1. Introduction to Astronomy

2. Review The Scientific Method Atoms Gravity The Earth The Moon
The Planets
The Sun
The Solar System
Our Galaxy
The Universe

3. The Scientific Method
Way scientists construct their view of the Universe
Propose and idea
Test that idea
Confirms or Denies
Astronomy relies on observation
Not all ideas proven or believe
What you learn will be proven wrong in the future
Does this make it a failing science or does it make it stronger?

4. Atoms Matter composed of subatomic particles Structured Central Core
Nucleus
Protons
Neutrons
Orbited by electron

5. Atoms Held together by electrical charge
Electric force – attract or repel
Closely linked to magnetic force
Strong or nuclear force
Forms nucleus
Charge of proton
Charge of electron
Attract/Repel
Weak force- opereated on the atomic scale plays a role in radioactive decay

6. Gravity Attraction between all objects Planets in orbit
Sun in its orbit

7. The Earth One of the smallest bodies in the cosmic landscape
Spinning sphere of rock
Use the Earth as a guide for other planets

8. The Moon A satellite Held by Earth’s gravity Airless
A body orbiting a planet
Held by Earth’s gravity
Airless
Pitted ball of rock
Moon’s mass is only about 1/80 the Earth’s
Not able to retain heat = no crustal movement
Very little change
Limit of direct human exploration

9. The Planets Nine planets in our solar system
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto?
Eris
Different sizes and different landscapes

10. The Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Airless, craters
Clouds of sulfuric acid droplets
Earth
White clouds, blue oceans, jungles…
Mars
Huge canyons and deserts

11. The Planets Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
Atmospheric storms with lightning
Saturn
Icy fragments orbit, creating its bright rings
Uranus
Unique tilt, dark rings
Neptune
Deep blue color caused by methane clouds

12. The Sun Star Hugh ball of gas 100 times the diameter of the Earth
Generates Energy
Core
Nuclear reactions turn hydrogen into helium
Energy flows to surface then pours into space

13. The Solar System Sun and the nine planets Satellites Asteroids Comets
Moons
Asteroids
Comets

14. Our Galaxy The Milky Way galaxy
Cloud of several hundred billion stars with a flattened shape
Takes the sun about 240 million years to complete one trip around the disc
Stellar birth and death
Explode into clouds of dust and debris, matter sprayed outward
Recycled into new stars
If sun was a pin head in the galaxy, next pin head (star) would be 35 miles away

15. The Universe Galaxy clusters Local Group Local Supercluster
Groups of galxies
Local Group
Small
30 galaxies
3 million light-years in diameter
Local Supercluster

16. A Sense of Scale Size
Let’s start with a tour of the universe in space and time to give you some context
Power of 10 video

17. Proportional Model

18. Create Model

19. astronomical unit to describe distances between the planets or
Instead of using ridiculously small units like kilometers, astronomers use much larger distance units like  
astronomical unit to describe distances between the planets or
A light year to describe distances between the stars.
An astronomical unit = the average distance between the Earth and the Sun, or about million kilometers. For example, Jupiter is (778.4 million km)/(149.6 million km) = astronomical units from the Sun. A light year is how far light will travel in one year. The distance D something travels in a given time interval t is found by multiplying the speed v by the time interval. In compact math notation this is: D = v×t. You can find out how many kilometers a light year is by multiplying the speed of light by a time interval of one year:
1 light year = (299,800 kilometers/second) × (31,560,000 seconds/year) = 9,461,000,000,000 kilometers (9.461 trillion kilometers---several tens of thousands of times larger than even the astronomical unit!).
The nearest star is about 4.3 light years away which means that it takes light 4.3 years to travel from Proxima Centauri to Earth. The rest of the stars are further away than that! The speed of light is the fastest speed possible for anything in the universe to travel despite what you may see in science fiction movies or books. It is because of the H-U-G-E distances and l-o-n-g times it would take extraterrestrial spacecraft to travel to the Earth that many astronomers are skeptical about extraterrestrial beings abducting humans.

20. A Sense of Time The Universe is 15 billion years old Condense
“Cosmic Calendar”
Every second in the ``cosmic calendar'' corresponds to 475 real years
24 cosmic calendar days = 1 billion real years

22. Origin of the Universe--Jan. 1 Origin of our galaxy--Jan 24
Solar system origin--Sept. 9
Earth Solidifies--Sept. 14
Life on Earth--Sept. 30
Oxygen atmosphere--Dec. 1
Land plants & insects--Dec. 19, 20
First reptiles & trees--Dec. 23
First dinosaurs--Dec. 25
KT impact, mammal age, birds--10:00 AM Dec. 30
Ancient Greeks to now--last five seconds
Average human life span seconds
Origin of the Universe--Jan. 1Origin of our galaxy--Jan 24Solar system origin--Sept. 9Earth Solidifies--Sept. 14Life on Earth--Sept. 30Sexual reproduction advent--Nov. 25Oxygen atmosphere--Dec. 1Cambrian explosion (600 mil years ago when most complex organisms appear, fish, trilobites)--Dec. 17Land plants & insects--Dec. 19, 20First amphibians--Dec. 22First reptiles & trees--Dec. 23First dinosaurs--Dec. 25KT impact, mammal age, birds--10:00 AM Dec. 30First primates--Dec. 30Australopithicenes (Lucy, etc.)--10:00 PM Dec. 31Homo habilis--11:25 PM Dec. 31Homo erectus--11:40 PM Dec. 31Early Homo sapiens--11:50 PM Dec. 31Neanderthal man--11:57 PM Dec. 31Cro-Magnon man--11:58:38 PMHomo sapiens sapiens--11:58:57 PM Dec. 31Human history--11:59:39 PMAncient Greeks to now--last five secondsAverage human life span seconds