Astronomy 10 - Fall 2003Tu, Th 11:00 -12:30F295 HaasProfessor Gibor Basri |
basri@astro.berkeley.edu651 Campbell, (642-8198)Office Hrs by appt.afternoons best (email me) |
NOTE: Discussion sections do NOT meet the first week!
Text:The
Cosmos, Pasachoff & Filippenko (either edition, no reader)
Syllabus and Course Notes below
Section
1 : Our Sky and Solar System
Section
2 : Astrophysics of Stars
Section
3 : The Universe of Galaxies
Course
Syllabus
August
| September | October | November
| December
Grading
Information
Aug. 26 Tu [PowerPoint
1.4Mb]
Introduction: Our Place in the
Cosmos
Reading Below
Where are We? What is Astronomy?
Context of the Earth in the Universe,
Science and nonscience/nonsense
Aug. 28 Th [notes][PowerPoint
0.5Mb] [PowerPoint html]
The Scale of Things
Chapter 1
How do we talk about "astronomical"
numbers (how big/small are they)?
Exponentials, Units, Powers of
Ten (Movie), Scaling Models: Size & Distance & Time, The Range
of Things Considered (and their connections)
Sept. 2 Tu [notes][PowerPoint
1.4Mb] [PowerPoint html]
The Sky in Time - Coordinates
& Motions
Chapter 4
What moves in the sky? How and
why?
Cycles, Constellations, Ecliptic/Zodiac,
Solstice/Equinox, Seasons, Celestial Sphere & Coordinates
Sept. 4 Th [notes][PowerPoint
2.6Mb] [PowerPoint
html]
Timekeeping and Seasons
Chapter 4
How do we tell time? Why are
there seasons?
Time, Calendars,
Solar and Sidereal Day, Tilt of the Earth's axis, The Reasons for Seasons,
Precession of the Poles
Sept. 9 Tu [notes]
[PowerPoint 2.8Mb] [PowerPoint
html]
Points of View - History of
Astronomy
Chapter 5
How have people explained what
they see?
Size/Shape
of Earth,Geocentric/Heliocentric models, Planetary
Motions, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo
Sept. 11 Th[notes]
[PowerPoint 1.7Mb]
[PowerPoint
html]
Gravity and Orbits
Chapter 5
What makes celestial bodies
move as they do?
Kepler's Laws (ellipses), Newton's
Laws (inertia, acceleration, gravity), Orbits, Masses, Surface Gravity/Escape
Velocity
Sept. 16 Tu [notes] [PowerPoint
4.2Mb] [PowerPoint html]
The Earth
Chapter 6
What do we know about our Earth
through time?
Earth's Interior, Plate Tectonics,
Radioactive dating, Earth's Atmosphere, Greenhouse Effect
Sept. 18 Th [notes] [PowerPoint
4.2Mb][PowerPoint
html]
Chapter 6 (and
part of 4)
What do we know about our Moon?
How do eclipses work? How do tides work?
Interior
and Surface of Moon, Moon's Origin/History, Lunar and Solar Eclipses,
Tides
Sept. 23 Tu [notes][PowerPoint
3.7Mb] [PowerPoint html]
Terrestrial Planets
Chapter 6
What are the rocky planets like?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars: Comparative
Interiors, Comparative Surfaces, Comparative Atmospheres
Sept. 25 Th [notes][PowerPoint
2.0Mb] [PowerPoint html]
Gas Giant Planets
Chapter 7
What are the outer planets like?
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
: Comparative Interiors, Comparative Atmospheres; Pluto
Sept. 30 Tu[notes][PowerPoint
2.6Mb] [PowerPoint 7.7Mb]
[PowerPoint html]
Moons
and Solar System "Debris"
Chapter 8
Smaller icy objects. Belts of
bodies. Shooting stars and comets.
Moons of the Giant Planets, Diversity
of surfacesRings, Roche limit, Orbital resonances, Asteroids, Pluto and
the Kuiper Belt, Comets and the Oort Cloud, Meteors, Giant Impacts
Review and/or catch-up.
Oct. 7 Tu
Midterm 1
Oct. 9 Th [notes][PowerPoint
0.8Mb] [PowerPoint html]
Electromagnetic Radiation
Chapter 2
What is light? What makes it?
Nature of E-M radiation, Wavelength/Frequency/Color/Energy,
E-M Spectrum, Temperature & Black-body Radiation, Doppler Shift
Oct. 14 Tu [notes][PowerPoint
8.3Mb] [PowerPoint html]
Observations and Telescopes
Chapter 3
How do we make observations?
Telescopes, Aperture and Resolution,
Observing and Observatories, "Invisible" Astronomy, Interferometry and
Adaptive Optics
Oct. 16 Th [notes][PowerPoint
7.8Mb] [PowerPoint html]
The Sun
Chapter 9
What is our Sun like? Why does
it look like that?
Basic Properties, Solar Interior,
Photosphere/Chromosphere/Corona, Magnetic Fields, Solar-Terrestrial Relations,
Solar Cycle, Stellar Activity, Solar Neutrinos
Oct. 21 Tu [notes][PowerPoint
2.4Mb] [PowerPoint html]
Measuring the Stars
Chapter 10
How do we know about the stars?
Parallax, Stellar Motions, Luminosity/Temperature,
Atoms & Energy Levels, Spectral Classes
Oct. 23 Th[notes][PowerPoint
3.1Mb] [PowerPoint html]
Binary Stars, Stellar Parameters
Chapter 11
What are stars really like?
HR Diagram, Visual/Spectroscopic/Eclipsing
Binaries, Stellar Parameters
Oct. 28 Tu[notes][PowerPoint
1.7Mb] [PowerPoint html]
Ordinary Stellar Life
Chapter 12
How do stars work? How do they
live?
Principles of Stellar Structure,
Energy Source, Production of Elements, Evolution in HR Diagram, Open/Globular
Clusters, Cluster HR Diagrams, Ages of Clusters
Oct. 30 Th [notes][PowerPoint
2.5Mb] [PowerPoint html]
Ordinary Stellar Death
Chapter 13
How do stars die?
Brown Dwarfs, White Dwarfs, Binary
Evolution, Novae and Supernovae (Type I)
Nov. 4
Tu[notes][PowerPoint
10 Mb] [PowerPoint html]
Exotic Stellar Death
Chapter
13,14
What are those cool pulsars
and black holes like?
Supernovae (Type II), Neutron Stars,
Extreme Gravity, Black Holes
Nov. 6 Th
Star Formation and Nebulae
[PowerPoint 3.5 Mb]
[PowerPoint html]
Chapter 15
How are stars born? What are
those glowing clouds of gas?
Star Formation, Protoplanetary
Disks, The Interstellar Medium and Nebulae ;
(note: this material will not be on Midterm 2, but on the Final)
Nov. 11 Tu
Veteran's Day Holiday
Nov. 13 Th
Midterm
2
Nov. 18 Tu[notes]
[notes]
[PowerPoint html]
[PowerPoint 4.4 Mb]
Discovery of the Milky Way
Chapter 15
How did we figure out what our
Galaxy is like? How is our Galaxy built? What is in it?
Size and Shape of our Galaxy, 21-cm
radiation, Spiral Arms, Galactic Center
Nov. 20 Th[notes]
[notes]
[PowerPoint html]
[PowerPoint 4.5 Mb]
Other Galaxies, Active Galaxies
Chapter 16, 17
What are other Galaxies like?
What are Quasars?
Types of
Galaxies, Properties of Galaxies, Clusters and Superclusters, Galaxy Collisions
and Evolution, Active Galactic Nuclei and Quasars
Nov. 25 Tu[notes]
[PowerPoint html] [PowerPoint
3.0Mb]
Cosmic Distance and Age Scale
Chapter 18
How do we know the Universe
is expanding? How old is it?
, High Redshift Universe, Extragalactic
Distance Scale, Cepheids, Hubble Law, Expansion and Acceleration, Age of
the Universe
Nov. 27 Th
Thanksgiving Holiday
Dec. 2
Tu[notes]
[PowerPoint html]
[PowerPoint 5.7Mb]
Cosmology and the Universe
Chapter 19
What is the overall Universe
like? What is the scientific story of creation?
First Moments of Creation, Mass/Energy
Interchange, Formation of Matter, Cosmological Observations, Dark Matter,
Inflation, The End of Time
Dec. 4 Th [notes]
[PowerPoint html] [PowerPoint
4.9Mb]
Is There Life on Other Planets?
Chapter 20
Will ET phone us?
Search for Other Planets, Life
in our Solar System, Origin of Life, Drake Equation, SETI (search for extraterrestrial
intelligence)
There will be a review session the week of Dec. 8.
Final Exam:
Group 9, Friday December 12, 5-8pm
(Your lucky day! You should not take this class if you know you can't
make this final.)
Final: 30% (1/2 review) (December
12, 5-8pm)
Section: 30% (5% attendance, 5%
participation, 5% lab projects, 15% homeworks)
Exams are objective (T/F, multiple choice). You are allowed to use a "cheat sheet" (this course is about comprehension, not memory). We will also tell you the subject of all exam questions ahead of time (but not the exact questions, of course).
If you are taking the course only because you have to, we encourage you to consider taking it P/NP. This course is one in which cramming is not very useful if you haven't kept up. There is a minimal amount of working with numbers and equations (it cannot entirely be eliminated). We promise you will be amazed by what you learn about!
Extra credit projects will be offered, but not lots (this is only useful for moving grades if you are close anyway).