Astronomy Concepts Explained

• Professor Daniel Snowman teaches the course
• Contact him via [email protected] or phone at (401) 456-9710
• Lectures are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00-11:20 in Craig-Lee 201
• Labs are on Tuesdays from 12:00-1:50 in Craig-Lee 210
• The textbook for the course is OpenStax.org

Grading Breakdown

• Class participation and in-class quizzes contribute 25% to the final grade
• Lab/Observation projects account for 25%
• Exams make up 50% of the grade

Exam Schedule

• Exam One: February 13th
• Exam Two: March 6th
• Exam Three: April 10th
• Exam Four: Date to be announced (TBA)

Course Topics

• Exploring the Heavens
• The Copernican Revolution
• Light and Telescopes
• The Solar System, Earth & Moon
• Terrestrial & Jovian Planets
• The Sun
• The Stars & the Interstellar Medium
• Stellar Evolution
• Neutron Stars & Black Holes
• The Milky Way Galaxy
• Normal & Active Galaxies
• Galaxies & Dark Matter
• Cosmology
• Life in the Universe

Astronomy Basics

• The sun rising in the east and setting in the west is an illusion
• Color shows color, age and length
• Planets are mistaken for stars

Intro to Astronomy

• Spiral galaxies, including the Milky Way
• The center of the galaxy relate to NY and the left corner relates to New England
• From our location, it looks like a milky pattern instead of specific stars
• Nighttime changes:
• The appearance of the sky varies
• Sunrise and sunset is an illusion
• Moonrise and set happen daily
• Some stars behave similarly, however starts may be below the horizon
• Noon changes dependent on location
• The sun feels different in July versus December
• Measuring the sun's position at noon involves using fingers to estimate degrees
• Measuring the sun's position over time
• The sun's peak increases daily until the summer solstice (June 21st)
• It then decreases until the winter solstice (December 21st)
• Earth's movement versus the sun's:
• The Earth spins cloth wise around the sun
• The Earth is pinning, the line dividing the Ecuador is a bit tilded
• When New England tilts towards the sun, we experience Summer
• The seasons are determined by the Earth's tilt along the Ecuador line
• The equinox occurs when the tilt is straight
• Autumn Equinox (Sept 21)
• Spring or Vernal Equinox (March 21-ish)
• Tilt is a result of a collision otherwise there would be no seasons

Observations in the Sky

• Constellations are human creations based on perceived patterns
• 3,000 stars can be seen with the naked eye, and there are 88 constellations
• Most stars in the Big Dipper are blue, except for one red star

Polaris

• Following a line from the two right stars in the Big Dipper leads to Polaris (North Star)
• Polaris appears stationary in the night sky
• Facing Polaris means facing north

Oral Quiz 1

• In good weather typically thousands of stars are visible with the naked eye (3,000-6,000)
• Polaris/North Star, is the only star that appears stationary
• In January, Earth is tilted away from the sun, means it is winter
• The sun is at its highest at noon
• Summer: June 21
• Lowest: December 21
• Equinox is when the amounts of day and nighttime are equal
• There two Equinoxes

The Northern Sky

• A picture taken over 24 hours shows stars moving in a full circle
• Find the North Star/Polaris to locate north

Astronomy and Astrology

• Astronomy and Astrology are related to the Zodiac signs
• It may be impossible to find Aquarius in January
• The signs are true

The Sun

• The Sun is moving
• It would take 1 million Earths to fill the Sun _ The Earth is being pulled by the moon
• Earth's rotation creates day and night
• The moon has a sunny side and dark side
• The Moon always looks the same from the outside
• Earth takes a month to make a whole rotation around the Earth
• Midnight at position "0": see from the night side of Earth
• The New Moon is the shading side
• Position “2”: both sides of the moon visible
• 50-50, the bright side is on the right (1st Quarter)
• Position “4”: see the bright side of the moon (Full Moon)
• Position “6”: the bright side is to the left (3rd Quarter)
• Position “1”: see the shade of the moon (Crescent Moon)
• Position "3": greater visibility of the bright side (Gibbons Moon)
• Position "5": the bright side is more visible than the shade side (Waxing Gibbons Moon)
• Position "7": the bright side is small and on the right (Waning Crescent Moon)

Moon Phases

• Larger: Waning
• Smaller: Wanning
• Animals are more active during a full moon

Distant Galaxy Viewing

• A New Moon is recommended
• Shadows need to be considered
• Earth's shadow casts on the Moon (Lunar Eclipse)
• The tilt and movement of the Earth causes a the moon to be a bit below the Earth
• In a New Moon the shadow can cast into Earth (Solar Eclipse)

Quiz 2

• Constellations aren't possible on birthdays, it's possible in half birthdays because they are associated with Zodiac signs
• The Moon completes all its phases in 1 Month (28 or 29 days)
• New Moon is the best for observing hard objects because it is not reflecting light.
• Location 7 appears as a Waning Crescent, with the shadow on the right
• Solar eclipses are rarer (Earth's big shadow, small Moon)
• A Blue Moon is when there is a Full Moon at the start of the month, the 2nd full moon appear

Ursa Major and Polaris

• Big Dipper and Polaris, use an app
• Take a picture of the night sky with an app
• Sketch what is visible to the naked eye
• Include the horizon, structures (house, tree)
• Estimate distance and scale with hand
• 1 finger 1 degree
• 3 finger 5 degrees
• First 10 degrees
• Index and pinky 15 degrees
• Thumb to pinky 25 degrees
• Anchor one of the stars
• Use degrees to find separations
• Tell how many Polaris are above ground
• State the Object, Location/Time
• Note the conditions of the day (clear, cloudy)

Start Patterns

• Falling starts not starts
• If we could to travel 5,000 year back, Earth would have come into place
• People often find patterns due curiosity
• Theories explain these pattern
• When a theory appears to work it means a prediction can me made
  • Patterns - Theory - Prediction
• Famous theories use patterns
• A theory is about right-wrong

Planetary

• Have the sun and the planets: MVEMJSUNP
• Mercury to Mans is able to stand
• J are made of cas
• Plants have a slightly different "dances" while going around on a circle,
• Stars, moon and sun appears to follow the same.
• Planets motion is not smooth

Theory

• The more exceptions for a theory the weaker it is
• Planet: meant wonderer
• The center is the sun
• Planets travel longer distances take some plants longer or less
• The 1500 Compriseus dance is the natural dance
• Retrograde motion: planet apparent motion

Galileo

• Observes Jupiter for the 1st night
• He realized as the stars moved and after month these patterns would repeat
• Wasn't looking at starts, but Moon, Galileo's Moon or Jupiter's Moons

Tycho Brahe

• He wasn't scientific
• From Denmark
• He would go out night after night and marks the locations for 30 years, suffered from OCD.

Kepler

• Received Tycho Brahe book with the 30 y of record.
• Took him 30 years to figure out the book.
• Wrote in his book, "Planetarians Laws of Motion" applicable to moons
• Orbits are elliptical with the - Sun off center
• The sun and other point are an ellipse
• Planets go counterclockwise
• Equal time in Equal Areas.
• If planets A and B are equal to Earth it would take time a year to make a whole circle.
• We known that from A to B there's 1 month. Then we have C and D will take the same amount of time than A and B.
• If time is constant then C to D is moving faster because it's closer to the sun.
• Closer to the Sun, faster moving
• p2=a3 , P = Period (years), A = Ave, Distance from

Kepler's Laws

• Uranus answer to Kepler's 3rd law is 98%
• Other planets are 99% accurate
• The Planets MVEMJS, U and N, unlike the others can't be seen with naked eye, N was the last one to be found.
• Satellite source of energy is gravity
• Cant control it we need to consider the distance from Earth can be geosynchronous

Quiz 3

• Word planet means wonderer
• An aristocrat OCD person is Tycho Brahe.
• Kepler found plates have a shape that are Elliptical
• Equate Areas by stating Areas.
• Neptune was mathematically conjectured

Milky Way Galaxy

• Depending on light a story can be told
• Everything visible is part of the Milky Way
• They all starts
• ROYGBIV is part of the spectrum of light coming from the sun
• Lights is used in astronomy
• Cutting a black piece of paper splits the light
• Our closes light neighbor is Alpha Satori we have to wait 4 years like
• Our fastest ship goes 150 thousand which can only take light
• Spaceships take 25 years

Light Manipulation

• Manipulating light measures each color intensities if we put a calculate form the Salal
• Our sun is yellow peaks our eye sight and determines it's temperature at at 6000k
• Yellow color is the most intense and the temperature reveals
• There are other types of light that are less intense
• Electro magnetic Radiation spectrum is lower energy compared ROYGBIV
• Visible light in the Rainbow
• Black Body Curve reveals temperature
• Radio waves helps capture light
• The oxygen and earth hold our colors

Visible Sunlight

• Infra-red light is invisible
• We can't see it naked eye
• TV remote, wireless things.
• Radio waves, the signal to antenna.
• Ultra-violet light is a type of energy that can damage the skin
• Different types of light are used
• X-Rays goes through bones.
• Gama Rays periodically is harmful
• Better use yellow light when driving in the dark, fog reflects when turning it on for a few seconds in the dark
• Radio Astronomy occurs during the day of Infrared
• Venus is the 3th sky light
• The Sun and the Moon.
• The clouds can can look around the eyes when they have acid.
• Radio through the cloud
• Some neon lights do not have neon but shades of red.
• Moving it around the different Squirt prints a single atom
• Hydrogen is red or blue, the slightly different atoms are different
• Santana this component component
• Doppler sounds is different when color changes

Galaxy

• By color age, we can change sound
• If it is heading the color is blue or nitid due its speed, red when going away
• A galaxy is moving away us in a speed of 9 or 10 mins
• Cassiopeia starts a degrees of
• Polaris needs from for the
• Ursa light skies of find major M in a smaller horizon is above this project

Exam

• 50 questions on multiple choice
• Constellation we could not be see in day and night
• There different we heard
• We depend so the patterns
• Orbits shapes are generate
• Nature we wonder why it's depend
• Earth we around the the son and away the tilted
• Earth is the wawble

Study topics

• Changes in the sky, the sun and illusion of rising peaking and seating
• Illusion sun peak at noon time
• Such illusion also happens with the sky, just big and little dipper
• Constellations: starts passed through generations, artificial thing on the sky
• Shapes of orbits (moons, planets, artificial satellites) – generical shape of orbits
• Zodiac constellation: whether or not you could see the related constellation
• Sun appearing high or low, in a summer and winter
• Tilt the away the sun/ earth
• The solar systems is clock or counter
• A wabble can happen

Study the objects:

• Moon, 2nd brightest object night sky (depending positions can very)
• Faces in best to observers
• Eclipses can be common or no and the why
• Object very appearing to our ancestors (planets)
• Modero astronomy Tyco and Kepler books of work
• Object are from 88%
• Kepler's Laws and formulas
• Galaxy, telescopes and are from
• Earth, light, heat and from, radio, UV, and is black portions
• Milky and Redshifts has a value