ASTR 10, Descriptive Astronomy (V0076)
Spring Semester, 2004
Instructor: Dr. Korpela

Contact Info

• Dr. Korpela: korpela@ssl.berkeley.edu, 510-643-6538

Updated

• HOMEWORK #3 is due Mar 18.

Website:

If you haven't been to the website before now, an introduction to its important features can be found in the notes for the first lectures, in the Archive of Administrative Notes. As I said in class, those that can download materials from this site should do so, in order to save on photocopying (and the weight of what I carry!).

The Sky:

• Telescope Viewing: We'll be organizing a field trip to Chabot for telescope viewing, however, you can go to Chabot any Friday or Saturday night. Follow the Local Astronomy link below to investigate this and other options. Click for details of Chabot observatory. Look for Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and the Pleiades in the night sky! If you have binoculars, search Orion's belt for the Orion Nebula.
• Binoculars: I have been asked about buying binoculars for astronomy, and have created a Binoculars for Astronomy resource page.
• Remember to look up! Astronomy is, after all, the study of the stars etc! Think about the scale of distances, motions and times as you gaze at the sky. If you can see planets and/or the moon, try to picture where you are on the earth, and where the planet is in its orbit. The exercises we've done should help.
• Planets: This week Venus in the west after sunset. is the brightest object in the evening sky (apart from airplanes, sun, and moon). Jupiter and Saturn are in the east at sunset. Mars can be seen glowing red high in the south after sunset.
• Stars: Remember that almost everything that can be seen with the naked eye is part of our own Milky Way Galaxy! (The Andromeda Galaxy is an exception). Notice that it's hard to see the disk of our Galaxy with your naked eye, but we do in fact live way out on one side of that disk. Think about which stars are likely to be young, and which are likely to be old! Think about which are about to die, and how. Keep an eye on Betelgeuse! Think of all the pulsars and black holes you can't see with your naked eye! Remember that all of these objects that you can see with the naked eye are inside our own galaxy! (Exceptions are the Andromeda Galaxy (visible from dark locations) and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (visible from the southern hemisphere).
• Resource: Go to Sky and Telescope's Observing page to learn about the changing sky - planets, variable stars and so on. variable stars, and more!

Details on Upcoming Dates:

Homework #3 is due Mar 18.

Upcoming exams:

• If you cannot make one of these dates, please arrange an alternate time
• The exams will be more like the quizzes than the homeworks, in that it will be multiple choice, true/false, and short answer. Rather than just read the textbook without particular focus, use the "What Was Important" guides to focus your studying. In addition, the homework solutions, in-class exercises, ConcepTest questions, and quiz questions highlight topics I find particularly important.

• Exam #2 will be April 15. Makeup exams for Exam #2 MUST be completed prior to the originally scheduled exam date. Please contact Dr. Korpela prior to April 1 if you need to reschedule.

Last Thursday Night's Lecture:

Find out what the goals of last night's lecture were in the What Was Important notes. Some more details are found below.

The lecture notes for this section may be found here (powerpoint) or here (html).

Last week, the lecture covered the ways that planetary surfaces have changed over time. We began with a presentation on Giant Impacts in the Solar System. Notice the various evidence for previous impacts of various sizes, on Earth and elsewhere in the Solar System. We discussed the consequences of a large impact, and the matching evidence that indicates such an impact occurred at the approximately the same time as the dinosaur extinction. We also talked out how often such impacts are expected to occur, whether we'd see it coming, and what we could do if we did.

We then discussed other forces that shape the planets. Many of these forces are driven by heat flow and convection. Convection in the Earth's mantle moves the continents and creates mountains. Convection in the atmosphere creates winds and powers storms that wears down mountains. Convection in the oceans creates ocean currents that transport heat from the equatorial regions towards the poles. He also discussed how the water cycle is related to atmospheric convection.

Finally, we talked about the carbonate-silicate cycle, and how it helps to maintain the temperature of the earth at a comfortable level. He also discussed how this cycle failed on Venus, which resulted in a run-away greenhouse effect. He also describe how it is possible for the cycles to fail in another way to cause a planet to freeze.

Miscellaneous:

You may have trouble parking some Thursdays because of the basketball games. Men's games create the most difficulty The schedule for CAL sports may be found here.

If you don't yet have the text, much of the material required for Homework #1 is contained in the handouts, and the remainder can be found in the (different) online textbook at http://www.astronomynotes.com.

If you are a little confused, don't panic. It is not my intention to fail students who attend the classes and seriously work on all the homeworks and assignments

GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION

Course Syllabus

Policies

Click the Reload Button on each page for The Latest Updates

TEXT will be The Essential Cosmic Perspective, 2nd College Edition, by Bennett et al.
This should be available from Ned's Campus Textbook Exchange on Bancroft Avenue. You may find a better bargain on line at bn.com or amazon.com.

USEFUL COURSE STUFF

Homework Assignments

Handouts

Weekly "What Was Important"

In-Class Exercises

Archive of Administrative Notes

Sky and Telescope's Observing Page

Web Resources for Each Chapter

Local Astronomy

Vista Home Page

INTERESTING LINKS TO WHET YOUR INTEREST

In addition to the FUN STUFF section below:

Here's a neat online version of The Powers of 10 to remind you of the awesome vastness of space!

Good and Bad Astronomy in Movies Includes "Signs" and "Men In Black II" among others.

If you're interested in the search for planets around other stars, try going here.

The exciting Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence! For more information on the SETI projects, go to the SETI at UC Berkeley website .

Bad Astronomy in the Media (News, Movies, TV!)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Universe Today (Current Space News from the Internet)

Astronomy Cafe (Website for the Astronomically Disadvantaged)

Take a Virtual Voyage Through the Milky Way

Exploratorium Home Page

Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences

NASA Home Page