Transcript Phys 104 – Honors Astronomy

Phys 104 – Astronomy
Summer-1
Who can name this artist?
A little about me...
Physics and Astronomy Prof at GWU
Director of the Williams Observatory
GWU – 3 years, Teaching overall...14.
This is Going to be Totally Sweet!!!!
The Montillation of Traxoline
It is very important that you learn about
traxoline. Traxoline is a new form of zionter. It
is montilled in Ceristanna. The Ceristannians
gristerlate large amounts of fevon and then
brachter it to quasel traxoline. Traxoline may
well be one of our most lukized snezlaus in the
future because of our zionter lescelidge.
(attributed to the insight of Judy Lanier)
The Montillation of Traxoline
It is very important that you learn about traxoline. Traxoline is
a new form of zionter. It is montilled in Ceristanna. The
Ceristannians gristerlate large amounts of fevon and then
brachter it to quasel traxoline. Traxoline may well be one of
our most lukized snezlaus in the future because of our
zionter lescelidge.
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
1. What is traxoline?
2. Where is traxoline montilled?
3. How is traxoline quaselled?
4. Why is it important to know about traxoline?
A Commonly Held Incorrect Model of
Teaching and Learning
A Commonly Held Incorrect Model of a
Student’s Conceptual Framework
Tabula rasa
But the human intellect, which
is the lowest in the order of
intellects and the most
removed from the perfection of
the Divine intellect, is in
potency with regard to things
intelligible, and is at first "like a
clean tablet on which nothing is
written", as the Philosopher
[Aristotle] says. (Aquinas,
Summa Theologica 1.79.2).
Traxoline is a
form of zionter...
From How People Learn
“Students enter your lecture hall with
preconceptions about how the world works.
If their initial understanding is not engaged,
they may fail to grasp the new concepts and
information that are taught, or they may learn
them for the purposes of a test, but revert to
their preconceptions outside the classroom.”
HOW PEOPLE LEARN, National Research Council,
National Academy Press, 2000.
Key Results from Cognitive Science
and Education Research
1. Learning is productive / constructive -- learning
requires mental effort.
2. Knowledge is associative / linked to prior mental
models and formal structures.
3. The cognitive response is context dependent -what and how you learn depends on the educational
setting.
4. Most people require some social interactions in
order to learn effectively.
Learning is an Activity
I intend to be a guide by your side,
not a sage on a stage.
What Students Retain:
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10% of what you read
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20% of what you hear
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30% of what you see
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50% of what you see and hear
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70% of what you discuss
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80% of what you personally experience
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95% of what you teach someone
Can Lecture Tutorials intellectually engage students at a
level that is more effective than traditional lecture at
promoting deep conceptual change?
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Pre-Course: Students take a 68 question survey
Post-Lecture: Questions administered in subsets
Post-Lecture Tutorial: Questions administered in
subsets
Pre-Course mean: 30% (nA=39,nB=42)
Post-Lecture mean: 52% (n ~ 100)
Post-Lecture Tutorial: 72% (n ~ 100)
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Former Students Speak OUT
(focus group)
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“I liked the Tutorials -- they were very helpful. I
am not a science person, but feel that I learned a
lot from them.
“Why don’t all professors use tutorials during
class?”
“The student interaction and tutorials are a very
effective approach to both teaching and learning.
I guarantee most students will retain most of this
course.”
Former Students Speak OUT
(focus group)
•
“And then the tutorials? I don’t know who
ever thought of that. But it’s really how
classes should be taught….The tutorials
[review concepts] because they break it
down. You start with something so
simple…and then it slowly gets to more
[complicated].”
WHO ARE YOU??!!?!?!?
Are you a professional student
or are you an amateur?
You are responsible for your own
education.
My wish is that this experience will
make you a better human!!
Breathe!!!
Life is a journey not a destination!
The journey in this course, will bring forth
a new understanding of your place
in the universe.
Clever or Cute is not Science
http://www.milaadesign.com/wizardy.html
• Don’t let Cute be confused with REALITY!!
• Creating a website that shows that you know
the numerical sequence that produces the
number 9 = Cute but not Clairvoyant!!
• NOT ALL THINGS ARE REAL OR EVEN
CLEVER, BUT SCIENCE IS BOTH OF THESE
EVEN WHEN IT LATER TURNS OUT TO BE
INCOMPLETE OR WRONG!!!!
Science is not…
• A list of previously known facts about nature.
• A list of names or terms.
• A list of equations handed down from
ancient times.
• A set of laws that were discovered by Dead
White Guys a long time ago and are kept
from the general public.
Science Is…
• A continuing process that
– seeks to understand the rules and laws of nature
– uses systematic observations
– uses mathematical models
– experimentally tests ideas
• Subject to independent verification
These are the components of the scientific method
(observe, theorize, predict, test, and modify) used
to comprehend the universe.
A scientific theory is a collection of ideas that explain
a phenomenon in a way that is consistent with
observations and experiments.
For Something to Be Science

It must be quantifiable (measurable)
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It must be testable
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It must be falsifiable
What do Astronomers do?
• Make observations using telescopes.
• Analyze data/results of observations.
• Create theories about what is seen and what might exist
yet unseen.
• Create computer models that simulate what occurs in
the universe.
• Invent, design, and build instruments that let us see
beyond the Earth!
BUT, most astronomers do NOT spend much time looking
through telescopes.
Understanding the Universe!!
Viking I Lander Picture from 1976
1999 Picture
from the Mars
Pathfinder
Lander
Note the remote-control
rover, Sojourner, next to
a Martian rock
2004 Opportunity Landing Site – and tracks
We did it!! Huygens takes first images
of Titan (a moon of Saturn) and survives
the crash landing!!
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html
GO CONFIDENTLY IN THE
DIRECTION OF YOUR DREAMS!!
LIVE THE LIFE YOU’VE IMAGINED.
Astronomy
Week 1
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No Lab This Week—We'll start lab on Sep. 3
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Constellation Cards – Get Started
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Mastering Astronomy Assignment
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ABCD Cards
Example Tutorial Question
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You observe a star rising due east. When this
star reaches its highest position above the
horizon, where will it be?
A) high in the northern sky
B) high in the eastern sky
C) high in the southern sky
D) high in the western sky
E) directly overhead
Two of the most fundamental
questions of all time:
Where are we?
How did we get here?
The Local Supercluster
The Local Group
The Milky Way
Earth
The Solar System
The numbers in astronomy are so large,
and small, that astronomers use scientific
notation.
100 = 1
101 = 10
102 = 100
103 = 1000
5.3 x 103 = 5,300
104 = 10,000
8.9 x 104 = 89,000
and, for small numbers
10-1 = 0.1
10-2 = 0.01
2.1 x 10-2 = 0.021
10-3 = 0.001 6.6 x 10-3 = 0.0066
Astronomical distances and sizes are very
very, very, very large. So, astronomers use
different units.
One “Astronomical Unit” (AU)
average distance between Sun and Earth
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93,000,000 miles
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150,000,000 km
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1.5 x 108 km
Distance Light Travels in One Year
is a “Light-year” (LY)
9.46 x 1012 km
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63,000 AU or 6.3x 104 AU
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0.307 parsecs (pc)
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At the scale of the size of a planet or moon we
describe things in terms of kilometers (km).
At the scale of the Solar System, distances are
described in terms of the Astronomical Unit or AU (avg.
distance from Earth to the Sun).
Mercury is 0.387 AU and r=2,440 km
Venus is 0.723 AU and r=6,051 km
Mercury is 1.0 AU and r=6,378 km
Mars is 1.52 AU and r=3,397 km
At the scale of the Milky Way Galaxy, distances are
described in terms of Light-years, which is the
distance light travels in one year.
Thousands of km
Astronomical Unit
A few to about 1,000 Light-years
10,000 to 100,000 Light-years
Millions of Light-years
Billions of Light-years
What do you think?
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Do the stars stay in the same position in the
sky all day/night long?
What do you think?
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Do we see the same stars all year round
every night?
What do you think?
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What causes the stars to move?
Do the stars actually move in the way they
appear to be moving from Earth?
Is the daily motion of the Sun different from
the stars?
Consider the dome of the sky over our heads….
mixing bowl
Consider the dome of the sky over our heads….
inverted mixing bowl ….
Imagining a
spinning
Celestial
Sphere
surrounding
Earth aids in
thinking about
the position
and motion of
the sky.
Celestial Sphere Rotation
Celestial Sphere Rotation
Star B
Star B
2
2
Star A
Star A
1
2
1
2
North Star
Celestial Sphere
Celestial Sphere
3
3
1
1
4
4
3
3
Earth’s Equator
4
4
Celestial Sphere
Rotation
Celestial Sphere
Rotation
Figure 1
Figure 2
Horizon
Tutorial: Position – p.1
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Work with a partner.
Read the instructions and questions carefully.
Talk to each other and discuss your answers with
each another, but BOTH write in your own book.
Come to a consensus answer you both agree on.
If you get stuck or are not sure of your answer, ask
another group.
If you get really stuck or don’t understand what the
Lecture Tutorial is asking, ask me for help.
Is the horizon shown a real physical
horizon, or an imaginary plane that
extends from the observer and
Earth out to the stars?
Celestial Sphere Rotation
Star B
2
Can the observer shown see an
object located below the horizon?
Star A
1
2
Celestial Sphere
Is there a star that is in an
unobservable position?
When a star travels from being
below the observer’s horizon to
being above the observer’s horizon,
is that star rising or setting?
Celestial Sphere
3
1
4
3
4
Celestial Sphere
Rotation
Figure 2
Horizon