Astro 120: Fall 2005

The Sky and the Solar System

Prof. Steve Kawaler and Prof. Charles Kerton

In Astro 120, an introductory course in modern astronomy for non-scientists, we begin with a study of the sky (night and day): we will learn the constellations, study the motions of the Sun, moon, and planets, and review the reasons for the seasons, and the genesis of the modern calendar. We will explore the phenomena of eclipses and tides. We then begin exploring the bodies of our solar system -- the sun, the planets and their satellites, and comets, asteroids, and meteorites. We then address the bigger questions about the origin and evolution of our solar system, and explore the dozens recently-discovered other solar systems in our Galaxy. We conclude with a brief discussion of the possibility of life beyond the Earth. Throughout the course, we will be looking at the many exciting results from NASA probes, as well using the ISU planetarium.

A poem...

Announcements

Course grades and grades on Exam 3 are now available on WebCT.
For those who might enjoy it, consider registering for Astro 250: Astronomy Bizarre for Spring 2006. The course deals with all of the "fun stuff" in astronomy (extraterrestrial life, cosmology, time travel, colliding galaxies, etc etc.) in a non-technical way - a perfect follow-up to Astro 120 and/or 150. Steve Kawaler is the professor; it meets on MWF 2-3. There are still a few spaces left (max. 30 students)...
Thanks for a great term - have a happy Christmas, Channukah, New Year, and/or other end-of-year celebration!

"Everyday" things for class...

Electronic versions of lecture notes
Reading Assignments
The Astro Help Room is now open; click on the link to find the hours when Astro 120 folks are around.
Here is the syllabus for Astro 120 this term.
related links
Course Info
Constellation and Star list

Online Quizzes (from the website for the textbook by John Fix) - for practice only

Chapter 1 on longitude/latitude, the horizon system, etc.
Chapter 2 on the celestial coordinate system, the motions of the Sun and Moon.
Chatper 3 on Ancient Astronomy
Chatper 4 on Kepler's Laws (don't worry about 3, 8, 9)

Items from earlier in the course

Final Exam: Monday, December 12, 4:30-6:30PM
- Rooms have changed for Gary and Michelle's sections. See below
- Here is the essay question for Exam 3.
- Study Aids:
  - Sample multiple choice questions and here are the answers
  - Here is a review sheet for Part III
  - Here are answer keys for Exam 1 and Exam 2
Philip Morrison on SETI
How Did Life Begin is a 17Mb Mp3 file containing an episode of the radio show Are We Alone on the subject. One of the guests will be visiting Iowa State to lecture in Spring 2006.
Optional HW#4 was due in lecture on December 6th. This optional assignment can be used to obtain up to 20 points towards a missing assignment or for up to 10 additional extra-credit points.
The answer to the Nov. 15 lecture challenge.
Here is where you can obtain the SOHO movies of comets passing by the Sun.
About 60 people showed up at the Mars Fest at Fick Observatory on Friday, November 11. Currently you can easily see both Mars and Venus in the evening sky. Also look for Orion in the eastern sky around 10 pm - it's easy to see even from on campus.
EXAM 2 was the evening of November 10th.
- Here is the essay question for Exam 2.
- Brief review sheet for Exam 2.
- See below for your room assignment
- Exam 2 sample questions, and answers.
Special reading assignment for the lecture on Tuesday, November 8.
Earlier this month, Dr. A.G.W. (Al) Cameron passed away. Al was one of my professional "grandfathers" - one of my Ph.D. advisers was a Ph.D. student under Al in the 1960s. Al spent a brief time at Iowa State in the 1950s before embarking on a very accomplished career at Harvard where, among many other things, he championed the idea of the formation of the Moon by a giant impact early in the history of the solar system.
I was fortunate enough to have finally met him in June of 2002 when he returned to Ames for a symposium honoring Dan Zaffarano (former chair of Physics a key person in bringing astronomy to Iowa State in the 1970s). Al was a brilliant and creative scientist, and will be missed.
A little about Carl Sagan
- an obituary
BBC Radio 4 hosts In Our Time, a brilliant radio show that covers fascinating topics in history, philosophy, and science. Two recent shows are directly relevant to recent Astro 120 topics:
- The KT boundary and the extinction of the dinosaurs - listen in
- Asteroids- listen in
The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa will soon land on the enigmatic asteroid Itokawa to collect samples to return to Earth.
The Great Ceres Debate from the 1800's. When did asteroids stop being planets?
News Flash: Two new moons found around Pluto. Now that muddies things, doesn't it!
Sylvia, Romulus, and Remus - an asteroid family
You took part in the Great Pluto Debate in recitation on Friday/Monday.(October 28/31). Readings for this are given within the link above. Part of this assignment was Homework 3 which you needed to download, work on, and bring to recitation with you.
Homework 2 was due in recitation on October 14/17; here are the solutions.
Hope you caught the partial lunar eclipse early Monday morning, October 17.
The 2004 Mars Exploration Rover Mission Webcast (archive & powerpoint from Oct. 13)
This short article by planetary geologist Jeff Taylor gives the answer to October 3's lecture question and shows how the features we see on the moon may be related to the formation of the most distant planets in our solar system, Uranus & Neptune -well worth a read!
EXAM 1: was Thursday evening, September 29.
- Here is the Essay question for this exam
- See below for your room assignment
- Exam 1 Review Notes
- Exam 1 sample questions --- here are the answers
Reading on interplanetary orbits (for Thursday, September 22 lecture).
The Ballad of Tycho Brahe
Astronomy detectives: click here for a story about astronomers deducing the exact conditions of an iconic Ansel Adams photograph of the rising moon.
First Homework Assignment: click to show the first assignment, which was due to hand in in recitaition on Friday, September 9 (or Monday, September 12).
- Here are the solutions
North Star web course - useful materials (Units 3-5) to help with the first part of Astro 120
Scientists at Work: Michael Brown: New York Times (Alternate link)
The planetarium projector core software is based on an open-source package called Stellarium, which also runs on MacOSX, Windoze, and Linux. Click on the link to go to the home page, and give it a try! It is an excellent alternative to the software included with your text for exploring the night sky, coordinate systems, the motions of the Sun, Moon and planets, etc.

General Course Info

The text for Astro 120 is The Solar System, which is Volume 1 of The Cosmic Perspective.

click for a bigger version

Course Info
Course Outline
EXAMS
The exam dates and times are as follows. Please note them in your calendars:
- Exam 1: Thursday, September 29, 2005; 6:30-8:00PM
- Exam 2: Thursday, November 10, 2005; 6:30-8:00PM
- Exam 3: Monday, December 12, 2005; 4:30-6:30PM

Exam room assignments (Exam 3):

TA Sections Times Exam room
Michelle Hartwell 1, 2, 10, 11 Fri 8,9; Mon. 9, 10 Coover 2245
Brad Peterson 5, 9, 12, 13 Fri. 12; Mon. 9,11,12 Physics 5
Charles Kerton 3, 4 Fri. 10, 11 Physics 3
Gary Cameron 14, 15 Monday 1, 2 Coover 2245

TA	Sections	Times	Exam room
Michelle Hartwell	1, 2, 10, 11	Fri 8,9; Mon. 9, 10	Coover 2245
Brad Peterson	5, 9, 12, 13	Fri. 12; Mon. 9,11,12	Physics 5
Charles Kerton	3, 4	Fri. 10, 11	Physics 3
Gary Cameron	14, 15	Monday 1, 2	Coover 2245

Back to Steve Kawaler's page

Back to Charles Kerton's page

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