Astronomy 10 - Fall 2003 Tu, Th 11:00 -12:30 F295 Haas Professor Gibor Basri

basri@astro.berkeley.edu 651 Campbell, (642-8198) Office Hrs by appt.  afternoons best (email me)

Main course Website: Fall 03      General Blackboard Website
(for announcements, information, interaction, assignments, etc.)
You must be enrolled as a student to access it.
Go to General site for instructions on "enrolling" there (or this link).

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

Section 1 - Our Sky and Solar System

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

Oct. 2 Th

Review and/or catch-up.
 

Oct. 7 Tu

Midterm 1

Section 2 - Astrophysics of Stars

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
 

Section 3 - The Universe of Galaxies

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).