Astronomy 104
The Solar System

Note 1: MATERIAL LISTED BELOW AS "SUPPLEMENTARY"WILL NOT BE COVERED ON THE EXAMS AND IS GIVEN ONLY TO STIMULATE FURTHER INTEREST OR AID IN UNDERSTANDING

Note 2: PLEASE KEEP PACE WITH THE SCHEDULE AND READING BELOW AS THE SCHEDULE BELOW WILL BE USED TO DETERMINE THE SUBJECTS COVERED ON THE EXAMS.

LECTURE 1 (1/19) (Read Chapter 1 in Seeds)

  • Introduction
  • A Sense of Time and Scale in the Universe
  • Precursors to Modern Astronomy
  • Classification of the Planets

    Supplementary material

  • The Constellations
  • Naming the Stars
  • Star Maps

    LECTURE 2 (1/24) (Read Chapter 2 in Seeds)

  • The Sky, Stars, Magnitudes, Celestial Sphere
  • The Seasons and Climate Effects

    Supplementary material

  • Again, the Seasons
  • Celestial Coordinate System
  • Precession of the Earth's Rotation Axis

    LECTURE 3 (1/26) (Read Chapter 3 in Seeds)

  • Climate Effects (continuing notes from Lecture 2)
  • Lunar Orbit and Phases
  • Tides
  • Calendars

    Supplementary Material

  • Timekeeping

    LECTURE 4 (1/31) (Continue Chapter 3 in Seeds)

  • Lunar Eclipses
  • Solar Eclipses and Eclipse Cycles

    Supplementary Material

  • Seeing the shadowed moon: Earthshine

    LECTURES 5-6 (2/2,2/7) (Read Chapter 4 in Seeds)

  • Astronomy of the Ancients

  • The Apparent Motion of Planets on the Celestial Sphere
  • The Universe of Aristotle and Ptolemy and Role of Eratosthenes

  • The Copernican Model: A Sun-Centered Solar System
  • The Observations of Tycho Brahe
  • Johannes Kepler: The Laws of Planetary Motion
  • Galileo: The Telescope & the Laws of Dynamics
  • The Physics of Aristotle versus the Physics of Galileo

    LECTURE 7 (2/9) (Read Chapter 5 in Seeds)

  • Sir Isaac Newton and the Unification of Physics & Astronomy
  • Vectors: Velocities, Accelerations, and Forces

  • Newton's Three Laws of Motion
  • The Universal Law of Gravitation
  • Newtonian Gravitation & the Laws of Kepler
  • Conservation of Angular Momentum and Energy
  • Gravitational Perturbations and the Prediction of New Planets
  • Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity
  • Mass and Energy

    Supplementary material

  • A Ranking of the 100 Most Influential People in History
  • Archimedes Palimpsest (maybe Calculus was invented by Archimedes 2000 years before Newton)

    LECTURES 8,9 (2/14,2/16) (Read Chapter 6 and Begin Chapter 7 in Seeds;)

  • Properties of Light
  • Telescopes and Detectors

    Supplementary Material

  • Review of Stellar Magnitudes and Role of Wavelength

    LECTURE 10 (2/21) (Read Chapter 7 in Seeds)

  • The Interaction of Light and Matter

    LECTURE 11-12 (2/23, 3/2) (Read Chapter 8 in Seeds)

    The Sun, a Nearby Star

    some impressive movies of the Sun!

  • Energy Production in the Sun and Stars

    LECTURE 13 (3/7-3/9) (Read Chapter 19 in Seeds)

    LECTURE 14 (3/21) (Read Chapter 20 in Seeds)

  • The Earth LECTURES 15 (3/23) (Chapter 21 in Seeds)
  • The Earth's Moon
  • The Planet Mercury LECTURE 16-17 (3/28, 3/30) (Read Chapter 22 in Seeds)

  • The Planet Venus LECTURE 18 (4/4,4/6) (Read Chapter 22 in Seeds)

  • The Planet Mars LECTURE 19-20 (4/4,4/6) Read Chapter 23 in Seeds

  • The Planet Jupiter
  • The Jovian Moons

  • The Planet Saturn

    Saturn's Rings

    LECTURE 21 (4/13) (Read Chapter 24 in Seeds)

  • The Planet Uranus
  • The Planet Neptune
  • The Planet Pluto
  • The Object Sedna

    LECTURE 22 (4/18) (Read Chapter 25)

  • Comets
  • Asteroids
  • Meteors

    LECTURE 23 (4/20) (Read Chapter 26 in Seeds)