chapter for black holes.)
TEST: Fri April 15
The Milky Way Galaxy
The Diverse Galaxies (Basic overview.)
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Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Cosmology: The Nature of the Universe
The Quest for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence
To be scheduled: Comprehensive Final Exam. This will be scheduled about a month into the semester.
Please plan to take the final exam at the time it is scheduled.
Basics of How to Cope with My Course or at least Come to Terms with it: Tactics. Please work at
least six hours a week on the course. That is a standard two hours of outside work for every fifty minutes
spent in class. You should hear/have heard about this if you attended freshman seminar on campus. The
text provides a good overview of the subject. I encourage you to read it. I cannot overemphasize the need
to try to make a good effort in this class. It’s good practice in all courses to read the assigned material
before attending class. (And I have ways to test this.) This will help you to understand what is going on in
lecture. Even if you can’t complete all the reading you’ve planned in a given session, looking the material
over all the assigned material somewhat is much better than doing nothing. When you get in the habit of
bringing your book to class, and reading it at least once again after class you’ll do better. Be prepared to
do some reading on your own, in any case, since we cannot cover all sections of the assigned reading in
class, and some completely reasonable things inevitably will be left out because of time limitations. Read
early. Read often. Read repeatedly. Don’t expect things to make sense immediately. Don’t be surprised if
what you read, see, and hear isn’t what you expect. Astronomy is often different than what most people
expect.
This will be done in part to allow time for class activities and group work sessions and to make room for
my presenting visual materials during class such as relevant segments of web materials, videos, and
astronomical slides. Attending class will help you know what to study and what is considered important.
There will be at least a couple of structured group activities in the class. We plan to do several activities
selected from the Activities Manual mentioned above. Again be prepared to do the activities when they
are specifically assigned. Please read the activity assigned before you come to class.
Please don’t talk in class unless you are interacting with your working group during an instructor
sanctioned time period. Talking otherwise is very distracting to all, both to me and to you. I won’t be able
to present the material as well as I could otherwise, and you won’t be able to hear other media or me very
well if other people are talking. As indicated on the grading policy piece, I plan to employ specific tactics
to keep the class quiet.
Studying several times a week in moderate, well-organized blocks of time is much better than cramming
for many hours the night or morning just before the test. I say this because there is no magic pill you can
take for learning. But if you do find one, let me know about it!
Course Requirements and Grading
Approximate Point Breakdowns:
One but only one observing session is required
15% to 20 % Quizzes
18% approximately for one test
18% approximately for another test
Approximately 35% for the final exam A comprehensive final exam is a required in this course.
10% to 15% for other activities including a subjective evaluation which includes class participation, and
class interactions.
Grading Details:
There will be three tests in this course in addition to a comprehensive final exam. These three tests will
cover the first three of the four course units. We will test the last unit with a series of 10 to 15 point
quizzes or other assignments for a total of approximately 100 points. Only the two midterms in which you
individually scored highest will count toward the grade. Only the highest two midterm tests on which you
personally got the highest grade will count toward the grade. However the mandatory final exam will
count. It is required for everyone without exception. Each test will count 100 points. Please come to
each test as assigned even if I have changed the date. The final will count either 200 or 300 points. It will
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count 300 points if the final represents an
improvement upon the previous class work.
Otherwise it will count 200 points. Additionally there will be short quizzes worth 5 to 15 points as is
necessary to encourage your keeping up with the material. There will also be some other in class or out of
class assignments for additional credit. Some of these will involve using computer Internet resources that
are now widely available in astronomy.
When all graded activities are totaled they come to about 525 points (625 with a good final) including the
short quizzes. It may be a little more or a little less, but 525 points give or take a few points will be
considered 100%. One hundred percent is an A+ but see the accompanying sheet on grading policies for
other letter grade versus percentage score breakdowns.
I will conduct outside observing with a telescope and binoculars, usually in the evening, starting after
Spring Break unless there is an earlier warm spell. Astronomical observing is on the field by the small
museum near the dorm during designated evenings weather permitting. This may be subject to some
rescheduling as is necessary.
You are required to attend at least one session in the semester. You are not required to attend more than
once. You are certainly not required to attend every week. You may bring anyone else that you wish
including a special friend or family members. Anybody on campus may attend. While extra sessions can
be scheduled for those with work responsibilities, you are encouraged to attend one of the regularly
scheduled sessions. I am only asking that you do this once during the entire semester. Please realize that I
am not required by the University to offer observing as part of the course. It is an extra activity that I
enjoy undertaking voluntarily on my own time with many of my own personal materials. (Dress warmly
enough for surprisingly cool evening temperatures. For fall classes: consider carrying bug spray.)
It is also recommended that you have a simple scientific calculator with powers of ten, squares, and
square roots.
Main Course Components: A good survey course in modern astronomy should address four distinct
areas of study. We list them below in the order of their appearance in the text.
 A mapping of the sky and a scientific understanding the basic patterns of motions in the sky. While
academic class exposure is useful. The sky is best appreciated by going out to look at the sky learning to
observe it more carefully.
 A study of solar system, our planets their satellites and the solar system debris including asteroids,
comets, and meteoroids. A consideration of our earth’s environment, its atmosphere, its geology, and how
it compares with other planets. Of course there is new excitement now that recently a good number of
planets around other stars appear to have been found. It lends new interest in finding out the way our solar
system may have developed. Also recent developments include surface signs of water on Mars. There is
also heightened interest in Europa based on recent Galileo planetary probe images of that moon of Jupiter.
They suggest that Europa may have an ocean capable of supporting at least a primitive form of life. Of
course there is also the continuing success of the Mars Global Surveyor mission and three newer
missions, not to speak of possible findings of ice on the moon and often-visible international space
station. The Saturn Mission has released the Hyugens probe scheduled land on Titan in mid January. This
solar system unit is a good excuse to show very good Internet source materials as well as slides and
videos from actual planetary probe explorations. Some of the best visual material in the course is related
to this unit.
 The next section is about stars, what they are, how they evolve, what powers their enormous light
source, and how they die. Finding out the basics of stars is a spectacular 20th century success story
explaining all sorts of things that we didn’t know before or even begin to suspect until fairly recent
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history like the last 30 to 70 years. This is also a
natural place to introduce many exotic and
interesting astronomical objects such as white dwarfs, pulsars, supernovae, and black holes. I also like to
introduce one of my very favorite topics here, how the chemical elements important to life were created in
the explosions of massive stars. Yes, Earthly biology and life appear to be directly linked to enormous
explosions in distant stars! You may like the black holes better, and that’s fine. We’ll do those too.
 The book’s last section deals with the Universe on its largest scale. We’ll highlight this section with
Internet references, slides and perhaps videos of nebulae in our Milky Way and other galaxies. Then we’ll
see with our own eyes why astronomers think there are billions and billions of stars out there. We’ll also
introduce study of the Universe as a whole, called Cosmology, emphasizing the reasons why we think the
Universe is expanding having originated in a ‘big bang’ some 13.6 ± 0.2 billion years ago. We’ll
introduce the elements of galactic classification, and if time permits we’ll introduce active galaxies and
quasars.
Course Objectives: I wish to get across five main themes or messages in this course:
Our physical surroundings (the Universe) are immense both in space and in time.
 The Universe works or abides by a relatively few simple rules or laws: Reasoning using cause and
effect and or the use of simple logic really helps to sort things out. The Universe contains some very
complex things and situations, but the rules behind them are both few in number and relatively simple to
state.
 The basic rules or principles of science that work here on the Earth operate everywhere. They apply
broadly throughout the entire Universe
 While we know quite a lot more about the Universe than we used to know, we don’t know everything
by any stretch of the imagination. All that we’re investigating and exploring is subject to scientific testing,
both verification and refutation. We are likely still wrong about loads of things, or just plain ignorant.
However many of the underlying physical principles and laws do seem now to have been worked out in
nearly final form. They’ve been tested and explored very extensively these past few centuries. This is
especially true for the laws of motion, which appear destined to survive on in much their present form.
 Expect – anticipate – having at least some misconceptions about astronomy. We all do. Work actively to
identify them and start to root them out.
 Here’s where I’m coming From: I view astronomy as a physical science. Accordingly I will
emphasize both cause and effect underlying the observed phenomena, as science is the effective interplay
of observation and theory. We will also introduce the basics of physical units and powers of ten notation.
We will deal with important physical issues such as matter, laws of motion, gravity, and light. We will
sketch the structure and dynamics of atoms and their nuclei.
As this is a course emphasizing scientific theory and verification, we will not say much in lecture about
how stars and constellations got their names, and we will not be dealing with the stories or myths about
the sky. Nor will we be interpreting the signs of the zodiac. However we will use the constellations as a
kind of visual map or way of orienting oneself to the skies. We will also touch on astronomical naming
conventions as is appropriate. During office hours I can suggest well-known astronomical source
materials on observing the sky, which include brief accounts of some of these matters of naming and
myth. I will be glad to pursue these matters with you during office hours if you are interested, and I can
also point you toward interesting sources on mythology in diverse cultures. You are welcome to pursue
these significant, broadening cultural matters on your own, but in class we will concentrate on the
scientific aspects of astronomy.