YOUR FIRST QUIZ! A quiz on the first day? Yes. But this quiz doesn't count for anything. It's just for fun! There are twelve questions. Each is "true" or "false." Here they are--in no particular order . 1. There are other worlds revolving around other stars, just as our Earth revolves around the Sun. 2. The positions of the planets in the zodiac (Aries, Leo, Aquarius, etc.), at the time of your birth, have an effect on your personality. 3. The build up of so-called greenhouse gases can make a planet so hot as to become uninhabitable. 4. The absence of ozone in an atmosphere makes life below diffi- cult. 5. The only known crash of a flying saucer occurred at Roswell, New Mexico, in 1948. 6. Huge bodies, called asteroids, have smashed down upon the Earth and caused catastrophic destruction. 7. More people become insane during the Full Moon than at any other time. 8. It would take days, weeks, or even months to travel among the stars. 9. Astronomers search for extraterrestrial life (ET). 10. Columbus discovered that the Earth is round. 11. It is possible to see things that happened millions of years ago. 12. There are stars older than everything in the entire Universe. [Answers appear at the bottom of page 3.] 1 870:010 “Astronomy,” 3-4 CH Latham 125 10:00 AM M-W-F or 1:00 PM M-W-F 2005-2006 SYLLABUS Welcome to 870:010. This is an exciting time to take "Astronomy." Just recently, two robot spacecraft were simultaneously busy at work: one roving the dunes of Mars, the other photographing the surface of Saturn’s “moon” Titan for the first time. New planet-like bodies were discovered: small ones in the far reaches of our Solar System and huge ones orbiting stars other than the Sun. And evidence mounts for the existence of anti-gravity! We will be learning about all these things and more. First, though, here is your guide to making the course "user friendly." _________________________________________________________________ QUICK INDEX: If you have questions about..... Look on page number..... How To Find Your Instructor 3 What the Course Is About 4 Course Prerequisites 6 Using Your Textbook 7 How Your Grade Will Be Assigned 8 How Exams Work 8 How Homework Works 10 Others Things Required of You in the Course 10 What Topics Will be Covered When 14 Laboratories (for those enrolled for 4 credits) 18 Reading assignments 27 Hints 40 _________________________________________________________________ 2 INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Thomas Hockey, Professor of Astronomy Department of Earth Science office: Latham 112 phone number: 273-2065 (3-2065 on campus) if no answer, call: 273-2759 (secretary) FAX: 273-7124 campus mailing code: 0335 electronic mail: [email protected] (checked once a day) My WWW Page is at http://www.earth.uni.edu/tah.html. My office is down the hall from your lecture room (west) almost to the end. It is on the left. On the way, you will pass the Department of Earth Science Office (a good place to leave a message): Latham 121, the windowed office on the right. It is open 8:00 - 12:00 noon and 1:00 - 5:00 PM every weekday. OFFICE HOURS: 11:00 - 12:00 M-F or by appointment. You also are encouraged to simply drop in whenever I am there. Don't feel that you need to restrict your self to the scheduled office hours. Students always have priori- ty in my office unless I'm just stepping out the door (to go to class, for instance) or on the phone to Africa or some place . If you knock on my door and there is no answer, yet there are signs of occupancy (door open, light on, etc.), give me a minute. I probably have just run a brief errand elsewhere in the build- ing. Feel free to put a note on or under my door, too. Keep in mind that, being an astronomer, I often work at night! If you want to get in touch with me during the evening, calling my office is worth a try. This class is designed to work in variety of ways: lecture, your textbook, etc. It is normal and anticipated that some things won't "click" via these methods. I expect to see a lot of people in my office over the course of a semester, to go over material one-on-one. This will range from answering a quick homework question to paraphrasing an entire lecture--whatever you need. Occasionally, I will have to miss my office hours, but I will try to tell you ahead of time, in class. 1. T 2. F 3. T 4. T 5. F 6. T 7. F 8. T 9. T 10. F 11. T 12. F 3 OBJECTIVE: We will be taking a tour around the Universe, stop- ping every once in a while to take a look at how we arrive at astronomical knowledge. We will take care to note that astronomy is not a dead body of knowledge, but rather a dynamic on-going process. New discoveries and understandings will be pointed out as will things that remain very much a mystery to us. All this is to say that, far from doing something specific to one narrow discipline, we will be doing what each of us thinking human beings has been doing since the beginning: trying to figure out where we are and what the "rules" are. In this regard, astronomy is a very human endeavor. On the practical side, astronomy is a liberal-arts course. I will not claim that it will be of vital use to you in day-to-day life, nor do I feel that I need to. While this course may help you to improve your three-dimensional thinking or your reasoning skills, its main function probably will be to help you "tap into" our culture, that is, understand astronomical allusions and concepts that appear in writing, conversation, or the evening news, as well as to aid in your personal maturity of thought. I have several major goals for this course. There are a number of ideas that I hope that you still will consider even when much of the specifics of 870:010 are forgotten. Whether explicitly or implicitly, we will return to them again and again throughout our semester together. A few of these are: 1. Our senses provide direct information--limited by resolution--in two dimensions. But space is in 3-D! It is often difficult to infer the third dimension. Some times we have to use angular measurements when absolute measurements of length, height, and width are unobtaina- ble. There are two different ways of viewing a thing in the Universe: as an object projected into the sky or as a place in its own right. Our impressions of these things often differ from the two perspectives. Furthermore, because something is impossible to visualize does not necessarily mean that it does not exist. 2. The story of many natural systems is one of gradual change punctuated by occasional, sudden, course-altering events. Both equilibrium and cycles are common in the Universe. Objects such as stars and planets are not unchanging; they evolve with time. Their appearances today offer clues as to their histories. 3. The Earth is one data point. The Sun is one data point. Terrestrial life is one data point. To under- stand fully our environment and ourselves, we must seek other data points. Our lives and environment here on the Earth bias us as to what a "typical" place in the Universe is like. Our 4 ability to affect the Universe is minuscule. The world will continue with or without us. It is in our own self interest to maintain the unusual set of conditions that allows life on the Earth. There is no one that we know of to "bail us out" if we fail. And there is no place else on the seeable horizon to go. 4. Traveling in the Universe is difficult; observing the Universe is comparatively easy. 5. Unlike some other scientific disciplines, significant contributions can be made in astronomy by individuals without elaborate equipment or lengthy academic credentials. At the end of the semester, look back at this short list and reflect on how these ideas have been developed and whether or not you agree with them. A SUGGESTION: We are at a disadvantage in that our astronomy class meets in an enclosed lecture hall during the daytime. Because of this, you will unavoidably miss out on some of the fun of astronomy, that is, actually going out and observing the heavens yourself. You will be encouraged to do this some on your own. (You might want to check out the Sky Maps in your textbook.) If you feel that you would enjoy some more of the "practical" nighttime astronomy that we cannot always cover in this class (learning the constellations, telling time and direction from the sky, etc.), let me know. The Earth Science Department occasion ally offers as 870:113, "Topics in Earth Science," a course in naked-eye astronomy. With enough interest, we may be able to schedule it in the near future. Other UNI Astronomy Courses: 870:058 Astronomy Field Trip (2 credit hours)1 870:151 Planets (2 credit hours)1 870:152 Stars (2 credit hours)1 870:153 Galaxies (2 credit hours)1 870:154 Observational Astronomy (2 credit hours)2 1 prerequisite: 870:010 2 prerequisite: 870:010 (four-credit version) 5 PREREQUISITES: High School algebra and geometry.