VISTA
COMMUNITY
COLLEGE,
BERKELEY,
CALIFORNIA
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ASTR 10, Descriptive Astronomy (V0076)
Spring Semester, 2004
Instructor: Dr. Korpela
Welcome to Astronomy 10!
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This course provides an introductory look at the past, present, and
future of the universe and its contents: stars, planets, galaxies, and
we humans who seek to understand them. Astronomy has repeatedly
challenged human thought, from the Copernican revolution to the recent
discovery that the universe may be not only expanding, but also
accelerating. Spacecraft have visited all of the planets except Pluto,
and powerful telescopes take us even farther out in space and back in
time. Through this course, I hope that you will gain some sense of the
excitement that astronomers feel when they study the sky. Before long,
you will be able to amaze your friends with the real story on black
holes, the Big Bang, and the search for extraterrestrial life.
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COURSE GOALS: Gain an appreciation of our place in the
universe, and encourage a sense of awe about the night sky as well as
topics in modern astrophysics.
Understand what science is and is not, with particular attention to the
scientific method as it applies to astronomy.
Develop critical thinking and reasoning skills that can be applied to popular
science literature.
Contact Info
- Dr. Korpela: korpela@ssl.berkeley.edu, 510-643-6538
Updated
Important Announcements:
- HOMEWORK #3 is due Mar 11.
- EXAM #1 is this week. Those who need a makeup should have contacted
Dr. Korpela by now. You will need to bring a #2 pencil and a ScanTron 882-E
form. ScanTron forms are available at most bookstores near the UC Campus.
Website:
If you haven't been to the website before now, an introduction to its
important features can be found in the notes for the first
lectures, in the Archive of Administrative Notes.
As I said in class, those that can download materials from this site should
do so, in order to save on photocopying (and the weight of what I carry!).
The Sky:
- Telescope Viewing:
We'll be organizing a field trip to Chabot for telescope viewing, however,
you can go to Chabot any Friday or Saturday night. Follow the Local
Astronomy link below to investigate this and other options.
Click for details of
Chabot observatory. Look for Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and the Pleiades in
the night sky! If you have binoculars, search Orion's belt for the Orion
Nebula.
- Binoculars:
I have been asked about buying binoculars for astronomy, and have
created a Binoculars for Astronomy
resource page.
- Remember to look up! Astronomy is, after all, the
study of the stars etc! Think about the scale of distances,
motions and times as you gaze at the sky. If you can see
planets and/or the moon, try to picture where you are on the earth, and
where the planet is in its orbit.
The
exercises we've done should help.
- Planets: This week Venus in the west after sunset.
is the brightest object in the evening sky (apart from airplanes,
sun, and moon).
Jupiter and Saturn are in the east at sunset.
Mars can be seen glowing red high in the south after sunset.
- Stars: Remember that almost everything that can be seen with
the naked eye is part of our own Milky Way Galaxy! (The Andromeda Galaxy is
an exception). Notice that it's hard to see the disk of our Galaxy with
your naked eye, but we do in fact live way out on one side of that disk.
Think about which stars are likely to be young, and
which are likely to be old! Think about which are about to die, and how.
Keep an eye on Betelgeuse! Think of all the pulsars and black holes you
can't see with your naked eye! Remember that all of these objects that
you can see with the naked eye are inside our own galaxy! (Exceptions
are the Andromeda Galaxy (visible from dark locations) and the Large and
Small Magellanic Clouds (visible from the southern hemisphere).
- Resource: Go to
Sky and Telescope's Observing
page to learn about the changing sky - planets, variable stars and so on.
variable stars, and more!
Details on Upcoming Dates:
Homework #3 is due Mar 11.
Upcoming exams:
- If you cannot make one of these dates, please arrange an
alternate time
- The exams will be more like the quizzes than the homeworks, in that it
will be multiple choice, true/false, and short answer.
Rather than
just read the textbook without particular focus,
use the
"What Was Important" guides to
focus your studying. In addition, the homework
solutions, in-class exercises,
ConcepTest questions, and quiz questions
highlight topics I find particularly important.
- Exam #1 will be March 04.
Makeup
exams for Exam #1 MUST be completed prior to the originally scheduled exam
date. Please contact Dr. Korpela prior to Feb 19 if you need to reschedule.
Last Thursday Night's Lecture:
Find out what the goals of last night's lecture were in the
What Was Important notes. Some more details
are found below.
Since we were still running a bit behind, we finished the remaining material
from Lecture 5. This included further discussion on
Kirchoff's laws and scattering of light by small particles. These subjects
will be included on this week's exam.
The remainder of the lecture covered the properties of the solar solar system,
and how these properties can be explained by the Solar nebula theory of
formation of the solar system.
The lecture notes for this section may be found here (powerpoint) or here (html).
Miscellaneous:
You may have trouble parking some Thursdays because of the basketball
games. Men's games create the most difficulty
The schedule for CAL sports may be found
here.
If you don't yet have the text, much of the material required for Homework #1
is contained in the handouts, and the remainder can be found in
the (different) online textbook at
http://www.astronomynotes.com.
If you are a little confused, don't panic.
It is not my intention to fail students who attend the classes and seriously
work on all the homeworks and assignments
GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION
This website will be invaluable during this course.
Detailed announcements about the course will be posted
throughout the semester. If you're interested in
the flavour of the course, explore the FUN STUFF below!
General information and expectations are available
in the Course Syllabus and Policies (see below). You should
also note the guideline expected study times contained in
Hints on
How to Succeed in a College Class.
Policies
Click the Reload Button on each page for The Latest Updates
TEXT will be The Essential Cosmic Perspective,
2nd College Edition, by Bennett et al.
This should be available from Ned's Campus Textbook Exchange on Bancroft Avenue.
You may find a better bargain on line at bn.com or amazon.com.
USEFUL COURSE STUFF
INTERESTING LINKS TO WHET YOUR INTEREST
In addition to the FUN STUFF section below:
Here's a neat online version of
The Powers of 10
to remind you of the awesome vastness of space!
Good and
Bad Astronomy in Movies Includes "Signs" and "Men In Black II"
among others.
If you're interested in the search for planets around other stars, try
going here.
The exciting Search for ExtraTerrestrial
Intelligence! For more information on the SETI projects, go to the
SETI at UC Berkeley website .
FUN STUFF
Bad Astronomy in the Media (News, Movies, TV!)
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Universe Today (Current Space News from the Internet)
Astronomy Cafe (Website for the Astronomically Disadvantaged)
Take a Virtual Voyage Through the Milky Way
Exploratorium Home Page
Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences
NASA Home Page
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