Astronomy 1010 Planetary Astronomy Fall_2015 Day-5

Course Announcements Smartworks Chapter 1: Due Fri. (Sep. 4) Grades will be downloaded on Saturday. Read Chapter 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 How is the lunar observing going? Next week: Dark Night Observing on Tues. 9/8 & Thur. 9/10 Thurs. 9-3:    Meeting; watch for signs. Thurs. 9-3: “1 st Thursday Art Walk” downtown, 5pm Sat. 9-5: Football vs Mercer, 4pm; Tailgate at 1pm

Scientist I’d Like to Meet: Einstein – 27.5 Hawking – 9 DeGrasse Tyson – 9 Bill Nye – 7 Newton – 3 Tesla – 4.5 Edison – 4 Freud – 3 M. Curie – 3 ===================== “Dr. Smith” “Newton Einstein” “Jimmy Neutron” (Mr. West) Sagan Darwin Galileo Schrödinger Bohr Da Vinci Konrad Zuse Charles Sanders Peirce Robert Hooke Rosalind Franklin Ben Franklin Annie Jump Cannon

i-Clicker Setup

i_Clicker Question The Observations Requirement for this class requires you to: A.go out on your own and observe the night sky once a week for the entire semester. B.attend at least one 1st Quarter Observing Night and one Dark Sky Night and write an Observations Report. C.buy a telescope and observe specific stars and constellations with it. D.learn the names and locations of 30 stars and 25 constellations in the night sky.

Definitions & Terms -1 Math: A useful tool for investigating science and torturing students. Asterism: A pattern of stars that appears to form a familiar object. It may contain stars from more than one constellation, or be a small piece of a single constellation (example – the Big Dipper).

 Science discovers patterns in nature.  Mathematics is the language of patterns.  Most phenomena work regularly and predictably.

Constellations – the 88 semi- rectangular regions that make up the sky Northern constellations have Latinized Greek- mythology names: Orion, Cygnus, Leo, Ursa Major, Canis Major, Canis Minor Southern constellations have Latin names: Telescopium, Sextans, Pyxsis

An Important Assumption The cosmological principle: “There is nothing special about our place in the universe.” On one level: Our view from the Earth is not special or unique. Distant objects should be like nearby ones which we can study in detail. On another level: Matter and energy obey the same physical laws everywhere.

To make sense of what we see: The Cosmological Principal

Colored Card Question: Principles Which of these is a restatement of the cosmological principle? A.The universe is the same everywhere. B.The same rules work everywhere in the universe. C.There are no phenomena remaining to be discovered.

Another i_ClickerQuestion During the semester there will be: A.5 exams plus a final exam B.4 exams plus a final exam C.3 exams but no final exam D.2 exams: a midterm and a final exam

MATH TOOLS

 Mathematics works when used to describe nature and its patterns.  Basic Tools: Scientific Notation: handling large or small numbers Ratios: comparing Geometry Algebra: representation Proportionality: understanding the relationships between quantities. MATH TOOLS 1.1

 Graphs are used to represent relationships between quantities.  Can be linear or nonlinear.  For linear, the slope is the change of the vertical axis divided by the change of the horizontal axis. MATH TOOLS 1.2

Dealing with very large and small numbers Scientific Notation 4,500,000,000,000,000 = 4.5x = 2.8x On calculators…look for the “EXP” key or the “EE” key

Common Prefixes centi = 0.01 = (c) milli = = (m) micro = = (  ) nano = = (n) kilo = 1,000 = 10 3 (k) mega = 1,000,000 = 10 6 (M) giga = 1,000,000,000 = 10 9 (G) tera = 1,000,000,000,000 = (T)